| I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but in the course of researching this story, one hard fact seemed to stand out above the rest. 2010 will be a tough year on the credit front for many New Zealand businesses. A chat with credit bureau Veda Advantage managing director John Roberts was particularly revealing. As he points out, his company is in the unique position of seeing the reality of the tough economic times actually work through the lives of consumers and businesses. The company that provides โinsights into more than 16.5 million credit active individuals and 4.4 million companies and businessesโ has a pretty good handle on the creditworthy status of this nationโs enterprises and their masters. โOur data shows that while consumers are starting to stabilise, businesses are still weathering the recession storm. In our experience businesses lag 12 to 18 months behind consumers โ so we are predicting a tough year for business in 2010,โ says Roberts. There has been a sharp decline in the demand for credit and an increase in defaults across the board, he says. โThe most worrying part is the defaults โ up 38 percent year on year. โWe would expect to see more business failures this year. Weโre aware that commentators see the worst time for businesses coming in March and are predicting improvements in outlook from then.โ Of course, an improving economy can be a double-edged sword. Joe Nel, general manager New Zealand for Baycorp, the firm with more than 50 years experience in the debt collection industry, says that with limited capital available in an upturn, firms revert to borrowing funds again, credit gets extended, perhaps in goods and services, and complacency and old habits return. โProblems can actually get bigger as things get better. Firms must constantly stay focused on their debt management, and there is definitely no room for complacency.โ Of course, calling in the debt collectors is not something you want to do very often โ and having a living, working credit control policy goes a long way towards preventing that call to a debt collection agency. Baycorpโs Joe Nel is concerned that firms donโt treat their credit control policy as a living document. โIn the chase for sales in this current environment, people tend to focus too much on making the sale and credit control procedures can end up in the bottom drawer.โ Is it any surprise then that research from Veda Advantage reveals that 80 percent of New Zealandโs small and medium sized enterprises do not check debtors before advancing credit? This, says Roberts, strikes at the very heart of a companyโs balance sheet, and he finds it staggering. โThousands of New Zealand companies still rely on personal relationships, connections and good luck to give them some confidence that a customer will pay. This is not best business practice, nor does it mitigate risk. โWe urge managers and directors to ask themselves why they would allow their business to advance credit to a customer when it has no idea whether that customer can pay? The banks wouldnโt do it, so why should you?โ Roberts wonders if itโs the Kiwi โsheโll be rightโ attitude thatโs getting businesses into trouble, and warns that even the guy youโve been doing business with for years can let you down. โMy philosophy is that if they shake your hand and look you in the eye, you know you have a problem.โ โA major trap is not managing risk and living in the false belief that New Zealand is a small country with a small population where people know each other,โ he adds. โWe are now a country with 4.3 million people and our business owners must adopt 21st century, first-world practices to manage risk. By managing credit risk, companies will keep a tighter rein on a significant part of their debt profile.โ Golden rules The key to effective debt management is well summed up by Catriona Knapp, principal โ business growth at accounting firm WHK. Itโs about focus, time and communication. Her Golden Rules include: โข Consider credit limits (perhaps vary these for long standing customers versus new customers). โข Devote the time to invoicing regularly and following up queries and overdue accounts (i.e. a set time each week). โข Review the debtors ledger weekly. Understand who owes you money and how much they owe. This will drive how much you are willing to supply in future for what price! โข Consider whether pro-actively following up customers before the due date will have a greater impact on receiving payments on time. โข Monitor the performance of each debtor, rather than just the average days it takes debtors to pay. โข Understand how much you need to collect on a monthly basis to pay the bills โ this should be your minimum collection target (obviously collecting 100 percent within 30 days is the desired outcome!) โข Remember the wow factor! That is the closer you can provide the invoice to the supply of the goods or service the more likely the customer wow factor is at its highest and therefore the more likely priority will be placed on paying the invoice. The more time that lapses, the more the wow factor is likely to have dissipated. All the above are great practical steps you can take to stay on top of your debtors. Of course, the secret is also to assess a customerโs ability to pay in the first place โ and this is where credit reports can be very handy โ and in particular, automated alerts. As the saying goes: โTo be forewarned is to be forearmedโ. John Roberts points out that there are 2.4 million credit active individuals in this country, and 800,000 companies. His company has credit files on roughly 97 percent. He also explains that more comprehensive information can be obtained on companies, as credit reports on individuals are currently limited to negative data/information only. โItโs our expectation that this will change in the near future โ that is, positive credit information will also be posted.โ Roberts also advises firms to trade check their suppliers โ are they in good financial condition, because if theyโre not it will have a direct impact on your business as well. One example is a contractor who goes belly-up halfway through your building project. Baycorpโs Joe Nel believes credit checks must be ongoing, and not a one-off event. โIf you sell on credit, take into account the level of risk taking your business is faced with, and remember that collecting debt is not a one-size-fits-all procedure.โ Nel says, depending on the industry youโre involved with, personal guarantees may be required as part of your credit policy. โAnd if a firmโs not prepared to provide that guarantee, then you need to consider what information you need to secure your money or secure your goods.โ |
In addition to the credit agencies, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Veda Advantage, business owners can also access credit information quickly on the web โ some at no charge, others at a small fee per search, says WHKโs Knapp. These include: |
ย
