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Looking Ahead
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Check Fraud Avoided with Positive Pay
by Carolyn Thompson, Meadow Gold Dairies
What measures are you taking to protect your companies' assets? I just learned about a program that most banks offer to their customers called "positive pay."
One of our collectors had an interesting phone call from a customer. The customer issued a check to us for $880.86 and mailed the check to our physical address. Most remittance checks are sent to a lock box, but there are a few who mail checks to the plant. Somewhere between our two offices, someone intercepted the check. (We have a large mail box on the street where the mailman delivers our mail.) The check was washed. They changed the name of the payee to Francisco Infante (the name of a Russian Artist who died in 1959). The amount was changed from $880.86 to $4,965.38 and they didn't bother to change the address. The forgery is pretty good. You have to look closely to see that the name doesn't line up exactly with the address. The check was deposited and a hold put on it. Hopefully, the depositing bank won't lose any money.
Here's where "positive pay" came to the rescue of our customer. Bank "Positive Pay" is an anti-fraud service offered by virtually every US commercial bank. It protects companies against altered checks and counterfeit check fraud. View full article
Collection Effectiveness Measures
by Georgette Bevan, CCE, NACM BCS
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) measures the average number of days it takes a company to collect payment of invoices. Tracking DSO helps a company determine their collection effectiveness and may indicate whether current credit policies and procedures require modification. In the current economy and shifting industry conditions, it is particularly important to monitor collection effectiveness and bad debt write-offs.
DSO Calculation:
Accounts Receivable Total
Sales per Day
Example:
150,000 Accounts Receivable
1,257,000 Annual Sales/360 days per year
OR
150,000 Accounts Receivable = 43 days
3,492
View full article
August Recap: In The Trenches
by Melissa Mickelsen, CBA, Geneva Rock Products, Inc.
The annual "In the Trenches" ICEL meeting was held in August. This meeting provides a great opportunity to learn more about our fellow ICEL members and gain insight from their experience.
Connie Steed, CCE, Kenworth Sales Co., was the first speaker at this year's meeting. She shared her love of the credit profession and attributed her professional success to the credit knowledge and confidence she gained while pursuing her designations. She noted that the support she received through NACM and ICEL has been invaluable, and that she has developed lasting friendships through her association with these organizations. Because of this, Connie is committed to helping others work toward professional designations and in turn, make credit a career. Connie reminded the group that as credit managers, we are responsible for managing the second largest asset our companies have, and we must ensure that this asset is managed correctly. She suggested that in collections, we should always keep our goal in mind. She emphasized that we can become partners with our customers. As credit managers, we can help our customers learn to collect more effectively so they're able to make payments in a more timely manner. View full article
A Handy Practice
by Rebecca Knaak, Alder Sales Corp
Trade or business credit is the single largest source of lending in our country. We, as credit managers and A/R professionals, have the pleasure of maintaining and collecting this vast pool of money so necessary to both our companys' and country's growth. That sounds a little trite, but what we do is a big deal.
In my 19 years working in A/R, I've found that the more I know about an individual account, its' owners and job status, the better I'm able to manage the account. It is really valuable to know how to handle the answers to your question, "Why haven't you paid?" Industry Trade Credit Groups are so helpful for this reason. Knowing other credit professional to call on trade references makes finding pertinent information easier, faster, and friendlier. I've worked for companies that have and have not been members of NACM. I've always had better collection success when the company I worked for was a member of NACM. View full article
Spotlight, Barbara Mackay, Intermountain Concrete Specialties
by Janae Jeffs, CCE, Muir Entierprises
Barbara started her working career at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Utah in November, 1969. She worked as a secretary for various companies until at Lamb Engineering and Construction she was put in charge of payroll and AP. It was there that she met her husband.
After leaving Lamb she went to work for Intermountain Concrete Specialties as their Credit Manager. Hopefully, Barbara plans to retire in 5 years.
Since the 1st grade, Barbara wanted to attend South High School but she lived in the East High district so she told her parents that if she couldn't go to South High she just wouldn't go. Barbara is a South High graduate. She attended SLCC when it was Utah Tech in the early 80's taking general business classes. She later earned her certification at SLCC. Barbara admits accounting is not her favorite class.
Having lived in SLC her entire life, Barbara loves the area. She has one sister and two brothers and has a very close family. Her parents are both deceased but she feels very fortunate to have had the best mom and dad ever. She still draws from their strength and wisdom.
John and Barbara have been married for 18 years. Their lives were turned around 360 degrees in April, 2004, when their 7 year old niece- Monique, came to live with them. Monique is now 14 and starting high school.
Barbara loves to read and does word search puzzles. She loves to visit San Francisco and keeps in touch with friends from years gone by. Her favorite TV shows are NCIS, CSI-Miami and Hawaii 5-0. BOOK'EM DANO!
Barbara is a great supporter of ICEL and you will find her at most ICEL meetings. At the next meeting go and introduce yourself to this wonderful woman. |
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