Professional, certified credit management
Munich/Cologne, November 29, 2011 – Companies are increasingly attaching value to professional credit management. This was revealed by a survey carried out by GUARDEAN GmbH, the international supplier of software products for customer risk and credit management, at the annual federal congress of the German Credit Management Association (BvCM).Most participants regarded the professionalization of credit management – both in terms of those working in the field and the processes involved – as one of the most important issues for 2012.
“Credit management is becoming increasingly complex. Factors contributing to this include the growing uncertainty and internationalization of the business environment, as well as new legal requirements”, remarked Dr. Michael Sauter, CEO of GUARDEAN GmbH. “Practice shows that professional credit management today requires processes that are standardized, but also flexible, of course. Credit management software lays an important foundation here, as this is where the central processes for day-to-day business are implemented. In this way, companies can ensure the quality and professionalism of their credit management system on a corporate-wide basis.”
TÜV Rheinland, the independent inspection service provider, is also able to confirm this trend, with a growing number of companies commissioning the organization to audit or certify their credit management systems, so as to constantly improve the quality of their processes.
“In today’s environment, the success of both major and mid-tier companies depends on developing and professionalizing their credit management systems. A credit management system that implements methodical and sustainable processes can improve liquidity, prevent bad debt losses and provide a significant boost to a firm’s business success”, commented Horst Döller, product manager at TÜV Rheinland. “Thanks to our certification, credit managers are also able to provide transparent proof of the process quality achieved – which they can then use to their advantage both internally and in their dealings with external interested parties such as credit insurers, factoring companies, banks, auditors etc.”
GUARDEAN customers BayWa, Bosch Thermotechnik, cst business support, and Schmidt-Gevelsberg have all to date received certification of their credit management processes.
“We rebuilt our credit management system from scratch several years ago and have continually developed it since then. As a starting point, we installed the GUARDEAN DebitTEX credit management software and then optimized our processes step by step. We wanted to use the TÜV Rheinland certification to check whether we had gone down the right path with this and were fulfilling the Minimum Credit Management Requirements (MaCM)”, said Frank Dick, head of Credit Management within Bosch Thermotechnik GmbH Buderus Deutschland, a leading manufacturer of energy-efficient heating products and hot water solutions. “It was worth all the effort we put into professionalizing our credit management system, as we can now react flexibly to market changes whenever they occur and have markedly reduced our bad debt losses.”
BayWa AG, the international trading and services group with core businesses in agriculture, building materials and energy, also had its credit management system certified by TÜV Rheinland. Rudolf Kessler, head of Credit Management at BayWa AG commented: “Further development is only possible if you regularly check your credit management system – both through in-house tests and external audits. A positive side effect of undergoing this certification is that it has clearly enhanced the reputation of our department both internally – with the Executive and Supervisory Boards – as well as externally, with customers, credit insurers and auditors.”
“By constantly developing our credit management function we are now able to assess risks better – and known risks can be managed. Our sales division has also recognized this. As a result of this professionalization, Sales has now become more sensitive to the risk of payment defaults and works more actively with us”, said Klaus P. Böhme, head of Finance and Controlling at Schmidt-Gevelsberg GmbH, the international haulage firm that was also recently awarded TÜV certification for its professional credit management system.
“We improved our internal credit management system to such an extent that we are now able to offer our customers external receivables management services. The certification serves as additional confirmation of the quality of our system and creates trust”, commented Steffen Nettelmann, authorized officer of cst business support GmbH, the innovative solution provider in the commercial and financial processes segments, and responsible for accounts receivable management with the Adecco Group.
GUARDEAN GmbH and independent inspection service provider TÜV Rheinland are working together to help companies review, improve and automate their credit management processes on the basis of standardized quality criteria. In so doing, both firms are offering their counterpart’s service range to their customers and are closely coordinating their services, procedures and project activities. Companies will thus be able systematically to develop a credit management system that will reduce their bad debt losses and improve their liquidity.
