EP Credit Management & Consultancy Ltd

Credit Management overview and recommendation

We are able to undertake either a complete or partial review of your existing function to identify strengths, report on weaknesses and suggest recommendations in improving the overall quality and delivery to internal and external customers.

It is acknowledged that while Credit functions may be particularly strong in some areas, they frequently carry weaknesses in others. Selection also of centralised or de-centralised functions and hierarchical structures as well as the use of outsourced resources can affect the overall result. Compliance remains a hot topic and managing national and international locations with uniform base practices tailored slightly to suit local and business culture requires constant review and modification. Base underlying core Credit principles however must be outlined strongly in Credit Policy.

A credit policy, properly constituted and either summarised or detailed operationally that is known internally within an organisation ensures fluid movement in sales and credit cycles and secure compliance. Once in place, it becomes easy to audit and monitor performance at required intervals.

Credit Management Training

With either our own training session or those jointly provided by our strategic partners we are able to offer you a bespoke programme to improve your Credit Management teams knowledge of processes, new ideas, client relationships and the new concept of Credit as a sales and marketing tool.

Training, which will on occasion involve workshops can cover all traditional areas in which Credit management operates and include:

• Collections and Billing
• New Account processing and the use of business reporting agencies and scorecards
• Business and client risk - a commercial approach
• Portfolio Management
  
• Credit Insurance and the use of Brokers
  
• Credit Policy base and operational
  
• Dispute Management and use of dashboards to improve business efficiency
  
• Asset Security
  
• Fraud Avoidance
  
• Client Visits - maximising the benefit and return
  
• Management Reporting & value KPIs
  
• Credit information as a sales and marketing tool
  
• Attitude training and Credit Management modules

Contract Work

We are happy to undertake or provide any special short or medium term Credit Management cover for your business. We recognise that on occasion, either through forced or unexpected absence, the overall management and control of a Credit function may lose its effectiveness. We will at all times consider your approach to credit management and will adhere to your core principles and delivery. We are also happy to engage with you in short term outsourcing of specific functions.

Cash flow Management

We are able to assist or give guidance on how best to optimise your debt collection process and improve the overall contribution of collections to working capital management. Too often, small to medium sized business, fearful of exerting too much pressure on larger clients pays the price of delayed settlement of bills which can prove critical to their own survival.

The banking sector is always susceptible to change and the support provided in either short or long term liquidity to business can be frustrating and subject to modification with no prior warning. We are able to assist you in providing alternative funding arrangements through strategic partnerships.

Big deals can also cause some difficulty in contract management. Paying a supplier on 30 days when you are unlikely to be paid before 60 days and the deal value is outside the scope of receivables funding can be troublesome. We are able to support you in seeking end-user finance and advise on how best to satisfy the security requirement of your suppliers.

Credit Repair and Business Support

One real value-add we have consistently offered is the opportunity for a business to negotiate its way out of temporary cash flow problems and credit line restrictions. Many well known names in the IT Reseller sector elected to talk to suppliers first knowing that an honest disclosure could pave the way for selective support among a small number of principal suppliers. This level of support can be for as little as 3 months or as long as 18 months. Naturally, there are demands placed on the business in terms of commitment and provision of regular financial information but weighed against the outcome of no support, this is a small and expected price to pay and can ensure your business survival and continuity without the need for more formal insolvency processes.

Should your business have reached a point of no-return, we are again willing to work with you to see what best outcome can be achieved. Reduction or removal of Credit Insurance cover can be a major headache in reduced supplier credit lines. We are able to advise you on actions to take and lobby on your behalf to ensure as much of the credit line support you had is retained or limit the level of reduction.

Merger & Acquisition

Our wide knowledge of the Information Technology sector and deep rooted client relationships have allowed us to bring together both buyers and sellers. This proved to be a popular and rewarding service to clients and we are delighted to continue this through EP Credit Management & Consultancy.

We have worked with external Venture Capital and Investment companies, Private Equity partners as well as acquisitive Resellers.
Our long-standing knowledge of the sector gives us an edge in finding the right strategic fits and furthermore, a close historical working relationship with many affords us an insight few others enjoy.

Fraud & Risk Management

Poorly structured policies in either of these two critical areas can prove catastrophic for business and fatal for small to medium sized companies. We are ideally placed to support you in detailed review of your internal processes and recommend practices that will substantially minimize or better still, control the risk to your business.

Managing your own client risks is equally important and on occasion, client deals may well be in excess of the comfort you have. We are able to advise you on how best to mitigate the risk but above all ensure your business is given every opportunity to accommodate the transaction Many SMB’s fail to recognise the real value of credit or indeed cover on their own receivables and a high profile client is all too often enough to satisfy the risk decision. Credit Insurance policies are available and tailored for this market and employing a sensible approach to new client and ongoing client risk review does not have to be expensive. We are happy to advise you on how to manage your risk and work with you in finding the right support partner.

Business Development

A client won should be a client retained and nurtured and a client lost should never be ignored. Business guards its client base zealously and yet often fails to note just how valuable this 'big data' can be in terms of harvesting data,maximizing coverage and regenerating sales. We can show you proven techniques to optimize the use of your database that will yield incremental and more profitable sales, increase credit utilization and improve client relationships. Credit management, charged most often with cash collection and risk either fails to note and make use of ERP systems data on Receivables client lists and transactional history or is not tasked in interrogating or reporting on it. A much closer working relationship between business development teams and credit or better still, a specialist business development team within credit itself can lead incremental and regenerative client activity.