This scenario is all too familiar for many credit professionals. End-of-week urgency, especially on a Friday afternoon, has become a pressure point where credit discipline and sales momentum can collide. While the customer may be reliable and the sales team motivated, bypassing standard approval processes in the name of expediency can be dangerous. The decision to approve such an order without proper due diligence can lead to a host of unintended consequences.
The first and most immediate risk is that you’re approving an order significantly over the customer’s established credit limit. That limit wasn’t chosen arbitrarily; it’s based on a mix of financial analysis, payment history, and overall risk assessment. Ignoring it without justification undermines the integrity of your credit policy and opens the door for future exceptions that may be harder to control.
Secondly, last-minute Friday approvals often bypass proper review steps such as updated financial analysis, D&B or Coface checks, trade references, or even an internal discussion with the CFO or risk committee. When time is short, corners are often cut. You may miss signs that the customer’s financial situation has deteriorated, that their payables are stretching, or that industry risk has shifted. The “good customer” you knew six months or one year ago may be in very different financial condition today.
Another issue is the psychological dynamic: urgency becomes a tool. If sales teams know that pushing through large orders at the last-minute results in fast-tracked approvals, it becomes a repeat tactic. Suddenly, your credit department is no longer managing risk and only rubber-stamping approvals under pressure. This can foster resentment among credit professionals who are expected to uphold policy but are overridden by end-of-week desperation.
It’s also important to consider what happens if that $100K order goes unpaid. Can your company absorb the loss? Will it jeopardize your receivables aging or liquidity ratios? A hasty decision on Friday can cause a month-long headache, or worse, when the payment doesn’t arrive.
That’s why many credit leaders advocate for sticking with the policy. If the order exceeds the credit limit, then either you stay overtime to review it thoroughly, escalate it through the proper channels, or wait until Monday when the right stakeholders are available. The urgency of a sale should never outweigh the importance of risk management.
Ultimately, policies exist for a reason: to protect the company’s financial health. While flexibility is sometimes necessary, it should be applied with caution, documentation, and oversight. When in doubt, the safest path is to evaluate the order according to your credit policy, even if it means missing a Friday deadline. Your company’s balance sheet will thank you.
Your thoughts and comments (nseiverd@cmiweb.com) are most welcome!
Nancy Seiverd, President
CMI Credit Mediators, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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