Credit Management March 2018

Continual improvement at the Credit Centre
“The opportunity to invite an industry
expert into The Credit Centre to review,
assess and offer recommendation for our
ongoing development and improvement
was the main driver for our seeking the
CICMQ accreditation,” says David Harrison,
Credit Manager.
The Credit Centre provides a full credit
management function to a number of
privately-owned businesses including,
among others, Aalco Metals, the UK's largest
independent multi-metals stockholder and
distributor. The 22 strong Bolton-based
credit team are currently tasked with
looking after 35 UK and Ireland based
service centres, with a combined annual
turnover in excess of £500 million.
“The most significant issue we had
to address while obtaining the CICMQ
accreditation was establishing an
enhanced identity that fully reflected
the vigorous and professional service we
provide to our service centre customers,”
David adds. “With the guidance of CICMQ
Assessor, Sharon Adams, we have created a
distinctive logo for The Credit Centre that
has been successfully and prominently
incorporated into a re-branding of many of
our working procedures.”
Sharon said in her report: ‘The Credit
Centre had the full support in their
application for external recognition of Best
Practice and the successful achievement of
CICMQ accreditation from their Finance
Director, Andy Roberts. This was evident
when he outlined his own perception of
The Credit Centre and commended them
on their performance and achievements so
far’.
Writing’s on the blackboard for Pearson
ESTABLISHED some 173 years ago in
London by Samuel Pearson, Pearson
has grown to become a top 100 blue
chip company that recently achieved the
prestigious CICMQ accreditation.
With expertise in educational
courseware and assessment, and a
range of teaching and learning services
powered by technology, its products and
services are used by millions of teachers
and learners around the world every day.
Pearson has 35,000 employees across
70 countries worldwide, and with annual
revenue exceeding $6.17 billion, its credit
team consists of three CICM members
who work in Harlow, three in Belfast and
around 30 in India that form the Sales
Ledger team, credit control and cash and
bank team.
Matthew Walters (MCICM), UK Head
of Credit at Pearson says the company
has gone through significant change
over the last two years since its initial
accreditation, so working with the CICMQ
team was more important than ever:
“The process has helped us overcome
some of the challenges that we have
been faced with, since the integration of
our ERP system as well as the structural
changes that have occurred. Personally,
it's a great feeling to know I have led my
teams through this important process.”
CICMQ Head of Accreditation, Chris
Sanders says the team cope with a number
of challenges on a daily basis, but work
with the entire business to resolve them:
“During the Discovery Session,
the team said they used CICMQ as a
framework to ensure that the migration
to India, Belfast and the new Oracle
system was structured; this is exactly
what CICMQ was designed for – to bring a
structured framework to the methods and
procedures of a credit function.”
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / March 2018 / PAGE 19