by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
A couple of months ago I received a claim from a creditor in China. The creditor is a marketing research consulting firm, and they performed various focus groups on behalf of a beverage manufacturer in Pennsylvania that was trying to enter the Chinese...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
When it comes to obtaining credit information on privately held companies where financial information is often carefully guarded, the quality of the information in a report should be treated with some level of skepticism. As we have often seen, there can be a huge...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
I have a client who has always sent a birthday gift to his customers as a way of showing his appreciation for their business. The client currently has about 100 customers, which means that he will send a gift to about 9-10 customers per month. The expense of the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
My grandkids love to tease me about how technologically behind I am. While they can type on their tiny smart phone keyboards at a speed that would rival a concert violinist, my fat fingers can barely plunk out a text message without several mistakes. Although I’ll...
by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
Like many of you in our industry, I often read through a great deal of economic data and indicators to get an idea of where the country is headed, and how the economy affects our credit and collection decisions. According to the American Bankruptcy Institute,...
by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
Take the Poll – How many credit granting decisions that you made last year resulted in not getting paid?Less than 56-1011-15Prefer not to sayChoose I have a client that has 500 active accounts at any given time and the credit manager has to make decisions very quickly...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 6, 2024 | Uncategorized
I have heard and been told that credit risk management professionals don’t really have a sales professional’s spirit. The idea of getting out into the unknown and trying to sell ourselves and our company’s products or services seems uncomfortable. In fact, I’ve...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jan 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
I always appreciate when clients reach out to me for advice or guidance on credit, collection, and other issues. As a credit risk management professional, I either try to help a client directly and/or introduce the resources that can support their needs. ...
by Nancy Seiverd | Dec 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
Regardless of the language, even very fluent non-native speakers may not know the idioms and colloquialisms that native speakers grow up with and have heard throughout their lives. When you think about it, we are unconsciously hearing, using, and enjoying all kinds of...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
With all my years in credit risk management, one product that has come up from time to time which has a confusing name is “Accounts Receivable Put Option.” When I hear the term “put option,” my mind thinks in terms of placing something somewhere....
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
There are so many factors that impact the collection of an account. The depth of the customer relationship, the balance due, the period of time outstanding, the communication style, and the distance from your company are just a few of the major items that will frame...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
In our July issue, the article, “Hidden Pension Liabilities May Be Hidden for a Reason” received quite a bit of readership traction. This in turn prompted me to talk about another neglected area on a customer’s financial statement, Related Party Transactions...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 3, 2023 | Uncategorized
As credit managers, from time to time we need to dig into a financial statement to understand a potential customer’s credit worthiness. In doing so, there may be a tendency to only look at the easily identifiable current assets and liabilities, sales, profits, and a...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
It’s so frustrating when our customer doesn’t pay, especially after we have fulfilled all of our obligations to provide the products or services with the utmost total customer satisfaction possible. Subsequently, when we start to get some payment delays, which turn...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Are credit and collection positions immune to the difficulties that a bad economy can often bring with it? In strong economies, when business is booming and customers have more than the usual amount of cash to pay their debt obligations on a timely...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
We recently received a claim for quite a large amount at about six months passed the due date from a regular client we have supported for many years. During our long relationship, I’ve become good friends with the credit manager who has worked at her...
by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
As credit professionals, there is a tendency to look at only the most familiar current assets and liabilities on the balance sheet of a prospective company. If the current or quick ratio turns out to be acceptable, we quickly move on to the next credit request. But as...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
I had a fascinating discussion recently with a colleague of mine who was interviewing several candidates for their credit and collection manager position, and one of them was particularly intriguing. When the subject of compensation came up and the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
Take the Poll - From a credit perspective, how do you consider Goodwill on a customer’s financial statement?What is Goodwill?Don’t even look at it.I consider it based on its materiality.It can be very telling, and I consider its importance.Choose Like many of you, I...
