Credit Management November 2018

CICMQ
CICMQ serves up a treat
The Silver Spoon Company
ONE of the UK’s leading
sugar, baking and treats
brands, The Silver Spoon
Company, has achieved
CICMQ accreditation
after excelling in a
number of key areas during assessment.
Among the achievements, Silver Spoon’s
credit control team of three reduced the
company’s debt to an all-time low in this
financial year.
Founded in 1994, the company has
its own portfolio of leading UK brands
including Silver Spoon, Billingtons and
Truvia. The Silver Spoon Company works
with farmers in the East of England to
grow their own sugar beet.
Gary Auckland, Customer Service Team
Leader at The Silver Spoon Company,
says the accreditation has allowed the
company to review and improve its
procedures, and improve the way it reports
information to the wider business: “We
have seen considerable results since we
implemented the changes, which has been
recognised by all at Silver Spoon.”
Top Marks for Imperial
Imperial College London
IMPERIAL College London, one of the
world’s leading universities, has achieved
CICMQ accreditation, demonstrating the
College’s continued excellence in meeting
the CICM’s standard of Quality in Credit
Management.
Imperial College London is a world
top ten university with an international
reputation for excellence in teaching and
research. It is home to 17,000 students and
8,000 staff, who come from more than 100
countries across the world.
Gavin Jones FCICM, Head of Income at
Imperial College, says documentation was
integral to the assessment process: “Over
the years, the College has adapted to the
ever-diversifying types of business and
multiple income streams it works with.
Processes, policies and systems have
had to improve to accommodate this,
and unifying these processes was a key
challenge.
“As part of the CICMQ process, we
have committed to providing training
and development opportunities for staff,
and currently have eight members of the
income team working towards various
levels of CICM qualifications.”
Better connected
with CICMQ
EQUINIX has become CICMQ accredited
for the first time, and since then it has
been selected as one of the Finance
department’s key achievements this
year.
As one of the world’s leading
colocation data centre providers, the
company has stakeholders that are
not only based across 20 European
countries, but also in America and
APAC. CICMQ is one aspect that has
helped it to raise the profile of the credit
department.
“The CICMQ journey allows an
independent credit professional to
review processes, procedures and the
overall operation of the department and
provide feedback. It is only by having
that expert view from the outside do
you really receive a true assessment
of where you sit within a best practice
benchmark,” says Nick Williams MCICM,
Senior Manager (EMEA), Credit and
Collections Equinix.
High five for
Aggregate
AGGREGATE Industries has joined
the most elite group of CICMQ
accredited companies by achieving
re-accreditation for the fourth time.
Aggregate Industries is at the
forefront of the construction and
infrastructure industries. With over 330
sites and more than 4,100 employees,
it produces, imports and supplies
construction materials, exports
aggregate and offers national road
surfacing and contracting services.
Having completed CICMQ assessment
for the first time in 2010, Aggregate now
has a full-time equivalent of 34 in its
credit services team, a number of whom
are undertaking Level 3 and Level 5
exams.
“CICMQ re-accreditation enables
us to differentiate ourselves from our
competitors and demonstrate to our
business that we are adding value
and that the support we give them is
a recognised high standard,” says Phil
Rice FCICM, Head of Credit, Aggregate
Industries. “It also allowed us to
benchmark ourselves and share best
practice with other CICMQ accredited
companies.”
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / November 2018 / PAGE 16