CM December DECEMBER 2018
THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
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CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
<strong>DECEMBER</strong> <strong>2018</strong> £12.00<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND<br />
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
INSIDE<br />
2019 DESKTOP<br />
CALENDAR<br />
Consolidated<br />
Thinking<br />
Is it time for the debt<br />
advice charities to<br />
merge?<br />
Why Crown preference<br />
is causing such a stir.<br />
Page 19<br />
What to do with your<br />
leftover turkey!<br />
Page 52
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4<br />
EDITOR'S COLUMN<br />
SEAN FEAST<br />
<strong>DECEMBER</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
www.cicm.com<br />
CONTENTS<br />
20<br />
ASK THE EXPERTS<br />
LAUREN CARTER FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
16 – INTERVIEW<br />
Derek Usher discusses the world of debt<br />
purchase, FCA approval and a love of<br />
cricket.<br />
19 – OPINION<br />
A closer look at the restoration of Crown<br />
preference in insolvency.<br />
30 – COUNTRY FOCUS<br />
The finer details of doing business<br />
in Ireland.<br />
34 – FESTIVE APPS<br />
Some handy shortcuts for organising<br />
present shopping.<br />
38 – CAREERS ADVICE<br />
Credit Managers are earning more than<br />
ever before, especially outside London.<br />
52 – MAKE YOUR CASE<br />
Regular contributors answer the most<br />
pressing of festive dilemmas.<br />
30<br />
COUNTRY FOCUS<br />
ADAM BERNSTEIN<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> GOVERNANCE<br />
View our digital version online at www.cicm.com Log on to the Members’<br />
area, and click on the tab labelled ‘Credit Management magazine’<br />
Credit Management is distributed to the entire UK and international CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
membership, as well as additional subscribers<br />
Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden without specific permission. Opinions expressed in this magazine do<br />
not, unless stated, reflect those of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. The Editor reserves the right to<br />
abbreviate letters if necessary. The Institute is registered as a charity. The mark ‘Credit Management’ is a registered<br />
trade mark of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.<br />
Any articles published relating to English law will differ from laws in Scotland and Wales.<br />
38<br />
CAREERS ADVICE<br />
KAREN YOUNG<br />
President Stephen Baister FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Chief Executive Philip King FCI<strong>CM</strong> CdipAF MBA<br />
Executive Board Pete Whitmore FCI<strong>CM</strong> – Chair / Debbie Nolan FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad) – Vice Chair<br />
Glen Bullivant FCI<strong>CM</strong> – Treasurer / Larry Coltman FCI<strong>CM</strong>, Victoria Herd FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad), Bryony Pettifor FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad)<br />
Advisory Council Sarah Aldridge FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad) / Laurie Beagle FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Kim Delaney-Bowen MCI<strong>CM</strong> / Glen Bullivant FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Lauren Carter FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Brendan Clarkson FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Larry Coltman FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Victoria Herd FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad) / Philip Holbrough MCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Laural Jefferies MCI<strong>CM</strong> / Diana Keeling FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Martin Kirby FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Christelle Madie FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Julie-Anne Moody-Webster MCI<strong>CM</strong> / Debbie Nolan FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad) / Bryony Pettifor FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad) /Allan Poole MCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Phil Rice FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong> / Paul Taylor MCI<strong>CM</strong> / Pete Whitmore FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
67 – ONE FROM THE ARCHIVE<br />
Credit Management <strong>December</strong> 1972<br />
included an article on the computer and<br />
how it could aid best practice.<br />
Publisher<br />
Chartered Institute of Credit Management<br />
The Water Mill, Station Road, South Luffenham<br />
OAKHAM, LE15 8NB<br />
Telephone: 01780 722910<br />
Email: editorial@cicm.com<br />
Website: www.cicm.com<br />
<strong>CM</strong>M: www.creditmanagement.org.uk<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Deputy Editor<br />
Alex Simmons<br />
Art Editor<br />
Andrew Morris<br />
Telephone: 01780 722910<br />
Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com<br />
Editorial Team<br />
Imogen Hart and Iona Yadallee<br />
Advertising<br />
Grace Ghattas<br />
Telephone: 020 3603 7946<br />
Email: grace@cabbell.co.uk<br />
Printers<br />
Stephens & George Print Group<br />
<strong>2018</strong> subscriptions<br />
UK: £90 per annum<br />
International: £115 per annum<br />
Single copies: £12.00<br />
ISSN 0265-2099<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 3
EDITOR’S COLUMN<br />
Overcoming a<br />
herd mentality<br />
Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Managing Editor<br />
I<br />
love elephants. Did you know that<br />
an elephant cannot run uphill,<br />
spends up to 18 hours a day eating,<br />
and as a result can generate about<br />
a tonne of manure every week?<br />
The biggest elephants can grow up<br />
to three metres tall and weigh an incredible<br />
7,500kg, making them the world’s largest<br />
land mammal. These guys are big, so big<br />
that if one wandered into the room, I think<br />
you’d notice. Which makes me wonder why<br />
it took so long for the debt advice sector to<br />
spot such a little fella.<br />
The elephant I am referring to in this<br />
case is, of course, the issue of funding.<br />
For some time now, there have been<br />
mumblings off stage from certain creditors<br />
and the collections industry as to the<br />
efficiency of the debt advice sector, and<br />
specifically those firms (both charitable<br />
and otherwise) that benefit from the Fair<br />
Share payments. Peter Wyman too, in his<br />
recent report, made specific mention of the<br />
need for the debt advice sector to achieve<br />
greater efficiencies, and to do so quickly.<br />
Whether Fair Share is ‘fair’ or not, or is<br />
paid by those creditors who truly benefit,<br />
is a separate debate; what those current<br />
contributors want to know, is whether their<br />
contributions are being spent delivering<br />
front-line services, or being lost in an evergrowing<br />
overhead of people and property.<br />
The creditors’ argument is that debt<br />
advisors fundamentally deliver the same<br />
‘product’, and why do we need three or four<br />
major players all doing the same thing? The<br />
debt advisors, on the other hand, argue<br />
with some justification that their services<br />
are different, and complementary rather<br />
than competitive.<br />
Now sadly I can’t tell you StepChange’s<br />
position (my entreaties unfortunately<br />
went unanswered so I assume they must<br />
be busy), but of those organisations that<br />
did respond, it’s clear that future funding<br />
is a major concern, and everyone has a<br />
view on what this could look like. Reading<br />
between the lines, they also seem very<br />
aware of the need to justify why separate<br />
organisations are preferred to one larger,<br />
single entity, as has happened in other<br />
sectors.<br />
For the avoidance of any doubt, I am<br />
not knocking the work that debt advisors<br />
do in what are clearly very difficult and<br />
challenging circumstances. (I have a<br />
friend who probably owes his life to the<br />
support he received from one debt advisor<br />
in particular – ironically the one who<br />
wouldn’t come back to me.) And demand<br />
for their services, as we know, is only<br />
going to increase.<br />
But as I have learned from personal<br />
experience, charities who work in similar<br />
areas tend to jealously guard their right to<br />
be there (think of The British Legion versus<br />
Help for Heroes), and that is not always<br />
in their beneficiaries’ best interests. Ego<br />
can do funny things to people. What I also<br />
know is that there are only so many times<br />
that the pitcher can go to the well, and the<br />
more pitchers there are, the more quickly<br />
that well will dry up.<br />
The elephant I am<br />
referring to in this case<br />
is, of course, the issue of<br />
funding.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 4
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The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 5
<strong>CM</strong>NEWS<br />
A round-up of news stories from the<br />
world of consumer and commercial credit<br />
Written by – Sean Feast and Alex Simmons<br />
Companies House agrees<br />
to act on Short-Firm Fraud<br />
Philip King FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Chief Executive of the CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
“At this time of year<br />
we see a number of<br />
fake companies being<br />
set up solely with the<br />
purpose of acquiring<br />
IT and electronics<br />
goods by deception.”<br />
PHILIP King, the Chief Executive of<br />
the CI<strong>CM</strong>, and James Campbell,<br />
Secretary of The European Freight<br />
Transport Association (EFTA)<br />
have succeeded in their representations<br />
to Companies House to challenge the<br />
alarming increase in short-firm fraud.<br />
Companies House will take steps to<br />
display a more prominent warning on its<br />
website regarding the efficacy and accuracy<br />
of the information it holds, confirming that<br />
such information has neither been verified<br />
or validated. Companies House has also<br />
agreed to create a dedicated email through<br />
which businesses can raise concerns over<br />
bogus accounts leintel@companieshouse.<br />
gov.uk.<br />
Philip King says the response from<br />
Companies House executives was both<br />
positive and encouraging: “Credit Managers<br />
often rely on information from Companies<br />
House to make important business<br />
decisions, but need to be aware that such<br />
information can, in fact, be fraudulent.<br />
Credit Reference Agencies, similarly, use<br />
information at Companies House to inform<br />
their decision making, so it is in everyone’s<br />
interest to ensure this information is<br />
accurate.”<br />
Short-firm fraud happens when<br />
criminals set up an apparently legitimate<br />
business intending to defraud its suppliers<br />
and customers. Bogus accounts filed at<br />
Companies House make the business look<br />
substantial.<br />
“Before Christmas, new orders and<br />
new business opportunities tend to<br />
increase. Fraudsters take advantage of<br />
these busy periods, and natural ‘spikes’ in<br />
activity, to commit crime. Only by sticking<br />
to best-practice credit management, sharing<br />
knowledge of risk with your employees in<br />
what to look for, and being sure that you<br />
‘know your customer’, can fraud be avoided.”<br />
Philip says that some sectors are more at<br />
risk than others: “At this time of year we see<br />
a number of fake companies being set up<br />
solely with the purpose of acquiring IT and<br />
electronics goods by deception,” he says.<br />
“Anyone witnessing a sudden and<br />
unexpected increase in orders, or the<br />
emergence of a new customer with whom<br />
they have not previously done business,<br />
should be alive to the potential for fraud,” he<br />
adds.<br />
gov.uk/government/organisations/<br />
companies-house<br />
THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)<br />
has confirmed plans to extend access to<br />
the Financial Ombudsman Service (the<br />
Ombudsman Service) to more SMEs.<br />
The changes will mean that SMEs with<br />
an annual turnover below £6.5 million and<br />
fewer than 50 employees, or an annual<br />
balance sheet below £5 million, will now<br />
be able to refer unresolved complaints to<br />
the Ombudsman Service. Under the ‘nearfinal’<br />
rules now published, around 210,000<br />
additional UK SMEs will be eligible to<br />
complain to the Ombudsman Service.<br />
Respondents to the FCA’s January<br />
FCA extends access to FOS for SMEs<br />
<strong>2018</strong> consultation strongly supported the<br />
extension of the Ombudsman Service to<br />
larger SMEs, charities and trusts, and a new<br />
category of personal guarantors.<br />
The changes will allow a wider number<br />
of SMEs to access the service, so they can<br />
seek redress. The criteria for access to the<br />
service have been amended so that SMEs<br />
must only meet the turnover test and one<br />
of either the headcount or balance sheet<br />
total tests, not all three tests as previously<br />
proposed. The FCA made this change in<br />
response to feedback that applying all three<br />
tests would unfairly exclude certain types<br />
of SME, for example those with relatively<br />
low turnover but 50 or more employees.<br />
The FCA has published near-final rules,<br />
so the Ombudsman Service can start<br />
taking practical steps towards putting the<br />
extension of its remit in place, including<br />
starting recruitment of additional staff with<br />
the skills and experience required. The<br />
FCA intends to publish final rules later this<br />
year, following its normal scrutiny of the<br />
Ombudsman Service’s draft business plan<br />
and budget. It expects the final rules on the<br />
SME extension to come into force on 1 April<br />
2019. fca.org.uk<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 6
New team for the digital market<br />
ATRADIUS and Kemiex have launched a<br />
digital trading platform for raw materials in<br />
the pharma, vet, food and feed industries.<br />
Positioned as a new digital market place,<br />
the platform enables buyers and sellers of<br />
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)<br />
and additives to identify reliable trade<br />
partners and to trade safely. Atradius will<br />
offer support by providing credit risk<br />
insight and trade insurance for trade<br />
partners.<br />
The platform has been designed as an<br />
alternative for existing trading procedures<br />
that are often time consuming, prone to<br />
errors and might be limited to personal<br />
networks. Atradius and Kemiex also<br />
anticipate the need in the human and<br />
animal health and nutrition industries to<br />
comply with strict regulations relating to<br />
quality control. Atradius contributes to the<br />
safety and transparency of the platform<br />
by providing trade insurance for single<br />
transactions through one click on the<br />
Kemiex platform.<br />
The organisations claim that the main<br />
benefit is that buyers and sellers can do<br />
business with reliable parties that comply<br />
with relevant regulations and quality<br />
controls and are credit worthy. Kemiex<br />
estimates whether a company on the<br />
platform complies with quality standards,<br />
whereas Atradius analyses the credit<br />
worthiness of those acting on the platform.<br />
Together, they evaluate companies, their<br />
transactions and the behaviour of traders<br />
in order to ensure that transacting on the<br />
platform is as safe as possible.<br />
atradius.co.uk kemiex.com<br />
>NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
Senior appointment<br />
TWO Fellows of the Chartered Institute<br />
of Credit Management have been<br />
confirmed in senior positions in the<br />
industry. CI<strong>CM</strong> Executive Board member<br />
and Vice Chair Debbie Nolan FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad)<br />
has been appointed as Chief Executive<br />
of Arvato Financial Solutions. She joined<br />
the integrated financial services solutions<br />
company seven years ago as Business<br />
Development Director before becoming<br />
Commercial Director. Colleague and<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Chair Pete Whitmore FCI<strong>CM</strong>, has<br />
become Head of Credit Services, EMEA<br />
for Westcon Group. He started as Credit<br />
Risk Manager two years ago at the cloud<br />
solutions provider, and then held the<br />
position EMEA Credit Risk Manager.<br />
arvato.com uk.westcon.com<br />
Climb in complaints<br />
COMPLAINTS against FCA regulated<br />
companies continued to increase for the<br />
fourth successive half year, reaching a<br />
new record level of 4.13 million made<br />
to 3,161 firms. This was a ten percent<br />
increase compared with the previous<br />
six-month period; 98 percent of the<br />
complaints were made to 235 firms. PPI<br />
continued to be the most complained<br />
about product, accounting for 42 percent<br />
of all complaints. The next most<br />
complained about products are current<br />
accounts (15 percent), credit cards<br />
(eight percent) and motor and transport<br />
insurance (six percent). fca.org.uk<br />
£20k Exporting grant<br />
FEDEX Express is offering a grand prize<br />
grant of £20,000 and runner-up prize of<br />
£10,000 to UK SMEs that demonstrate<br />
how they plan to grow their business<br />
internationally. To stand a chance of<br />
winning, business owners must be ready<br />
to provide details on what inspired them to<br />
start their company, their ethical standards,<br />
as well as a clear strategic vision of future<br />
international growth. To apply for the Small<br />
Business Grant, business owners should<br />
register online and demonstrate their<br />
ambitions to FedEx’s judging panel. The<br />
winner and runner-up will be announced on<br />
24 January 2019. uk.grant.fedex.com<br />
New authority<br />
THE leading retail payments authority<br />
in the UK – formerly known as the New<br />
Payment System Operator / NPSO – has<br />
been rebranded as Pay.UK. Its remit<br />
includes working in the public interest<br />
to ensure that the systems the country<br />
relies on for its banking transactions are<br />
safe, open, innovative and resilient. In<br />
2017 it processed more than eight billion<br />
transactions worth £6.7 trillion, through<br />
Bacs Direct Credit, Direct Debit, Faster<br />
Payments, cheques and Paym.<br />
wearepay.uk<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> index<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> is looking at ways of developing<br />
its current Credit Managers’ Index (<strong>CM</strong>I)<br />
programme to embrace all areas of the<br />
commercial and consumer credit industry<br />
and include benchmarking statistics. The<br />
Institute welcomes ideas from members to<br />
governance@cicm.com.<br />
CSA recognised for 'outstanding' levels of service<br />
THE Credit Services Association, the<br />
voice of the UK debt collection and<br />
debt purchases sectors, has registered<br />
‘outstanding’ customer service levels<br />
in its first ever assessment under the<br />
independent Investor in Customers (IIC)<br />
assessment process.<br />
In being granted a Silver Award, the CSA<br />
had to demonstrate a strong understanding<br />
and desire to meet its members’ needs.<br />
It was especially strong in the area of<br />
‘delighting’ its customers in matters of<br />
treating customers fairly, and when it came<br />
to ‘engendering loyalty’ it was recognised<br />
for building quality relationships. In both<br />
of these sub categories it attained the Gold<br />
standard.<br />
Comments from customers included:<br />
“Good service, clear user-friendly<br />
information, great people”;<br />
“The CSA provides excellent advice and<br />
resources. We are kept up-to-date with any<br />
industry changes or new requirements”;<br />
“The CSA is a valuable service that<br />
champions on our behalf at times when<br />
we may not have a voice”; and “I would<br />
have no hesitation in recommending the<br />
Association to others, and have already<br />
done so on a few occasions.”<br />
IIC is an independent assessment<br />
organisation that conducts rigorous<br />
benchmarking exercises. These exercises<br />
determine the quality of customer service<br />
and relationships across a number of<br />
dimensions, including how well a company<br />
understands its customers, how it meets<br />
their needs and how it engenders loyalty.<br />
IIC also compares and contrasts the views<br />
of staff and senior management to identify<br />
how embedded the customer is within the<br />
company’s thinking.<br />
Peter Wallwork, Chief Executive of the<br />
CSA is delighted with the Award: “To be<br />
recognised by the IIC for the way in which<br />
we deliver our service is a great accolade<br />
and a tremendous reflection on the hard<br />
work, dedication and commitment of the<br />
head office team.” csa-uk.com<br />
“Good service,<br />
clear user-friendly<br />
information,<br />
great people”<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 7
NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
FENCA adopts<br />
GDPR code<br />
THE Federation of European National<br />
Collection Associations (FENCA) has<br />
formally adopted a Code of Conduct to apply<br />
the rules of the General Data Protection<br />
Regulation (GDPR) to the debt collection and<br />
debt purchase sectors. Acknowledged in this<br />
endeavour by European Commissioner for<br />
Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra<br />
Jourová, FENCA is one of the first European<br />
trade bodies to develop a Code of Conduct,<br />
as encouraged by Article 40 of the GDPR. In<br />
close exchange with national Data Protection<br />
Authorities, FENCA will now embark on the<br />
official process of adoption of the GDPR Code<br />
of Conduct by the European Data Protection<br />
Board. fenca.eu<br />
Soggy bottom line<br />
THE total pre-tax profits at the UK’s Top 100<br />
restaurants have plunged 80 percent in the<br />
last year to just £37 million, down from £194<br />
million 12 months ago, research shows by<br />
UHY Hacker Young. The drop means that<br />
pre-tax profits at the UK’s Top 100 restaurant<br />
groups have now fallen 89 percent from £345<br />
million since the first quarter of 2017. UHY<br />
Hacker Young says that the cost of closing<br />
struggling sites has weighed heavily on the<br />
profits of restaurant groups over the past two<br />
years. Household-name groups including<br />
Gaucho, Strada, and Prezzo have all shut a<br />
number of outlets in recent months as the<br />
casual dining sector deals with overcapacity.<br />
uhy-uk.com<br />
Services slowdown<br />
THE UK’s service companies grew by their<br />
slowest pace in seven months in October,<br />
according to IHS Markit's Purchasing<br />
Managers' Index (PMI). The PMI for services<br />
fell from 53.9 to a seven-month low of 52.2,<br />
below City expectations of 53.8. A reading<br />
above 50 indicates growth. Optimism levels<br />
among UK executives also fell to their lowest<br />
point since July 2016.<br />
ihsmarkit.com/products/pmi.html.com/<br />
products/pmi.html<br />
The same cloth<br />
DESPITE Archbishop of Canterbury Justin<br />
Welby saying in 2013 that the Church would<br />
look to compete with payday lenders and<br />
drive them out of existence, figures show that<br />
just 8.8 percent of Anglican churches have<br />
any involvement in social financial projects<br />
or offer debt advice, while only two percent<br />
run advice or lending operations.<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> and ITN combine<br />
to present 'Credit Experts'<br />
THE Chartered Institute of Credit<br />
Management (CI<strong>CM</strong>) has once again<br />
partnered with ITN Productions to<br />
create a new flagship news-style<br />
programme entitled ‘Credit Experts.’<br />
Presented by national newsreader,<br />
Natasha Kaplinsky, ‘Credit Experts’ will<br />
explore the vital role credit management<br />
plays in keeping businesses in business, will<br />
showcase the latest innovative technologies<br />
and best practices facilitating effective<br />
customer outcomes, and will highlight<br />
industry-leading knowledge and guidance<br />
that is vital for sustaining and growing a<br />
successful business landscape.<br />
The news-style piece will combine key<br />
interviews and reports with sponsored<br />
editorial profiles from leading organisations<br />
and will premiere during Credit Week in<br />
March 2019.<br />
Philip King, Chief Executive, CI<strong>CM</strong> says<br />
now, more than ever, credit professionals<br />
are needed to help guide businesses, large<br />
and small, through unchartered waters and<br />
an uncertain future post-Brexit: “Hearing<br />
from those professionals, learning about<br />
best-practice credit management, and<br />
exploring the increasing role of AI and other<br />
technologies in enhancing the customer<br />
Financial boost for apprenticeships<br />
THE Chancellor has announced the new<br />
rates of National Minimum Wage, National<br />
Living Wage and Apprentice Minimum Wage<br />
from April 2019 as recommended by the Low<br />
Pay Commission (LPC). The LPC estimates<br />
that the increase for the Apprentice<br />
Minimum Wage of 20 pence (5.4 percent) will<br />
benefit up to 36,000 apprentices.<br />
The ten percent fee that small businesses<br />
must pay when they take on apprentices will<br />
also be halved. SMEs will only contribute<br />
five percent to the training, as part of a ‘£695<br />
million package to support apprenticeships’.<br />
Up to £5 million is going to the<br />
Institute for Apprenticeships and National<br />
Apprenticeship Service in 2019-20, to<br />
‘identify gaps in the training provider market<br />
and increase the number of employerdesigned<br />
apprenticeship standards available<br />
to employers’. A figure of £20 million has<br />
been allocated to new ‘skills pilots’ which<br />
will include a £3 million scheme to help<br />
‘employers in Greater Manchester and<br />
surrounding areas to address local digital<br />
skills gaps through short training courses’.<br />
There will also be a £10 million pilot in<br />
Greater Manchester, working with the FSB, to<br />
‘test what forms of government support are<br />
most effective in increasing training levels<br />
for the self-employed’.<br />
A £7 million match funding pilot ‘alongside<br />
employers to provide on-the-job training to<br />
young people not currently in employment,<br />
education or training in Greater Manchester,<br />
and to move them into sustainable career<br />
paths with employers’.<br />
Launch of new Export competition<br />
THE Institute of Export & International<br />
Trade (IOE&IT) has launched the 10th ‘Open<br />
to Export Competition’ – an opportunity for<br />
UK companies to take ownership of their<br />
international strategies and win £3,000<br />
towards implementing them.<br />
Sponsored by Bibby Financial Services<br />
(BFS), ‘Taking UK Plc to the World’ asks<br />
SMEs to create an international strategy<br />
using the online ‘Export Action Plan’ tool<br />
on OpentoExport.com. The tool encourages<br />
companies to take decisions along each step<br />
of their international trade journey – from<br />
journey will make this a compelling<br />
programme.”<br />
Elizabeth Fisher-Robins, Head of Industry<br />
News, ITN Productions, says this programme<br />
builds on the success of ‘Credit Champions’:<br />
“We hope this programme continues to<br />
spotlight the importance of excellent<br />
credit management in supporting business<br />
success and the wider UK economy.”<br />
The programme builds on the success<br />
of ‘Credit Champions,’ a launch initiative<br />
broadcast earlier this year.<br />
For more information, or to participate<br />
in the programme contact James Linden,<br />
Director of UK Programming at ITN<br />
Productions on 0207 430 4228 or<br />
james.linden@itnproductions.com.<br />
selecting a market to delivering products or<br />
services to new customers.<br />
Companies have until 25 January to<br />
enter their ‘Export Action Plans’ into the<br />
competition – giving them all of Christmas<br />
and the key planning month of January. Ten<br />
shortlisted finalists will then be invited to<br />
pitch their businesses at a showcase final at<br />
the end of February. The finalists will pitch<br />
to a panel of expert judges about how they<br />
would use the £3,000 cash prize.<br />
export.org.uk<br />
bibbyfinancialservices.com<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 8
Cedar Rose launches new<br />
late payer warnings app<br />
>NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
CEDAR Rose has launched a new scoring<br />
system that allows suppliers to rate<br />
business transactions through its ‘Trade<br />
Rate’ system which aims to provide a<br />
more efficient and robust credit reporting<br />
service.<br />
By searching for a company at cedarrose.com,<br />
visitors will see whether<br />
information on the customer is already<br />
available, and the date of any data already<br />
held. By selecting the Trade Rate tab,<br />
users can then rate their customer’s<br />
payment history using a star scoring<br />
system. Companies can be rated from<br />
one to five, depending on whether or not<br />
the client adhered to pre-agreed payment<br />
terms. Once the ratings are verified by the<br />
credit analysts and at least two ratings<br />
are received on the subject from different<br />
sources, the rating will show in the subject<br />
company’s credit report.<br />
Trade Suppliers can also give a full<br />
reference on a company including their<br />
agreed payment terms, maximum credit<br />
limit amount, average invoice amount,<br />
business trend and usual payment<br />
method by completing a simple form.<br />
There is also the opportunity to add<br />
comments, which the user can decide<br />
whether to share with future purchasers<br />
of the credit report, or leave just for<br />
Cedar Rose’s analysts to view. All ratings<br />
subsequently shown in a credit report are<br />
provided anonymously. cedar-rose.com<br />
Once the ratings are<br />
verified by the credit<br />
analysts and at least<br />
two ratings are received<br />
on the subject from<br />
different sources, the<br />
rating will show in the<br />
subject company’s credit<br />
report.<br />
Tech Committee<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> Technical Committee met on<br />
6 November and discussed a number of<br />
important topics including: BEIS Call<br />
for Evidence on Creating a responsible<br />
payment culture; launch of a further<br />
HM Treasury consultation on ‘Breathing<br />
Space’; HMRC returning to the list of<br />
‘Preferential creditors’ from April 2020<br />
and updates on the progress of Pay.UK<br />
and its plans for the payment space. The<br />
Committee also discussed the process,<br />
rules and risk around insolvency<br />
petitions and their advertising; and the<br />
Government announcement on new<br />
measures to boost funding for small<br />
businesses with new laws to arm small<br />
businesses against unfair contracts that<br />
stop them raising money from unpaid<br />
invoices.<br />
Starling murmurs<br />
STARLING Bank has become the first<br />
mobile-only bank to partner with the Post<br />
Office to offer everyday banking services to<br />
its customers. The partnership will allow<br />
Starling current and business account<br />
customers to deposit and withdraw cash<br />
through the Post Office’s 11,500 branches<br />
nationwide. Starling’s business account<br />
customers will be able to see near ‘real<br />
time’ credit into their account from their<br />
cash deposits into Post Offices. It brings<br />
the total number of banks now part of<br />
the Post Office’s Banking Framework<br />
to 28, helping to provide vital access to<br />
banking services, especially in those 1,500<br />
communities across the UK which are<br />
without a bank branch. stateofflux.co.uk<br />
ALARM BELLS<br />
TWO firms that were behind nearly 600,000 nuisance calls attempting to sell home security<br />
systems to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), have been fined<br />
a total of £220,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). ACT Response from<br />
Middlesbrough was behind 496,455 live marketing calls to TPS subscribers and has been<br />
fined £140,000. There were 128 complaints made about the company between January<br />
2017 and February <strong>2018</strong>. Secure Home Systems (SHS) of Bilston, has been fined £80,000 for<br />
making calls to 84,347 numbers registered with the TPS between September and <strong>December</strong><br />
2017, using call lists bought from third parties without screening them. People made 268<br />
complaints about the company over a two-year period. ico.org.uk<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> to chair conference<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> will once again host a Trade<br />
Credit Conference as a key event supporter<br />
of Credit Week 2019 (18-22 March).<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Chief Executive Philip King will<br />
chair discussions that examine the credit<br />
management lifecycle, perspectives on<br />
building an effective credit management<br />
team and regulatory updates.<br />
Philip said he was delighted to be<br />
supporting the week-long series of<br />
conferences, meetings and networking<br />
events: “The series of events bring together<br />
leading consumer and commercial credit<br />
professionals from Europe and beyond, and<br />
provides a great opportunity for networking,<br />
learning and sharing of best practice.<br />
“All of these are fundamental to the<br />
objectives of the CI<strong>CM</strong> and this is a great<br />
example of a professional body working with<br />
a commercial organisation for the benefit of<br />
the credit community.”<br />
The CI<strong>CM</strong> Trade Credit Conference, part of<br />
the Credit Summit, will take place at the QEII<br />
Centre in Westminster on 21 March 2019.<br />
Measuring up<br />
BIBBY Financial Services (BFS) has<br />
provided a funding package of £500,000<br />
to Haddow Group, a West Yorkshire based<br />
clothing manufacturer which designs and<br />
supplies lifestyle products for some of the<br />
UK’s top high street retailers. Based in<br />
Bradford and founded in 1986, the familyrun<br />
business produces a variety of interior,<br />
swimwear, nightwear and beauty ranges for<br />
retailers. Haddow Group has experienced<br />
significant growth since its creation and<br />
now employs a team of around 60 people.<br />
bibbyfinancialservices<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> INBRIEF<br />
THIS month's briefing includes details of the<br />
new programme with ITN Productions called<br />
Credit Experts, a survey re the BEIS Call for<br />
Evidence, a guest blog by Emma Lovell, Chief<br />
Executive of R3, and an article from Karen<br />
Young from Hays on the benefits of having a<br />
career mentor.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 9
HMRC preferred<br />
status to be restored<br />
THE Chancellor’s plan to give HMRC<br />
preferred status in company<br />
insolvencies has led to dismay<br />
from senior members of the<br />
insolvency profession.<br />
Chief Executive of R3, Emma Lovell,<br />
says the proposal would be a retrograde<br />
and damaging step to UK plc if not thought<br />
through carefully.<br />
“It will amount to a tax on creditors,<br />
including small businesses, pension funds,<br />
suppliers, and lenders, and reverses a status<br />
quo that has been encouraging business<br />
rescue since 2002,” she says. “It may also<br />
make borrowing for small businesses<br />
harder to come by.”<br />
R3’s members say that HMRC could do<br />
more to engage actively in insolvency<br />
procedures, and at an earlier stage. HMRC<br />
has a wide-ranging toolkit to help it to<br />
tackle abuse and evasion, which could be<br />
used more fully, instead of forcing its way to<br />
the top of the queue by legislation.<br />
“HMRC considers itself to be an<br />
‘involuntary creditor’ of businesses, because<br />
it cannot choose which companies to<br />
engage with,” Emma continues. “However,<br />
all suppliers to businesses are ‘involuntary<br />
creditors’ and have to take commercial<br />
risks, and this announcement will<br />
hugely increase the risks taken by small<br />
enterprises trying to do business.”<br />
The Government has moved in recent<br />
months to improve and strengthen the<br />
UK’s business rescue framework, which R3<br />
has welcomed. However, Emma feels this<br />
announcement risks throwing away much<br />
of the recent progress that has been made.<br />
“We hope that the Government will<br />
reconsider this move and listen to concerns<br />
of the insolvency and restructuring<br />
profession as it consults on the issue over<br />
the coming months.”<br />
Frances Coulson goes into more detail on<br />
page 19.<br />
gov.uk/government/organisations/hmrevenue-customs<br />
Emma Lovell<br />
Chief Executive Officer at R3<br />
Debt deceit by nearest and dearest<br />
ALMOST one fifth of Brits (19 percent) would<br />
never inform a partner of their debt situation,<br />
according to research by Equifax. The survey<br />
found those aged 65 and over (29 percent)<br />
are almost twice as likely as those aged 18-24<br />
and 35-44 (both 12 percent) not to reveal their<br />
debt to their significant other.<br />
Only a third of respondents (32 percent)<br />
would inform a new partner of their debt<br />
situation within three months of beginning<br />
a new relationship. Of those, men are more<br />
forthcoming than women – 37 percent vs 27<br />
percent respectively.<br />
Furthermore, over a third (35 percent)<br />
of people who are either married or in a<br />
civil partnership do not have a shared<br />
bank account, with the proportion rising<br />
considerably for people earning less than<br />
£20,000 (71 percent).<br />
Meanwhile, similar findings from research<br />
by the Money Advice Service reveals UK<br />
adults are hiding more than £96 billion of<br />
debt from their friends and family, with the<br />
average amount of hidden debt in the UK<br />
standing at £41,643 per person.<br />
Of those in a relationship, almost a third<br />
(29 percent) say their other half does not<br />
know about all the money they owe. And<br />
five percent admit that their partner is<br />
completely in the dark about their debts.<br />
Almost half (47 percent) say their close<br />
friends don’t know they have any debts at all.<br />
Men are less likely than women to open up<br />
about it; half (50 percent) of men admit that<br />
their close friends don’t have a clue about<br />
their debts, which is seven percentage points<br />
higher than women (43 percent).<br />
The research finds that credit cards<br />
account for the largest quantity of hidden<br />
debt (48 percent). Personal loans from a<br />
bank or building society (17 percent), an<br />
overdraft (16 percent), money owed to friends<br />
and family (12 percent) and store cards (11<br />
percent) follow. Meanwhile, eight percent of<br />
all those with debt hide payday loan debt.<br />
equifax.co.uk<br />
>NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
Bean counting<br />
UK consumers are spending less<br />
on habitual leisure activities such<br />
as drinking coffee and eating out<br />
compared to last year, according to the<br />
latest findings from Deloitte’s ‘Leisure<br />
Consumer Q3 <strong>2018</strong>’ report. The quarterly<br />
survey of 3,105 UK leisure consumers<br />
also revealed that, while overall spending<br />
was flat compared to Q3 2017, consumers<br />
increased their spending in both ‘culture<br />
and entertainment’ and ‘gym and sport’<br />
by two percentage points, with the boost<br />
likely caused by the dry weather over the<br />
summer months. Consumers reported<br />
spending less on drinking in coffee shops<br />
than they did in Q3 2017, falling by three<br />
percentage points. In addition, eating and<br />
drinking out saw a two percentage points<br />
fall in net spending year-on-year.<br />
deloitte.com/uk/en.html<br />
Real-time ID checks<br />
EQUIFAX has teamed up with open<br />
banking technology provider consents.<br />
online to allow it to match customer<br />
data and transactions in real-time.<br />
Users will be able to match identity<br />
information such as the consumer’s<br />
name, address and date of birth with<br />
transaction data provided through<br />
open banking, helping them verify who<br />
someone is faster and help avoid fraud.<br />
It will be used within Equifax’s bank<br />
account verifier system that lets lenders<br />
compare sort codes and account<br />
numbers to its own database.<br />
equifax.co.uk<br />
Service charge<br />
SERVICE exports increased to £72.3<br />
billion in the second quarter of <strong>2018</strong>, up<br />
from £66.9 billion in the first quarter, and<br />
up from £68.6 billion during the same<br />
period in 2017, according to the Office for<br />
National Statistics (ONS). Exports to the EU<br />
increased by more than any other region<br />
between the first and second quarter.<br />
However, the US remained the UK’s largest<br />
single country trade partner, buying £15.2<br />
billion of British services in the second<br />
quarter. ‘Other business services’ –<br />
including legal, accounting and advertising<br />
– was the biggest type of exported services,<br />
followed by financial services. ons.gov.uk<br />
PPI payout<br />
A total of £3.7 billion has been paid out<br />
following PPI claims since the Financial<br />
Conduct Authority (FCA) launched its<br />
campaign to promote consumer action,<br />
with monthly volumes up 40 percent<br />
since the launch. Since 2011 more than<br />
£30 billion in redress has been received<br />
by consumers.<br />
fca.org.uk<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 10
Bailiff research ridiculed as<br />
‘mathematical gymnastics’ by<br />
enforcement leader<br />
A<br />
senior business leader has<br />
slammed research from Citizens<br />
Advice into the use and actions of<br />
bailiffs as ‘clever, mathematical<br />
gymnastics’ after the charity reported a<br />
24 percent rise in bailiff complaints since<br />
2014 and cited more than half a million<br />
examples of where bailiffs have breached<br />
current rules.<br />
Russell Hamblin-Boone, Chief Executive<br />
Officer of the Civil Enforcement Association<br />
(CIVEA), took the charity to task: “Citizens<br />
Advice has used clever, mathematical<br />
gymnastics to come to the figure of a rule<br />
broken by bailiffs every minute,” he says.<br />
“Bailiffs collected 12 million debts over<br />
the years quoted in the report, so it is<br />
wrong to make those sweeping judgement<br />
about bailiffs who operate against tight<br />
regulations.”<br />
The research took the form of a poll by<br />
YouGov involving 277 people. It suggested<br />
that bailiffs are flouting the laws in a<br />
number of cases, by refusing to accept<br />
affordable payments, misrepresenting their<br />
rights of entry, and taking control of goods<br />
inappropriately. The purpose of the report<br />
was to show that 2014 reforms haven't<br />
worked, and new regulation was required.<br />
Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens<br />
Advice, says too often bailiffs, and the firms<br />
they work for, are a law unto themselves:<br />
“This is inflicting widespread harm on<br />
people and their families and it has to stop.<br />
“The 2014 reforms were well intentioned<br />
but sadly have had little effect on<br />
improving the behaviour of some bailiffs,”<br />
Mrs Guys adds. “Faced with the evidence<br />
we’ve put in front of them, the Ministry of<br />
Justice has no other option but to establish<br />
an independent bailiff regulator.”<br />
Phil Andrew, StepChange Debt Charity<br />
Chief Executive, agrees: “This is completely<br />
unacceptable, especially as the people<br />
on the receiving end are often distressed,<br />
vulnerable and unempowered. Across the<br />
debt advice sector, we are united in the<br />
view that it’s now time for regulation to be<br />
more robust, and for the rules to be properly<br />
enforced. Even some bailiff firms seem<br />
to be realising that the days of informal<br />
regulation need to end.”<br />
But Russell takes a very different stance:<br />
“Some of the things that Citizen’s Advice<br />
are saying is happening are illegal, so why<br />
aren’t they being reported to the Police? We<br />
record our bailiffs – they have video badges<br />
on their jackets and that is reviewed on a<br />
daily basis to make sure they are following<br />
the rules appropriately.<br />
“A visit by an enforcement agent is<br />
always the last resort. In order to receive a<br />
visit you must have ignored final demands,<br />
emails, phone calls and texts. Of course,<br />
agents need to be assertive when chasing<br />
down people who refuse to pay their<br />
council tax or court fines. But if there<br />
is any genuine evidence that agents are<br />
acting illegally then we will investigate<br />
and take the necessary action. But if we<br />
are to continue working together to drive<br />
up industry standards, we must avoid an<br />
emotionally-charged debate and instead<br />
focus on robust facts and strong evidence.”<br />
Citizens Advice has used<br />
clever, mathematical<br />
gymnastics to come to the<br />
figure of a rule broken by<br />
bailiffs every minute.<br />
>NEWS<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
FE<strong>CM</strong>A APPOINTMENT<br />
CHIEF Executive of the CI<strong>CM</strong>, Philip King,<br />
has been elected as Vice President of<br />
Federation of European Credit Managers<br />
(FE<strong>CM</strong>A) during the meeting of its council<br />
in Budapest. He will be serving a second<br />
term as one of the two Vice Presidents.<br />
fecma.eu<br />
Unsustainable<br />
SOME eight in ten organisations are<br />
struggling to include sustainability in their<br />
supply chain management, according to<br />
research by State of Flux. The annual report<br />
surveyed more than 300 organisations<br />
and found only five percent of these can<br />
be classed as ‘leaders’ in supply chain<br />
sustainability. The report also revealed that<br />
47 percent of organisations do very little<br />
or no joint work with suppliers to manage<br />
sustainability. stateofflux.co.uk<br />
Flashing the cash<br />
UK Finance data shows that consumers<br />
spent £10.7 billion using credit cards in<br />
September – the highest monthly total<br />
since records began in 1997. This came<br />
in a month where the amount of money<br />
placed into savings accounts climbed by<br />
0.9 percent, the smallest increase since<br />
2007. Contrastingly, growth in consumer<br />
credit has slowed to its lowest level in<br />
more than three years. Bank of England<br />
data showed that personal borrowing via<br />
loans and credit cards was up 7.7 percent<br />
on an annualised basis in September, the<br />
lowest rate since June 2015. It is also well<br />
below the peak of 10.9 percent recorded in<br />
November 2016. ukfinance.org.uk<br />
Self-employed exhibit debt dilemma<br />
A growing number of small business<br />
owners and self-employed people are<br />
facing high levels of debt as they struggle<br />
to keep their businesses afloat, according<br />
to research from Business Debtline.<br />
Findings show that half (49 percent)<br />
of the people contacting the service last<br />
year had debt totaling £10,000 or more,<br />
with nearly a quarter (23 percent) owing<br />
more than £30,000.<br />
Issues such as late payments, low<br />
and variable incomes and a lack of<br />
essential business management skills are<br />
identified as some of the key challenges<br />
that can lead to financial difficulty and<br />
in some cases business failure. Both<br />
business and personal debts are common<br />
amongst the people helped via Business<br />
Debtline, with the two often intermixed,<br />
further complicating their situation.<br />
While the people helped by Business<br />
Debtline had a wide income range, 39<br />
percent had gross business annual<br />
turnover below £25,000. Low and irregular<br />
income were major challenges and often<br />
prevented small business owners from<br />
saving, investing in the business and<br />
having the financial resilience to deal<br />
with changes in circumstances such<br />
as ill health. More than six in 10 callers<br />
surveyed (61 percent) said they had used<br />
personal credit at some point to pay for<br />
business costs in the past two years.<br />
Nearly half (45 percent) of callers<br />
to Business Debtline surveyed said<br />
they experienced problems with late<br />
payments, where they are uncertain<br />
when the money they have earned<br />
will be paid. The issue was common for<br />
both sole traders and company directors.<br />
Before starting trading, most felt<br />
confident completing a budget (80<br />
percent) but they were less confident<br />
constructing a business plan (59 percent)<br />
and completing tax and VAT returns<br />
(47 percent). After seeking advice from<br />
Business Debtline, 82 percent of callers<br />
reported that they felt more in control<br />
of their finances, with 86 percent saying<br />
they were less likely to find themselves<br />
in a similar situation again.<br />
A significant proportion (69 percent)<br />
considered themselves to be in a<br />
vulnerable situation. Financial difficulty<br />
was the main reason given, with<br />
depression, anxiety and stress commonly<br />
cited. For many, being in a vulnerable<br />
situation caused them to struggle to<br />
trade, further impacting their income.<br />
businessdebtline.org<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 11
INSOLVENCY<br />
Budget <strong>2018</strong><br />
The potential impact on insolvency following<br />
the budget announcement.<br />
AUTHOR – David Kerr MCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
David Kerr<br />
IN among Philip Hammond’s<br />
jokes and the headlines about<br />
the ending of austerity, one of<br />
the main points likely to attract<br />
interest from creditors is the<br />
announcement regarding the<br />
position of HM Revenue & Customs<br />
in insolvencies. In a surprise move,<br />
after dealing with the new digital tax<br />
on corporate giants in his speech, he<br />
switched to a measure that seems to be<br />
characterised as part of a push on tax<br />
avoidance, saying:<br />
‘We must also make sure people play by<br />
the rules. We’ll make HMRC a preferred<br />
creditor in business insolvencies to<br />
ensure that tax which has been collected<br />
on behalf of HMRC is actually paid to<br />
HMRC.’<br />
This is not a criticism of insolvency<br />
practitioners. The Government removed<br />
the Revenue’s preferential status some 15<br />
years ago as part of an initiative to boost<br />
enterprise and allow more money in<br />
insolvency cases to flow through to other<br />
creditors. At the same time it introduced<br />
the prescribed part rules so that the tax<br />
man’s sacrifice wasn’t entirely eaten up by<br />
secured creditors with floating charges.<br />
While some see the return of HMRC’s<br />
preferential status as a backward step,<br />
it might be viewed in conjunction with<br />
an intention to increase the value of<br />
the prescribed part, and perhaps more<br />
widely in the context of other businessfriendly<br />
Budget measures. Irrespective<br />
of the merits of the Chancellor’s move<br />
(and the Treasury’s argument that this<br />
money should go to fund public services<br />
‘as intended’) and bearing in mind that<br />
the Finance Bill has yet to be passed, the<br />
limited information published to date<br />
makes interesting reading.<br />
The taxes at the heart of the measure<br />
are VAT, PAYE/NIC and construction<br />
industry scheme monies collected or<br />
deducted by companies and not passed<br />
over to HMRC at the commencement of<br />
insolvency. Non-payment of such monies<br />
is already a consideration in director<br />
disqualification cases, but that hasn’t<br />
stopped directors using those funds to<br />
finance trading when companies are in<br />
distressed situations. Other tax payable<br />
by the business is not affected.<br />
The proposed change (alongside other<br />
tax avoidance rules targeted at directors)<br />
will come into force on 6 April 2020, so that<br />
in respect of insolvencies commencing<br />
on or after that date the new preferential<br />
status will apply.<br />
UNSECURED CREDITORS?<br />
A key element of the new proposal is that<br />
in respect of the affected taxes, HMRC’s<br />
preferential status will be secondary to<br />
existing preferential creditors such as<br />
the Redundancy Payment Service. So, the<br />
creditors impacted will be floating charge<br />
holders and ordinary unsecured creditors.<br />
Treasury makes the point that lending<br />
to businesses should not be affected in a<br />
‘material’ way, as fixed charges holders<br />
are unaffected, and the reduced recovery<br />
by floating charge holders represents only<br />
a ‘very small fraction’ of total lending;<br />
some may disagree.<br />
There will of course be a negative<br />
impact on unsecured creditors, but<br />
Treasury argues that most will not be<br />
affected as they are usually unable to<br />
recover their debts in any event (only<br />
four percent of debts owed on average,<br />
it states). Some might argue with these<br />
figures and their assessment of the impact<br />
on unsecured creditors; inevitably, those<br />
cases which produce dividends will<br />
in future be likely to produce smaller<br />
dividends (or none at all) for those at the<br />
bottom of the insolvency pecking order.<br />
It is interesting to be returning to<br />
something that existed for the first half<br />
of the 30-year period since the 1986<br />
Insolvency Act. There is some clue to the<br />
Government’s thinking in the wording<br />
of the HM Treasury statement which<br />
suggests these taxes ‘paid in good faith by<br />
(a business’s) employees and customers’<br />
are ‘held on trust’ by the business. There<br />
has not been any suggestion that they<br />
will be regarded as trust monies in a<br />
way that would create all sorts of legal<br />
complications, merely a hint that HMRC<br />
has a moral case for jumping the queue<br />
and claiming its dues (estimated by<br />
Treasury to be £185 million per annum)<br />
on behalf of the Great British public and<br />
taxpayers.<br />
Finally, there has been no published<br />
information at this stage suggesting a limit<br />
on the new preferential claims, unlike<br />
the position with Revenue preferential<br />
creditor claims pre-2003; also, while<br />
the announcement refers to businesses<br />
and could in theory cover individual<br />
insolvent traders, the focus appears to<br />
be on corporate insolvencies. Further<br />
clarification is awaited on these points.<br />
David Kerr MCI<strong>CM</strong> is an insolvency<br />
practitioner with extensive regulatory<br />
experience.<br />
We must also make<br />
sure people play by the<br />
rules. We’ll make HMRC<br />
a preferred creditor in<br />
business insolvencies to<br />
ensure that tax which has<br />
been collected on behalf<br />
of HMRC is actually paid<br />
to HMRC.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 12
OPINION<br />
First impressions<br />
Philip King FCI<strong>CM</strong> reflects on a busy and exciting<br />
year for the CI<strong>CM</strong>, and a series of ‘firsts’.<br />
Philip King FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
THEY say that time flies when<br />
you’re having fun. That may<br />
be the case, and often is,<br />
and it is certainly true that<br />
12 months can go by in a<br />
flash when you are busy,<br />
and the Chartered Institute of Credit<br />
Management has probably had one of<br />
its busiest years since I became Chief<br />
Executive in 2006.<br />
Three key purposes of the CI<strong>CM</strong> are<br />
to raise awareness of the importance of<br />
credit management, drive best practice,<br />
and support credit professionals as their<br />
careers develop.<br />
The launch of our Credit Champions<br />
documentary at the start of the year<br />
ticked all three of those boxes and<br />
more. A collaborative initiative with ITN<br />
Productions, it was launched to wide<br />
acclaim at the Credit Summit in March,<br />
and is a programme we are looking to<br />
revisit in 2019.<br />
Indeed <strong>2018</strong> was a year of significant<br />
‘firsts’: our first venture into television<br />
documentaries; the launch of our<br />
Knowledge Hub, providing members and<br />
subscribers with access to more than 1,000<br />
knowledge resources covering the entire<br />
credit management lifecycle; and the<br />
launch of our CI<strong>CM</strong> Mentor Hub, a simple<br />
yet highly-practical way of matching<br />
suitable mentors and mentees.<br />
We also launched our new CI<strong>CM</strong> branch<br />
in Ireland, (see November <strong>2018</strong> news), and<br />
I have been delighted with the enthusiasm<br />
shown by the newly-appointed officers and<br />
the levels of engagement already being<br />
realised.<br />
The thirst for knowledge around<br />
best-practice in credit management, not<br />
just in the UK but also internationally,<br />
was evidenced by the broad spread of<br />
nationalities represented in recent exams.<br />
Students in no fewer than 17 different<br />
countries, from the UK to the US, chose the<br />
education pathway offered by the CI<strong>CM</strong>,<br />
confirming in my mind the essential<br />
role that the CI<strong>CM</strong> continues to play in<br />
delivering real expertise.<br />
That does not mean we can rest on<br />
our laurels, and as you can read on<br />
page 46, we are continually looking at<br />
how our qualifications can be further<br />
enhanced to meet a new generation of<br />
credit professionals, as well as how we can<br />
support a growing number of apprentices.<br />
Closer to home, we celebrated yet<br />
another successful event with our CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
British Credit Awards and look forward to<br />
announcing our 2019 Awards winners in<br />
February. The Awards continue to grow in<br />
popularity, as does our CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accreditation<br />
scheme that delivers real evidence of bestpractice<br />
credit management in action.<br />
Of course, we have had our challenges<br />
this year too. I do not always find myself<br />
in agreement either with my Peers in other<br />
leading business organisations, or with our<br />
MPs and public servants. I am continually<br />
frustrated by the late payment debate<br />
being hijacked as a point-scoring exercise<br />
without any real understanding of what<br />
can be a very complex issue.<br />
I will say, however, that by debating<br />
the issue, and challenging other people’s<br />
opinions, we are also managing to promote<br />
the importance of credit management, and<br />
I will continue to champion the value that<br />
professional credit managers can add to<br />
building better businesses.<br />
With that in mind, I wish you all a Merry<br />
Christmas and a happy and prosperous<br />
New Year.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 13
OPINION<br />
Plus Ça<br />
Change?<br />
Is it time for the larger free debt<br />
advice organisations to merge or will<br />
they continue to ignore the elephant in<br />
the room?<br />
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
ASK anyone working in<br />
consumer credit about the<br />
debt advice sector, and you’re<br />
likely to hear a broad range<br />
of views, especially when<br />
it comes to how free debt<br />
advice is funded. Amid the calls for a<br />
more level playing field, and for Fair<br />
Share payments to be – well – fair, there<br />
are also murmurs that the sector should<br />
stop squandering limited resources and<br />
consolidate (see boxed out section).<br />
Certainly they would not be the first to<br />
see consolidation as a logical next step. One<br />
only has to think of the examples of Age<br />
Concern and Help the Aged, pooling their<br />
resources and coming together as Age UK, or<br />
the consolidation that led to the creation of<br />
Cancer Research UK.<br />
There are also examples closer to<br />
home. In July 2017, UK Finance came<br />
into being, bringing together various<br />
disparate financial bodies (including the<br />
British Bankers Association, The Asset-<br />
Based Finance Association, the Council of<br />
Mortgage Lenders, the UK Cards Association<br />
etc) under one roof. Stephen Jones, the UK<br />
Chief Executive said at the time that ‘…the<br />
boundaries between banking services are<br />
blurring, enabling the industry to become<br />
more efficient and customer-focused.’<br />
The argument at the time was that<br />
consolidation would save money, maximise<br />
resources, and bring a single, more powerful<br />
and more unified voice to government in what<br />
are essential services for business growth.<br />
Whether it has succeeded in its mission is<br />
rather difficult to tell, and approaches to the<br />
UK Finance Press Office have yielded little<br />
(or indeed nothing) in the way of supportive<br />
facts. Instinctively, however, it feels like the<br />
right thing to have done, even if some of the<br />
larger directors’ salaries do not seem to have<br />
completely disappeared.<br />
Consolidation in the debt advice sector, it<br />
is argued, could similarly save considerable<br />
amounts of cash, and this is money that<br />
could be better spent in supporting the<br />
customer. A glance at various publicly<br />
available accounts might suggest where<br />
savings could be realised.<br />
The outgoing CEO of StepChange Debt<br />
Charity, for example, reportedly earned<br />
more than £180,000 in 2017 (according to its<br />
annual report), while the total remuneration<br />
to senior staff was just shy of £1.2 million.<br />
The chief executive and two deputy chief<br />
executives at the Money Advice Trust (MAT),<br />
by comparison, earned more than £270,000<br />
between them.<br />
Christians Against Poverty (CAP), meanwhile,<br />
states in its annual report that the<br />
total remuneration paid to its four key<br />
management personnel totalled c£300,000<br />
in 2017. If we add to these numbers the<br />
salary of the highest-paid director of Payplan<br />
(Payplan is not a charity but still receives<br />
industry funding) – a salary it should be<br />
noted that has risen by almost 70 percent in<br />
the last 12 months to more than £190,000 –<br />
then c£2 million is paid out to fewer than 30<br />
people. And that figure does not take into<br />
account pension contributions, dividends<br />
etc.<br />
Good people cost money, and there is<br />
nothing to suggest that these executives don’t<br />
earn every penny and possibly more besides.<br />
(There is arguably something incongruous<br />
about high-earners providing services to<br />
the least well-off, but that’s a story best left<br />
to the Red Tops.) And while salaries will<br />
grab the headlines, the real cost is in the<br />
infrastructure and cost of operations.<br />
StepChange has a dozen or so offices<br />
in the UK and employs c1,500 staff. MAT<br />
employs 190. CAP a further 260 at its head<br />
office. Start adding up the staff costs and<br />
total expenditure, and it doesn’t take long<br />
to see that tens of millions of pounds are<br />
being spent by multiple organisations who<br />
are effectively endeavouring to deliver<br />
fundamentally the same thing – helpful debt<br />
advice to struggling consumers.<br />
Those organisations might themselves<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 14
OPINION<br />
Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Not so Fair<br />
DEBT Buying members of the Credit Services Association (CSA) are on<br />
target to contribute at least £25.5 million in voluntary ‘Fair Share’ payments<br />
in <strong>2018</strong> to help fund free-to-customer debt advisers, according to latest<br />
statistics.<br />
This is an increase on the 2017 total of £23 million which at the time<br />
represented 46 percent of the £50 million the Money Advice Service (MAS)<br />
reports as contributed by the financial services sector in its entirety to<br />
StepChange Debt Charity, PayPlan and Christians Against Poverty.<br />
The contribution, which has risen from c£15 million in 2016, an increase<br />
of 70 percent, has led some senior debt industry executives to question<br />
both the existing funding model and whether the debt advice sector itself<br />
should be re-organised.<br />
“The industry is paying more than its fair share of ‘Fair Share’, and not<br />
shirking its responsibilities,” says John Ricketts, President of the CSA. “In<br />
fact, our members’ voluntary Fair Share contributions, when added to the<br />
recent substantial increase in the Financial Conduct Authority levy on debt<br />
buyers to directly fund the Money Advice Service (MAS), means that debt<br />
buyers are being asked to contribute a total of £30 million to help fund debt<br />
advice in the UK.<br />
“Where we should really be looking is at the effectiveness and efficiency<br />
of a fragmented debt advice sector who all fundamentally deliver the same<br />
thing. There certainly needs to be an ongoing review of how all free-to-use<br />
debt advice is funded in the future – it needs to be fair and proportionate<br />
funding from all sectors that benefit including Utilities, Local Authorities<br />
and Central Government.<br />
“But there also needs to be a root and branch review of how debt advice<br />
is delivered and whether consolidating and therefore simplifying those<br />
activities will deliver a better, more cost-effective and more sustainable<br />
service to the consumer. We remain committed to working with the<br />
regulator, the MAS and the debt advice sector in finding a fair, workable<br />
and sustainable long-term funding solution.”<br />
Additional reporting by Ali Bond.<br />
argue, with some justification, that their<br />
services are different. Joanna Elson OBE,<br />
Chief Executive of MAT, says that each charity<br />
has different models and channels, and that<br />
their services are complementary. “That<br />
said,” she explains, “there is a need for even<br />
closer working, to ensure people receive the<br />
right support they need as early as possible,<br />
and that collectively we use the resources<br />
available as cost-effectively as we can.”<br />
Joanna says that MAT is continuing to<br />
explore further opportunities for working<br />
more closely together to ensure it delivers<br />
services in an efficient and effective way:<br />
“We are grateful to our funders and other<br />
stakeholders for their help in ensuring we<br />
collectively operate in a way that meets the<br />
needs of the thousands of clients who need<br />
our help,” she adds.<br />
Alistair Chisholm of Payplan chimes a<br />
similar message and conciliatory tone: “We<br />
believe in consumer choice and working<br />
together with partners to deliver services<br />
effectively, ensuring that advice funding is<br />
used efficiently and spent in a way that is<br />
measurable. We believe in a collaborative<br />
approach to providing debt advice as<br />
this allows each provider to play to their<br />
strengths.”<br />
Christians Against Poverty, in its<br />
submission to Peter Wyman’s [report], is on a<br />
similar page, citing the nuanced differences<br />
in the services that various organisations<br />
provide: ‘CAP’s model is unique because it<br />
is designed to accommodate and support<br />
people with multi-complex needs. As a<br />
result, it is an expensive model that can only<br />
cater for small numbers. There is a need for a<br />
variety of different channels to cater for all in<br />
need of debt advice, but extending a service<br />
due to its cost-effectiveness should not be the<br />
sole dimension of the decision’.<br />
Consolidation, of course, is only ever a<br />
good thing if it results in an improved service<br />
for the customer. There are doubtless many<br />
examples of mergers within the commercial<br />
space that promised much, but in the end<br />
simply resulted in a small number of top<br />
executives filling their boots without any<br />
discernible improvement in the customer<br />
experience. Indeed, by consolidating the debt<br />
advice charities and associated organisations,<br />
it could be a case of ‘be careful what you wish<br />
for’ if the end result is a bloated, inflexible<br />
organisation that loses sight of its real<br />
purpose. Sometimes niche, focused charities<br />
deliver better outcomes.<br />
That said, it’s clear that the issue needs to<br />
be addressed. At the moment, debt collection<br />
agencies, for example, are obliged to<br />
signpost a dozen or so debt advisors in their<br />
correspondence with customers, but how<br />
such a list is meant to make life easier for the<br />
consumer is difficult to fathom. Channelling<br />
those enquiries through a single entity could<br />
be the answer.<br />
In his own report, Peter Wyman says that<br />
at the very least, debt advice organisations<br />
need to redouble efforts to achieve efficiency<br />
savings, and that the sector had to ‘move with<br />
the times’. He also states that the quality of<br />
advice given ‘is not uniformly high’ which<br />
adds another layer of challenge.<br />
It would take a brave executive to lead on<br />
this debate, and an incredibly brave turkey<br />
who voted for Christmas. It would mean<br />
casting egos aside and the point scoring<br />
that is sometimes evident in their PR and<br />
marketing campaigns. But like any huge<br />
elephant in the room, the issue cannot stay<br />
hidden forever, especially in the context of<br />
ongoing rumblings among creditors with<br />
regards future funding.<br />
Creditors, understandably, want to know<br />
that the money they are contributing is being<br />
properly spent, and going to support the<br />
customers who need it, rather than feeding<br />
an inefficient engine that may be in urgent<br />
need of retuning.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 15
INTERVIEW<br />
ON THE<br />
FRONT FOOT<br />
Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong> speaks to<br />
Derek Usher about debt purchase,<br />
customer engagement, and the batting<br />
style of Geoffrey Boycott.<br />
LIKE many senior executives<br />
in the credit industry, Derek<br />
Usher never set out to work in<br />
collections. His parents owned<br />
a small general store in Erith,<br />
Kent, and the family lived above<br />
and behind the shop. His father also worked<br />
nights as a lathe operator in a local factory, so<br />
Derek has always understood the concept of<br />
hard work: “If you work hard then good things<br />
come from it and opportunities will come your<br />
way,” he says.<br />
It certainly seems to be true in Derek’s case.<br />
From comparatively humble, working class<br />
origins he is now the Managing Director for<br />
Cabot Credit Management’s UK debt purchase<br />
business, a role he has held since 2016.<br />
Originally schooled at Southfields in<br />
Gravesend (in 1997, Southfields was named as<br />
one of the worst in the country and put under<br />
special measures!), he found happier times<br />
when his parents move to Felixstowe, and<br />
he attended the local Comprehensive. Derek<br />
proved a capable student: “I was in the top<br />
sets,” he says, “but whereas for some it came<br />
easily, I always had to work hard.”<br />
NARROW CHOICE<br />
Derek remembers little or nothing in the way<br />
of significant careers advice, but does recall<br />
narrowing his choice between being a quantity<br />
surveyor or an accountant. “I was fixated on<br />
who earned the most,” he laughs, “and in the<br />
end decided that being close to the money was<br />
probably the best route!”<br />
It proved a wise decision. At Brighton<br />
Polytechnic he opted for a one-year foundation<br />
course followed by four years of articles, which<br />
he spent with a small, local practice, Chater<br />
Spain. “I had been interviewed by Touche<br />
Ross,” he explains and got through to the<br />
second interview. “Then they wanted me back<br />
for a third as they said it was between me and<br />
one other, and they couldn’t decide. I made<br />
the decision for them and declined. I’d been<br />
offered a job by Chater Spain, and wanted to<br />
work for a company that wanted me.”<br />
It proved yet another wise decision, and<br />
Derek spent a thoroughly enjoyable four<br />
years at the firm, quickly learning the ropes<br />
and working closely with small businesses,<br />
understanding their operations from the<br />
ground up. It was a learning curve that has<br />
proven invaluable ever since.<br />
From Chater Spain he joined Brighton’s<br />
biggest employer, American Express, initially<br />
in a Finance role for Europe, the Middle East<br />
and Africa (EMEA) and then into operations.<br />
This included, in the latter stages, a focus on<br />
the firm’s collections operations: “My role<br />
was to automate processes that were then still<br />
largely manual,” he says.<br />
“American Express was a great business to<br />
work for,” he continues, “and had a fantastic<br />
culture and customer service ethic. Many of<br />
the people I worked with there are still friends<br />
today.”<br />
AMERICAN FRIENDS<br />
Among those friends and colleagues was Ken<br />
Stannard, Derek’s boss today. “Ken said that<br />
I needed to leave before I became part of the<br />
furniture,” he smiles. As it was, Derek received<br />
a call from another former colleague, James<br />
Corcoran (now of New Day), to join him at<br />
Bank One where he was Chief Executive: “I<br />
was initially the Minister without Portfolio,” he<br />
jokes.<br />
That all changed, however, with the sale of<br />
the business to the Halifax: “Coinciding with<br />
my arrival were two profit warnings from the<br />
business in the US, and after the sale our very<br />
small business ended up running Halifax’<br />
credit card business.”<br />
His time at the Halifax was exciting to say<br />
the least. They grew the business quickly and<br />
profitably, at one point adding more than one<br />
million customers in a year. Derek learned<br />
a good many lessons, about what to do and<br />
what not to do! In 2004, however, and although<br />
having been offered a new role in Leeds as Head<br />
of Collections for the Retail Bank, he decided<br />
instead to resign so that he could go travelling<br />
with his wife.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 16
“If you work hard then<br />
good things come from<br />
it and opportunities will<br />
come your way”<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 17 continues on page 18 >
INTERVIEW<br />
AUTHOR – SEAN FEAST<br />
“I knew that if I didn’t do it then, I<br />
might never get around to it,” he explains.<br />
“As it was, the company did not accept<br />
my resignation, and I was able to take a<br />
sabbatical, travelling across South America,<br />
North America, Australia, New Zealand and<br />
India, and spending several weeks skiing in<br />
France. My fondest memory was in Central<br />
Australia, sleeping out under the stars in<br />
a swag bag. It is only then that you realise<br />
how small you are!”<br />
INTEGRATION ROLE<br />
On his return, Derek once more threw<br />
himself into his role, moving to Leeds and<br />
spending four years with the business until<br />
it was taken over by the Lloyds Banking<br />
Group (LBG), by which time he was the<br />
Chief Operating Officer for its Retail<br />
operations, responsible for more than<br />
14,000 staff at its peak. He was latterly the<br />
Integration Director of LBG, and as such<br />
has some sympathy for the IT traumas<br />
recently experienced by TSB as it looked<br />
to migrate systems: “We had every form of<br />
contingency plan but in the end we were<br />
able to stand the team down after a week<br />
as the programme had been a success,” he<br />
says.<br />
The workload, however, was relentless:<br />
“We were working every day, starting with a<br />
conference call at 7-30 in the morning and<br />
finishing with another at 6-00 at night, for<br />
the better part of 18 months,” he continues.<br />
“I was working for Mark Fisher, the COO<br />
for LBG. Mark had led the RBS/NatWest<br />
integration which was the benchmark<br />
project of its time, so knew what it took to<br />
be successful. He was super smart but very<br />
demanding.”<br />
Moving south once again, Derek was<br />
tempted away from LBG with an offer<br />
from Travelex to become the global CIO:<br />
“We’d come to the end of the integration<br />
programme and all of the jobs I might<br />
have been interested in were filled, so the<br />
opportunity came just at the right time.<br />
Travelex was getting ready for a sale; it<br />
operated in 26 countries that had been<br />
somewhat under-invested in terms of<br />
technology, and so there was a great deal of<br />
work to do. In the time I was there, we were<br />
able to significantly improve service levels<br />
and make some general improvements to<br />
systems and processes, but we never quite<br />
achieved everything we wanted.”<br />
Derek stayed on until after the<br />
business was sold, and shortly afterwards<br />
he agreed to join Ken Stannard at Cabot.<br />
“Ken had spoken to me before to get me<br />
to join him at Marlin, and now that the<br />
business had merged with Cabot, Ken’s<br />
role had expanded to include Europe and<br />
he needed a dedicated managing director<br />
for Cabot’s debt purchase operations.<br />
While I had never bought debt before, I<br />
had sold some.”<br />
Using his accountant’s skill in getting<br />
beneath the skin of a business, Derek<br />
identified where further improvements<br />
could be made, especially in the use of<br />
analytics and improving the customer<br />
journey. The business had just become<br />
one of the first to achieve FCA approval,<br />
and was looking to optimise its position in<br />
the market.<br />
“I felt we’d become something of a ‘tickbox’<br />
company,” he tells me, honestly, “in<br />
the way that we engaged with customers.<br />
In one of the first calls that I listened into,<br />
a woman was making her last payment,<br />
and wanted to give us some feedback. She<br />
said that while we had always been very<br />
helpful and polite, she did not have the<br />
same experience with every creditor. Even<br />
then I thought that we could do more, and<br />
so worked hard with the management<br />
team to further improve our customer<br />
engagement and better understand the<br />
customer’s individual position.”<br />
BOARDROOM MEETINGS<br />
Since joining the business, Derek has<br />
instigated a regular Friday morning<br />
Boardroom catch up, involving every<br />
department, listening to calls and<br />
discussing how those calls were handled:<br />
“If a customer cannot pay, they cannot<br />
pay,” he adds. “Yes of course as a Debt<br />
Purchaser, the amount we collect and<br />
over what time period is important. What<br />
is more important, however, is achieving<br />
the right outcome for the customer,<br />
because in doing that you can build a<br />
sustainable business.”<br />
SIZE ADVANTAGE<br />
As the largest Debt Purchasing business<br />
in the UK, Cabot has the advantage of<br />
size. This has enabled it to invest in new<br />
digital technologies such as ‘Eureka’.<br />
Eureka analyses conversations in real<br />
time, converts them into text and defines<br />
‘rules’ that can prompt the consultant<br />
into asking specific questions based on<br />
what has been said. “Our consultants are<br />
very well trained,” he says, “but Eureka<br />
is an excellent tool in helping them help<br />
their customer to the right outcome. They<br />
really like it.”<br />
Size and scale have also been important<br />
in meeting the additional costs involved<br />
in gaining FCA approval: “The FCA<br />
has been a good thing for the industry<br />
overall, because it has led to a focus on<br />
the customer and demonstrating good<br />
customer standards. Yes it has added an<br />
additional layer of cost but arguably this<br />
was needed.”<br />
Derek says that being the best that you<br />
can in whatever you do, is a good mantra<br />
to live by: “You have to make the most of<br />
any opportunities that come your way,”<br />
he explains, “and throw yourself into<br />
whatever you do. But by the same token,”<br />
he adds, “keep life in perspective.”<br />
A keen sportsman and a self-confessed<br />
evangelical ‘green’, Derek still likes to<br />
keep fit by cycling and has set himself a<br />
number of personal challenges for the<br />
year to run 1,000km, cycle 1,000km, and<br />
perform 12,000 sit ups and 12,000 press<br />
ups. He’s on target, but still has 311K left<br />
to run at the time of writing. But Derek’s<br />
particular passion is for cricket; he<br />
coaches a local Under 11’s team and as a<br />
batsman modelled himself on the great<br />
Geoffrey Boycott: “I could bat all day and<br />
still not score many runs,” he laughs.<br />
You have to make the most of any<br />
opportunities that come your way,<br />
and throw yourself into whatever you<br />
do. But by the same token, keep life in<br />
perspective.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 18
OPINION<br />
BUDGET<br />
SURPRISES<br />
Time to dust off your old manuals?<br />
AUTHOR – Frances Coulson<br />
MANY of the initial reports<br />
of the budget<br />
streaming into your inbox<br />
will have cheered<br />
small businesses, focused<br />
as they were on<br />
income tax, digital commerce tax and business<br />
rates cuts. However in the world of insolvency<br />
and therefore in the wider credit<br />
arena, two areas of the budget sent shockwaves<br />
through the finance and insolvency<br />
professions and will have a radical effect on<br />
credit, business start-ups and rescue as well<br />
as the very concept of limited liability.<br />
First, the big announcement, in respect<br />
of which there was no prior warning<br />
or consultation (even, it seems within<br />
HMRC or BEIS) the resurrection of Crown<br />
preference in insolvency. The view is that<br />
VAT, Employers’ NIC, PAYE and CIS are<br />
all taxes collected on behalf of the Crown<br />
and therefore should not form part of the<br />
available funds for unsecured creditors in<br />
an insolvency. For example, Company A<br />
supplies Company B with widgets for £1,000<br />
plus VAT. Company B pays Company A<br />
£1,200 – £1,000 is for the widgets and £200<br />
is for Company B’s VAT payment which<br />
Company A should pay over to HMRC. So far<br />
so logical. However, in a real-life situation<br />
cash fluctuates and all the VAT, to take one<br />
example, is not sitting in a deposit account<br />
for HMRC but is used in the business of<br />
Company A. So long as Company A pays<br />
that VAT over to HMRC on the due date no<br />
problem, but if Company A is insolvent and<br />
the £200 is no longer there, the administrator<br />
or liquidator of Company A will realise its<br />
assets and, where appropriate, bring claims<br />
against directors to replenish the company<br />
pot for creditors. At present, aside limited<br />
preferential creditors such as employees,<br />
the company pot after payment of secured<br />
creditors is paid to the unsecured creditors<br />
– including HMRC – ‘pari passu’.<br />
In administration the Enterprise Act<br />
2002 which abolished Crown preference<br />
also made provision for a ‘prescribed part’<br />
carved out of floating charge realisations<br />
(as floating charge holders were getting<br />
a Crown windfall in the Crown no longer<br />
being preferential) of up to £600,000 for<br />
unsecured creditor then including the<br />
Crown. From 2020 it seems the prescribed<br />
part will change or go. In insolvent estates<br />
HMRC will rarely have trust money in the<br />
form of carefully preserved tax to recover<br />
so will eat into unsecured creditor returns<br />
generally.<br />
At the time of the Enterprise Act<br />
arguments were made that the abolition of<br />
Crown preference was good for business<br />
and for UK plc. They were right. The old<br />
order meant that HMRC were far too quick<br />
to liquidate and make a grab for their cash<br />
when in fact business rescue was feasible.<br />
This is a shortsighted move even if done in<br />
the name of the good of the taxpayer. What<br />
UK plc needs is a good flow of lending, a<br />
good rescue culture, and an efficient pursuit<br />
of those who trade at the expense of their<br />
creditors and fail. Instead lending and trade<br />
credit will tighten and the Crown might well<br />
find that its take goes down not up. All this<br />
at a time when businesses face the Brexit<br />
challenge. While the changes announced<br />
do not usurp the position of secured lenders<br />
with fixed charges, many of the challenger<br />
lenders who have proved so vital in SME<br />
lending do not have fixed charges and might<br />
look harder at their lending criteria.<br />
BARRIER TO BUSINESS<br />
As if this wasn’t bad enough the other<br />
HMRC proposals, which were (briefly)<br />
consulted upon-and apparently universally<br />
condemned-in their ‘Tax Abuse in<br />
Insolvency’ paper, have also been adopted<br />
in the budget. These proposals allow<br />
HMRC – as Judge Jury and Executioner – to<br />
determine when a company is guilty of tax<br />
evasion or avoidance, or phoenixism, and<br />
look directly to directors for recovery. Again,<br />
this must tighten lending. The Treasury has<br />
previously been keen to resist any erosion of<br />
limited liability as a barrier to business, but<br />
it seems that this is all forgotten in a shortterm<br />
land grab by HMRC.<br />
Many now successful businesses<br />
have arisen from early failure. Would<br />
entrepreneurs try again so readily if their<br />
family home is on the line? Would a lender<br />
support them trying again or provide a<br />
distressed business with finance under the<br />
post 2020 regime? Less likely. Fewer and<br />
fewer businesses are built on fixed asset<br />
bases in the SME market. Floating charge<br />
and unsecured lending has enabled such<br />
business to thrive.<br />
Time to tighten your credit policies?<br />
These proposals allow<br />
HMRC – as Judge Jury<br />
and Executioner<br />
– to determine<br />
when a company is<br />
guilty of tax evasion<br />
or avoidance, or<br />
phoenixism, and look<br />
directly to directors<br />
for recovery.<br />
Frances Coulson<br />
Head of Insolvency and<br />
Litigation at Moon Beever<br />
Solicitors.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 19
ASK THE EXPERTS<br />
Passport to Export<br />
How can best-practice credit management support<br />
international growth?<br />
AUTHOR – Lauren Carter FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
WE live in uncertain<br />
times, and the<br />
invention of the<br />
all-seeing crystal<br />
ball is still on Elon<br />
Musk’s ‘to do’ list<br />
(perhaps). Political uncertainty is global:<br />
Brexit, Trump’s trade tariffs and China’s<br />
retaliation mean that politics is impacting<br />
international trade in every region of the<br />
world. Changes in global trade links on<br />
this scale are likely to have an increasingly<br />
disruptive effect in the coming years.<br />
But uncertainty and disruption also<br />
produce opportunity: as patterns of<br />
international trade shift, new doors open.<br />
Companies that are prepared to step into<br />
new markets can maximise their chances<br />
of capitalising on new opportunities and<br />
position themselves for success. While<br />
many companies are currently choosing<br />
to delay decisions in the short-term, this<br />
needs to be balanced against the risk of<br />
missing a window of opportunity that<br />
change on this scale can bring.<br />
Companies thinking of trading in new<br />
countries need to know how to expand<br />
their operations into these areas, and the<br />
credit function has a clear role to play<br />
in managing the risk associated with<br />
this. Here we look at factors that can<br />
help credit managers deliver strategic<br />
and operational advantage in unfamiliar<br />
territories.<br />
UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT<br />
Knowledge of political, social and<br />
economic conditions is essential for good<br />
credit management. A country’s sovereign<br />
risk impacts trade at a national level, so it<br />
is important to be aware of the operating<br />
environment. A PESTLE analysis is a<br />
useful tool to aid the understanding of<br />
the factors at play, and staying abreast of<br />
current affairs gives global context to the<br />
trading relationships being set up.<br />
Knowledge of local market conditions<br />
is also important. Not all competitors<br />
operate in all territories, so who are the<br />
local competition? What trading terms<br />
do they offer? How does their offering<br />
compare and what advantages does your<br />
company have? Credit management<br />
always happens within the business<br />
context and so it is essential for credit<br />
managers to understand the strength of<br />
their commercial position on a local basis.<br />
REVIEW YOUR STRATEGY<br />
Entering a new territory should trigger<br />
a review of risk strategy, as it needs to<br />
be adjusted to match the new trading<br />
conditions. New countries may have very<br />
different market conditions, requiring a<br />
new approach to commercial risk. Even<br />
if market conditions are similar, the<br />
competitive forces at play in entering<br />
a new market may require a riskier<br />
commercial position, such as loss leaders<br />
and penetration pricing. Take the time<br />
to set your risk appetite and set out the<br />
policies that naturally follow from that.<br />
For example, if local competition means<br />
you have to set your prices lower, then<br />
a reduction in payment terms will help<br />
support profit margins. Alternatively, if<br />
the company needs to accept a greater<br />
level of credit risk in order to support<br />
growth, then ensure that the bad debt<br />
provision is a true reflection of the<br />
commercial position.<br />
UPDATE YOUR POLICY<br />
The credit policy formalises a company’s<br />
approach to credit and sets out the<br />
processes that will be used, so consider<br />
how this needs to be adapted to include the<br />
needs of trading in the new territory. Set<br />
out what currencies you will accept, and<br />
consider whether a local bank account is<br />
needed. Consider what payment methods<br />
will be accepted, as payment platforms<br />
can have regional prevalence, such as<br />
Alipay in China. Currencies and platforms<br />
may bring a greater risk exposure, but<br />
can be a source of competitive advantage<br />
by making the trading relationship<br />
easier for the customer, so link this into<br />
a commercial strategy. Consider revising<br />
KPIs to ensure they drive performance in<br />
the appropriate way. If payment terms are<br />
reduced, there should be a corresponding<br />
reduction in DSO targets. Bad debt targets<br />
need to be adjusted if the level of risk has<br />
changed.<br />
New territories can require the company<br />
to adopt a different organisational<br />
structure or distribution channel, and<br />
so decisions need to be made to ensure<br />
that roles and responsibilities are clear.<br />
Will the credit team undertake customer<br />
visits, and if so, who will they visit and how<br />
frequently? The policy also needs to set<br />
out who is responsible for accepting the<br />
risk of exceptional transactions for the<br />
territory, who has the authority to put customers<br />
on stop, and who needs to attend<br />
internal risk review meetings.<br />
TAILOR YOUR CONTRACTS<br />
Contracts need to be adapted when trading<br />
in a new country. The requirements for<br />
executing a contract differ around the<br />
world, with some countries needing only<br />
verbal acceptance and others needing a<br />
signed or double signed agreement. Other<br />
countries require a contract to be stamped<br />
with a company stamp. This is important<br />
because in the event of non-payment, a<br />
debt cannot be legally enforced if it is not<br />
supported by a valid contract.<br />
In some countries, an email is sufficient<br />
to form a valid contract, and in others<br />
email is not considered legally binding.<br />
Electronic signature of agreements is<br />
widely but not universally accepted, so<br />
check local precedents before this method<br />
of contracting is deployed as standard<br />
(docusign.com/how-it-works/legality/<br />
global) is a good resource for this.<br />
If you use personal guarantees,<br />
make sure that you understand the<br />
requirements for how this needs to be<br />
drafted and implemented in order to be<br />
legally enforceable in your new territory.<br />
Jurisdictional clauses also need to<br />
be tailored to international trading.<br />
Prescribing that the company’s ‘home’<br />
law governs a contract gives some degree<br />
of certainty over legal risks, however can<br />
restrict debt recovery options. Specifying<br />
that legal action can be brought in a<br />
customer’s jurisdiction can make recovery<br />
quicker and cheaper, so a non-exclusive<br />
clause can be beneficial. Ensure that<br />
whatever is used supports the company<br />
strategy and consider all of the risks.<br />
BUILD YOUR KNOWLEDGE<br />
Developing a knowledge of a few key facts<br />
about a country can help an organisation<br />
avoid common pitfalls. For example,<br />
an understanding of the legal forms of<br />
companies in each country will help in<br />
assessing risk and determining what<br />
assets can be levied in a non-payment<br />
situation; and knowing the relevant<br />
limitation period enables a collections<br />
approach designed to avoid unnecessary<br />
write-offs. In some countries, debt is time<br />
barred after two years so overdue accounts<br />
need to be escalated in a timely manner.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 20
ASK THE EXPERTS<br />
AUTHOR – Lauren Carter FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
While many companies are currently choosing to<br />
delay decisions in the short-term, this needs to be<br />
balanced against the risk of missing a window of<br />
opportunity that change on this scale can bring.<br />
Companies selling services need to<br />
be aware that cancellation fees are not<br />
enforceable in some jurisdictions where<br />
there is no provision for a charge where<br />
no service has been rendered. Companies<br />
selling goods need to be aware of local<br />
retention of title (RoT) regulations. Most<br />
countries do acknowledge RoT clauses,<br />
but there are variations in the ease of<br />
implementation and the requirements on<br />
the creditor to notify, so be aware of how<br />
this works.<br />
Finally, a basic understanding of the<br />
local insolvency framework is likely to be<br />
needed, particularly for companies who<br />
tolerate a higher degree of credit risk. An<br />
understanding of the types of insolvency<br />
processes available, and the requirements<br />
and deadlines associated with these<br />
processes will help to maximise the<br />
return to the creditor.<br />
Lauren Carter<br />
DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS<br />
Building relationships is a key part of<br />
good credit management and is essential<br />
when entering a new territory. Strong<br />
customer relationships are as important<br />
as ever, but additionally, relationships<br />
with local partners such as distributors<br />
and shippers can be valuable as a<br />
source of information. Discussions with<br />
collections partners at an early stage<br />
give an opportunity to develop SLAs<br />
tailored to suit the local processes in the<br />
new territory, and to learn from their<br />
in-country experiences.<br />
Contacts can also help to develop<br />
an understanding of local culture<br />
and conditions. It is likely that sales<br />
colleagues will have already travelled to<br />
the new country and can provide valuable<br />
information to the credit team. Informal<br />
discussions with people in your network<br />
can also be a good source of advice and<br />
information on local culture and trading<br />
conditions.<br />
These uncertain times can produce<br />
exciting and profitable opportunities to<br />
those who are prepared to venture into<br />
new markets. I hope these ideas will be<br />
useful to credit managers in supporting<br />
businesses in their strategic goals through<br />
these times of change.<br />
Lauren Carter FCI<strong>CM</strong> is Managing<br />
Director of Vantage Credit<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 21
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q<br />
Teamwork at the heart<br />
Equinix<br />
EQUINIX connects the world’s<br />
leading businesses to their<br />
customers, employees and<br />
partners inside the world's most<br />
connected data centres.<br />
More than 7,000 employees work in some<br />
44 markets across five continents, and<br />
have achieved 62 consecutive quarters of<br />
revenue growth. In August <strong>2018</strong> quarterly<br />
revenues had increased 18 percent year-onyear<br />
to $1.262 billion.<br />
“By involving the team to fully participate<br />
and project manage the accreditation<br />
journey, our people are more engaged<br />
and learn new skills along the way,” says<br />
Nick Williams MCI<strong>CM</strong>, Senior Manager<br />
(EMEA), Credit and Collections Equinix.<br />
“The team members were able to give<br />
“AS part of the development of the<br />
apprentices in our credit academy,<br />
we decided that they should take<br />
responsibility for organising the reaccreditation,”<br />
says Phil Rice FCI<strong>CM</strong>, Head<br />
of Credit, Aggregate Industries. “This was<br />
a challenge because they had never done<br />
anything like this before, but we felt it was<br />
good experience and essential as part of<br />
their development. They also went on to<br />
present their experience at a CI<strong>CM</strong>Q best<br />
practice event.”<br />
The company has a full-time<br />
complement of 34 in the credit services<br />
team that handle inbound payments,<br />
their input based around their practical<br />
experience of our operations and that<br />
makes the processes more robust and fit for<br />
purpose.<br />
“I experienced how proud each individual<br />
feels to be part of the process leading up<br />
to the accreditation, and the jubilation it<br />
brings when you are successful. It was my<br />
target to gain the accreditation within two<br />
years of joining Equinix and I am pleased to<br />
say we did it within 16 months.”<br />
Pam Thomas FCI<strong>CM</strong>, CI<strong>CM</strong>Q Assessor,<br />
said in her report: “Good controls<br />
and policies together with strong<br />
communication continue to be a key<br />
activity in the department. This ensures<br />
that disputes and queries are kept to a<br />
minimum and overdue debt is reduced.”<br />
Apprentices lead the charge<br />
Aggregate Industries<br />
allocation, credit risk, cash collection and<br />
legal. A number are undertaking Level 3<br />
and Level 5 CI<strong>CM</strong> qualifications, and each<br />
has to complete 18 hours CPD each year and<br />
attend an industry conference or workshop.<br />
They also actively participate in CI<strong>CM</strong>Q<br />
workshops and exchange staff with other<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accredited companies so they can<br />
gain experience and share best practice.<br />
“There have been a significant number<br />
of major developments in the team<br />
since Aggregate Industries completed<br />
its first QI<strong>CM</strong>/CI<strong>CM</strong>Q Accreditation in<br />
2010,” says Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong>, Head of<br />
Accreditation – CI<strong>CM</strong>Q.<br />
The Right Energy<br />
GAZPROM Energy, the award-winning<br />
supplier backed by one of the world’s<br />
largest energy companies, has achieved<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accreditation following an<br />
impressive assessment performance<br />
in which it delivered an extremely<br />
detailed and high-level evidence file,<br />
accompanied by support from key<br />
stakeholders within the business.<br />
Sharon Noland MCI<strong>CM</strong>, Credit Risk<br />
Manager at Gazprom Energy, says that<br />
education and future training is crucial<br />
to the organisation: “The company<br />
culture places a lot of emphasis on<br />
people, development and recognition,<br />
which has been very successful and<br />
something we will look to continue.”<br />
Gazprom Energy has 350 employees<br />
operating across three countries,<br />
supplying over 30,000 industrial and<br />
commercial customers across the UK.<br />
Their parent company, Gazprom, are<br />
responsible for 13 percent of global gas<br />
production.<br />
Injection of Quality<br />
PIONEERS in the development of blood<br />
glucose monitoring systems, Roche<br />
Diabetes Care, excelled in a number<br />
of areas during CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accreditation,<br />
including outstanding training and<br />
development plans for staff.<br />
Roche Diabetes Care, part of the<br />
Roche group, was created in 2014 for<br />
the import, market and distribution of<br />
diabetes care equipment, associated<br />
consumables and value adding services<br />
to the UK and Irish healthcare markets.<br />
It employs over 150 people across the<br />
UK and Ireland, and last year reported a<br />
turnover circa £79 million.<br />
Christelle Madie, FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad), MSc<br />
Credit Solutions Manager at Roche<br />
Diabetes Care says: “Our aim is to keep<br />
the bar high and continually improve;<br />
the opportunity to access a wider bank<br />
of knowledge through the Best Practice<br />
network is a key advantage of CI<strong>CM</strong>Q.<br />
There is also a keen and growing<br />
interest within the team to embark<br />
on CI<strong>CM</strong> training courses and attend<br />
professional forums.”<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 22
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The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 23<br />
THE ONLY AML RESOURCE YOU NEED
OPINION<br />
Victory for law and<br />
common sense<br />
Payments due in construction contracts can be<br />
very complicated and a cause of disputes – not easy<br />
for credit managers.<br />
AUTHOR – Peter Walker<br />
IF you should see me in London’s<br />
Leicester Square, I am usually<br />
going to the neighbouring<br />
Chinatown for a meal of Chinese<br />
dim sum, but a winding-up petition<br />
relating to the development and<br />
conversion of Victory House in the Square<br />
instead was recently the concern of a High<br />
Court judge. A creditor, the contractor,<br />
had petitioned for the winding-up of the<br />
employer because of non-payment of over<br />
£800,000 awarded by an adjudicator of an<br />
arbitration.<br />
An unusual element of the case was<br />
that the debt was not disputed, but it was<br />
part of a complicated transaction. The<br />
complication was a counter-claim for more<br />
than the outstanding amount.<br />
The dispute itself arose from a<br />
contractor’s application for an interim<br />
payment under a building contract to<br />
develop and convert Victory House into<br />
a hotel. The contract was governed by<br />
the JCT Design and Build Contract 2011,<br />
and the agreement referred to interim<br />
payments and pay-less notices should<br />
there be disputes about the instalments.<br />
There is also legislation such as the Scheme<br />
for Construction Contracts (England and<br />
Wales) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/649).<br />
These agreements are very complicated:<br />
credit management is very difficult.<br />
The debtor, or employer of the<br />
contractor, therefore challenged the<br />
petition for winding up, and it had made<br />
what is called a Part 8 Application under<br />
the Civil Procedure Rules. A claimant may<br />
use this procedure, where it firstly ‘seeks<br />
the court’s decision on a question which<br />
is unlikely to involve a substantial dispute<br />
of fact’. There may alternatively be a<br />
specified type of proceedings, although this<br />
seemingly did not apply to this situation.<br />
The situation was a building contract<br />
providing for stage payments. The<br />
contractor was to obtain a transformer<br />
or substation from the relevant statutory<br />
authority. Once this had been installed,<br />
work could begin to commission the hotel’s<br />
electrical and mechanical services.<br />
DISPUTED DELAYS<br />
An arbitration and High Court judges<br />
indicate that there were problems. These<br />
included delays and a disagreement<br />
about the entitlement of the contractor<br />
to an interim or stage payment. In<br />
March 2017 the parties to the agreement<br />
tried to resolve the dispute by means<br />
of a Memorandum of Understanding<br />
acknowledging the delays. This included<br />
the information that the contract price<br />
was around £6.6m, but the employer had<br />
paid just over £8 million. The contractor<br />
wanted more funds to complete the job.<br />
The Memorandum allowed for three stage<br />
payments of £200,000 each.<br />
The first two payments were made,<br />
and in June 2017 there was an operating<br />
transformer. The contractor then applied<br />
for a payment under the main contract.<br />
The amount was just over £682,000<br />
plus VAT. The employer objected, and<br />
it asserted that payments were now<br />
governed by the Memorandum.<br />
Time for arbitration! There were<br />
plenty of issues including the allegation<br />
that the third payment required by the<br />
Memorandum had not been made. The<br />
Adjudicator decided that it was legally<br />
binding, but importantly that it did not<br />
supersede the building contract. The<br />
Memorandum suspended the obligation<br />
to make interim payments under that<br />
contract until the transformer had been<br />
installed. The employer should therefore<br />
pay the amount demanded plus of course<br />
interest until the date of payment.<br />
NATURAL JUSTICE<br />
The employer then decided to appeal to<br />
the Technology and Construction Court<br />
in the High Court, where in November<br />
2017 Joanna Smith QC sitting as a deputy<br />
judge reviewed the facts in Victory House<br />
General Partner Ltd v RGB P&C Ltd<br />
[<strong>2018</strong>] EWHC 102 (TCC). The employer<br />
asserted that there had been a breach of<br />
natural justice, and it suggested that the<br />
adjudicator had gone ‘on a frolic of his<br />
own’.<br />
Joanna Smith QC responded by<br />
referring to the judgment in Cantillon<br />
Ltd v Urvasco Ltd [2008 EWHC 282<br />
(TCC), which stated the obvious, that an<br />
adjudicator must be shown to have failed<br />
to apply the rules of natural justice. The<br />
breaches must be material such as where<br />
the adjudicator has failed to bring to the<br />
attention of the parties an important<br />
issue. An adjudicator’s frolic would apply,<br />
for example, if he or she decided on a<br />
factual or legal issue not argued by either<br />
side.<br />
Edwards-Stuart J in Roe Brickwork Ltd<br />
v Wates Construction Ltd [2013] EWHC<br />
3417 (TCC) refined this ruling. It would<br />
be acceptable for an adjudicator to decide<br />
on the information before him or her,<br />
although neither party had contended it.<br />
They must, however, have been aware of<br />
the material.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 24
OPINION<br />
AUTHOR – Peter Walker<br />
On the facts in front of her Joanna<br />
Smith QC, in her judgment in January<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, rejected the contention that the<br />
arbitrator had failed to apply the rules<br />
of natural justice. The parties had, for<br />
example, made submissions regarding<br />
the Memorandum of Understanding.<br />
There were other considerations, and<br />
the adjudicator had furthermore posed<br />
specific questions to the parties, who<br />
had the opportunity to answer. Part 8<br />
Procedure was not appropriate in a claim<br />
including disputed facts.<br />
WINDING UP OR WIND-UP<br />
The adjudication debt, however, as<br />
ordered by Joanna Smith QC was unpaid<br />
in February <strong>2018</strong>, so the contractor<br />
petitioned to wind up the employer.<br />
The employer applied in the Chancery<br />
Division of the High Court, to strike out<br />
the petition. Morgan J in the resulting<br />
case In re Victory House General Partner<br />
Ltd [<strong>2018</strong>] 3 WLR 1024 noted that there was<br />
other litigation, not about the judgment<br />
debt, but about a liability to make a<br />
further payment under the contract.<br />
The contractor, for example, had made<br />
an application for a further payment of<br />
around £3 million, and the absence of any<br />
payment resulted in another adjudication.<br />
The adjudicator significantly decided that<br />
the value of the work done was around £7<br />
million, but that the contractor had been<br />
paid around £8.5 million, i.e. there had<br />
been an overpayment.<br />
This did not end the dispute, because<br />
the employer, not the contractor, initiated<br />
a third arbitration. It claimed that there<br />
were defects in the work.<br />
Morgan J considered this background<br />
to the contractor’s winding-up petition.<br />
He noted that, if the employer paid<br />
the judgment debt resulting from the<br />
first arbitration, it would have a crossclaim<br />
against the contractor due to the<br />
overpayment found by the adjudicator in<br />
the second arbitration.<br />
He turned for guidance to the decision<br />
of Coulson J in Grove Developments Ltd<br />
v S&T (UK) Ltd [<strong>2018</strong>] EWHC 123 (TCC).<br />
This case concerned the construction<br />
of a new hotel at Heathrow Terminal 4.<br />
There was a completion date of October<br />
2016, but the project was not ready until<br />
March 2017. There were three subsequent<br />
adjudications. The first decided that a<br />
Schedule of Amendments was part of the<br />
contract. The second decided that the<br />
contractor was entitled to an extension<br />
of time, but only until January 2017. The<br />
third arose from the employer’s pay-less<br />
notice in response to the contractor’s<br />
application for a stage payment. This is<br />
important to credit management, because<br />
if an employer does not serve such a notice<br />
on time, it is deemed to have accepted<br />
the valuation. This is known as a smashand-grab<br />
claim, whereby a contractor<br />
claims payment of the sums in their<br />
interim application without regard to the<br />
employer’s assessment as to its validity.<br />
The third arbitration concluded that it was<br />
not entitled to do so with the result that<br />
the contractor was entitled to £14 million.<br />
The employer finally started a Part<br />
8 Application, but Coulson J ruled that<br />
the pay-less notice was effective. It was<br />
accompanied by a spreadsheet detailing<br />
the sum to be paid. Coulson J added<br />
that upon payment the employer could<br />
apply for an adjudication of the true sum<br />
due. It could then make a claim for any<br />
consequent financial adjustment.<br />
NO SHORT CUTS<br />
There are consequently no short cuts when<br />
the other party has what Nourse LJ in the<br />
Court of Appeal described as ‘a genuine<br />
and serious cross-claim’. He did not have<br />
to deal with a Part 8 Application, but he<br />
was considering an undisputed debt case<br />
In re Bayoil SA [1999] 1 WLR 1471. Bayoil<br />
had chartered a tanker, but there were<br />
problems with the tanker’s engines and<br />
with the voyage generally. There were<br />
disputes resulting in an arbitration, and<br />
the ship’s owner was awarded over $1<br />
million. When there was a subsequent<br />
petition to wind up Bayoil, it did not<br />
dispute the debt, but its counterclaim<br />
exceeded the awarded amount.<br />
Nourse LJ proceeded cautiously, and he<br />
pointed out the potentially serious effects<br />
of a winding-up order. It was ‘draconian’,<br />
and if it was wrongly made, a company<br />
would have little chance of revival.<br />
Morgan J in the Victory House case<br />
followed this reasoning. The amount<br />
awarded by the adjudicator was not<br />
disputed, but the employer had a<br />
substantial bona fide cross-claim based<br />
on the alleged overpayment. The judge<br />
therefore dismissed the winding-up<br />
petition.<br />
A victory for law and common sense!<br />
A Part 8 Application or winding-up<br />
petition can be the correct procedure<br />
after the award of an undisputed and<br />
unpaid judgment debt, but there are no<br />
procedural short cuts if the debtor has a<br />
justifiable cross-claim. Where there are<br />
complicated building and other contracts<br />
involving stage payments, credit managers<br />
must monitor them carefully.<br />
Peter Walker is a freelance business<br />
writer.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 25
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TRADE TALK<br />
A true collaboration<br />
Working with UK Export Finance to implement the<br />
Government’s Export Strategy.<br />
AUTHOR – Lesley Batchelor OBE FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Lesley Batchelor<br />
OVER the summer the<br />
Government announced<br />
its intention to increase<br />
exports as a proportion<br />
of GDP from 30 percent<br />
to 35 percent. Export<br />
volume has started to increase in the last<br />
couple of years and though much more<br />
work needs to be done to increase national<br />
trade confidence among the UK’s SMEs in<br />
particular, a start has been made towards<br />
making the UK a greater exporting nation.<br />
One of the real success stories of<br />
recent years has been the Government’s<br />
broadening of the support provided<br />
by its export credit agency UK Export<br />
Finance (UKEF). In the past UKEF has<br />
been criticised for serving mostly larger<br />
corporates, however, over the last five years<br />
this has changed. Indeed, in the last five<br />
years it’s provided £14 billion of support to<br />
UK exports in partnership with banks and<br />
brokers.<br />
Its mission is ‘to ensure that no viable<br />
UK export fails for lack of finance or<br />
insurance, while operating at no net cost<br />
Its mission is ‘to ensure<br />
that no viable UK export<br />
fails for lack of finance or<br />
insurance, while operating<br />
at no net cost to the<br />
taxpayer’.<br />
to the taxpayer’, and recently it’s been<br />
moving much more efficiently towards<br />
this end-goal.<br />
At the Institute of Export &<br />
International Trade (IOE&IT) we are<br />
proud of the part we’ve played in this<br />
burgeoning national success story. We<br />
have partnered with UKEF on an ‘Award<br />
in Trade Finance’ qualification, which all<br />
UKEF, Foreign & Commonwealth Office<br />
(FCO) and Department for International<br />
Trade (DIT) staff take to ensure thorough<br />
product knowledge. This creates an<br />
understanding of how these financial<br />
products fit within a commercial setting<br />
in all sizes of business.<br />
Once this is completed, staff can move<br />
on to a Level 5 Diploma in International<br />
Trade which ensures they understand the<br />
fuller context of international trade when<br />
advising companies on key international<br />
business tasks such as international<br />
physical distribution, international<br />
marketing strategy, and of course the<br />
financing of international trade. We do so<br />
in such a way that ties in effectively with<br />
UKEF’s core offerings and services.<br />
For instance, in the part of the course<br />
in which we train UKEF advisers in how<br />
to ensure the security of international<br />
payments, as well as covering key areas<br />
like currency risk, open account trading<br />
and documentary letters of credit, we also<br />
explain how UKEF’s Export Insurance<br />
Policy can be applied. When training<br />
UKEF advisers in how international<br />
working capital cycles work and the role<br />
of bonds and guarantees in supporting<br />
export trade, we also address how UKEF’s<br />
Export Working Capital Scheme is used<br />
to support UK exporters. And we also<br />
evaluate how UKEF’s medium and longterm<br />
export finance support services are<br />
applied, including Buyer Credit, Supplier<br />
Credit, and Direct Lending.<br />
NETWORK TO THRIVE<br />
Not only do we train UKEF’s advisers, but<br />
all of the UKEF managers are members of<br />
the Institute, meaning they receive daily<br />
bulletins about the key developments<br />
in trade, have access to our Technical<br />
Helpline, and can constantly stay on<br />
top of things through our CPD scheme;<br />
our support network and the access to<br />
knowledge and skills we provide have<br />
proved invaluable.<br />
Elizabeth McCrory, an Export Finance<br />
Manager at UKEF who works in Northern<br />
Ireland, recently told me: “As a local point<br />
of contact for exporters I am helping<br />
them to get a better understanding<br />
of their export finance requirements<br />
and, where possible, I’ll identify an<br />
appropriate solution to support their<br />
export transactions. The Diploma in<br />
International Trade has given me a<br />
broader understanding of International<br />
Trade. Being a graduate member of the<br />
IOE&IT gives me added accreditation<br />
and I’m delighted to use the letters MIEx<br />
(Grad) after my name.”<br />
JUST THE START<br />
At our recent World Trade Summit event<br />
in London, we were delighted to be<br />
joined by Louis Taylor, Chief Executive<br />
of UKEF, and Baroness Fairhead CBE, the<br />
Minister of State for Trade and Export<br />
Promotion. Both of these key decisionmakers<br />
made the point that this can only<br />
be the beginning for UKEF, and as the<br />
Department for International Trade looks<br />
to go about producing its second Export<br />
Strategy in as many years, the role of UKEF<br />
looks certain to become even greater.<br />
Our work with UKEF is a great<br />
testament to the importance that<br />
education and training has in any export<br />
strategy as our trade advisers can only do<br />
the job of supporting UK businesses into<br />
international trade if they know how it’s<br />
done themselves. We are always keen to<br />
forge relationships, like the one we have<br />
with UKEF, because it is only through<br />
driving the export skills agenda that any<br />
strategy becomes achievable.<br />
Lesley Batchelor OBE FCI<strong>CM</strong> is Director<br />
General of The Institute of Export and<br />
International Trade.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 27
INTERNATIONAL<br />
TRADE<br />
Monthly round-up of the latest stories<br />
in global trade by Andrea Kirkby.<br />
AFTER months of slightly<br />
nervous trading, the stock<br />
market finally gave way to its<br />
jitters at the start of October.<br />
The S&P 500 lost six percent<br />
in a few days, giving up all but two percent<br />
of its gains for the year, with more than one<br />
commentator suggesting that the tenth<br />
anniversary of the 2008 credit crunch could<br />
see an even bigger crisis.<br />
Certainly, the oil price increase together<br />
with increasing interest rates look similar<br />
to the backdrop to the credit crunch. So,<br />
Stock market sell-off<br />
does the increase in real estate prices since<br />
the trough. But it's trade tensions that were<br />
at the forefront of investors' minds as a<br />
reason for the shock mini-crash; a new cold<br />
war with China would have very serious<br />
repercussions for world economies.<br />
How serious? Don’t get too alarmed. I<br />
saw a report that suggested Euler Hermes<br />
had said global trade would fall 50 percent<br />
by 2020. In fact, Euler Hermes says global<br />
trade growth could fall 50 percent from four<br />
percent to two percent; that's not quite the<br />
same. There are also some technical reasons<br />
for the stock market slump. Rising interest<br />
rates have pushed up yields on bonds.<br />
That's resulted in many investors dumping<br />
their equity holdings to invest in bonds<br />
which deliver the same return for less risk.<br />
Meanwhile, a fund manager at BlackRock<br />
says hedge funds are unwinding 'crowded'<br />
positions – which while it's a reminder of<br />
the risks inherent in the financial system,<br />
isn't really a forecast for the world economy.<br />
What to do? I think I saw the best advice<br />
on a tea towel a few days ago. ‘Keep calm<br />
and carry on.’<br />
Dollar reverse…and changing trade patterns<br />
THE dollar had been strengthening for<br />
a good long while, but that's all over<br />
now. The dollar has suddenly taken on<br />
board the negative prospects for world trade<br />
of a Trump-Xi standoff, resulting in a weeklong<br />
slump against other currencies that<br />
even a Fed rate hike couldn’t stop. While it's<br />
a bit early to bet against the US, I wouldn't<br />
mind betting Donald Trump’s trade war will<br />
result in more damage to his own country<br />
than to China.<br />
It's interesting to see other countries<br />
taking advantage of the situation to improve<br />
their own trade with China. Brazil is<br />
exporting more and more soybeans, and the<br />
'stans' as well as Qatar and Kuwait, who are<br />
focusing more attention on China trade.<br />
It’s not a tectonic shift yet, but if the<br />
standoff continues, it could bring China<br />
more and more into the mainstream of<br />
global trade and make it ever more present<br />
in global supply chains. And those are<br />
the kind of changes that aren't easy to<br />
reverse.<br />
>WATCH OUT FOR INFLATION<br />
THE munificent Jeff Bezos has given Amazon<br />
employees a generous pay rise. An act of pure<br />
generosity? If you’re a cynic, you’d note that<br />
the US labour market is getting very tight; add<br />
two and two together, and you see Amazon<br />
firing a shot across other employers’ bows to<br />
make sure it gets the pick of the crop.<br />
Tight labour markets and rising oil prices,<br />
together with higher interest costs, haven't yet<br />
put the squeeze on consumers or corporates<br />
– but they’re likely to do so over the medium<br />
term. The last couple of months’ inflation<br />
figures from most major economies show<br />
a slight fall in inflation, but don’t be fooled;<br />
inflation is becoming even more of a risk. That<br />
will push central banks to guard against it<br />
by increasing interest rates – and that could<br />
affect currencies, too.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 28
Fallen angels in the making<br />
FIRMS need to watch out for rising interest<br />
rates and inflation. Hikes in interest rates<br />
haven't hurt consumers or corporates yet,<br />
but they will, eventually, put increasing<br />
numbers of companies under pressure.<br />
The damage won't be evenly distributed.<br />
Bond Vigilantes blog identifies some<br />
interesting wrinkles in the ways some<br />
highly indebted companies might be<br />
affected; for instance, some companies<br />
have issued non-investment-grade<br />
bonds with covenants that won't let<br />
them pay dividends unless they have<br />
below a specified leverage ratio, or above<br />
a certain level of interest cover. Quite a<br />
few shareholders run the risk of a major<br />
disappointment in their high-yield<br />
portfolios. Now, you may think that this<br />
is only of interest to finance enthusiasts,<br />
a sector of the population I'll reluctantly<br />
admit I belong to. But actually, there is a<br />
lesson for all credit control departments,<br />
which is not just to rely on the headline<br />
financial information when you're<br />
assessing customers' ability to pay. Do your<br />
research, attach the notes to the accounts,<br />
and make sure you know exactly where you<br />
rank for your pay-out if the worst happens.<br />
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East Africa – booming but risky<br />
EAST African countries are seeing great<br />
GDP growth at the moment; Ethiopia's<br />
growing by eight percent, Kenya by six<br />
percent, and all the East African countries<br />
scoring above the average for sub-Saharan<br />
Africa. Infrastructure development has<br />
been fast and is improving the prospects<br />
for business – once you get reliable 24-hour<br />
electricity, it transforms manufacturing<br />
business's ability to compete – and the<br />
lives of citizens.<br />
But that infrastructure comes at a high<br />
cost; public deficits have been going up all<br />
over the region, and according to Credendo,<br />
what makes matters worse is that these<br />
deficits have been funded by external<br />
RUSSIAN RESILIENCE<br />
IF you were asked for a great export prospect, Russia might not be your first thought –<br />
but it’s not looking that bad. True, expected growth is rather modest at 1.5 percent, and<br />
there’s a high level of business insolvencies, but the country is managing to do reasonably<br />
well despite sanctions. Exports have been diversified, and the manufacturing sector has<br />
strengthened. Russia has also kept an even keel with relatively prudent management of<br />
government finances. Improving oil prices should help this commodity rich country, too.<br />
So far, so good.<br />
debt (though Ethiopia and Tanzania have<br />
managed to attract significant foreign<br />
investment, which reduces their exposure).<br />
Many of the components have to be<br />
imported – there is no local semiconductor<br />
or telecoms manufacturing industry, for<br />
example. And while eventually the export<br />
sector should grow, right now most of<br />
these countries are limited to commodity,<br />
primary exports.<br />
So, there's great potential in these<br />
markets, but also big risks, particularly<br />
in the government sector. Moody's<br />
downgraded Kenya's credit rating earlier<br />
this year, and has Tanzania on a negative<br />
outlook, so mind how you go.<br />
FROM THE FENS<br />
TO THE PAMPAS<br />
ELGOODS brew some great beers in the middle<br />
of the Fens, which most people will tell you<br />
is pretty much the middle of nowhere. Until<br />
2015, they didn't export. Now, they export<br />
to ten countries, have been on four trade<br />
missions, and are just starting to export to<br />
Argentina, which they expect will double their<br />
international sales. Their next target? Japan.<br />
That's a great success story. But it's<br />
interesting that their biggest problem has<br />
been finding reliable buyers. Not marketing,<br />
not changing the product, or labelling, but<br />
just finding the right partners abroad. Never<br />
forget, when you’re running the slide rule over<br />
customer credit, you're dealing with the future<br />
of your business.<br />
DO YOU NEED<br />
A TONIC?<br />
UK gin manufacturers sold £1.6 billion<br />
worth of gin in the year to June <strong>2018</strong>, and<br />
£532 million of that was exported. British<br />
gin is on a roll right now with a surge of<br />
popularity helping everyone from the biggest<br />
manufacturers to tiny artisan start-ups.<br />
One big lesson from this? Clustering. Once<br />
an industry starts making a name for itself<br />
in export, it’s that much easier for the next<br />
exporter to get into the market. We’ve done it<br />
in gin – can we do it in other sectors too?<br />
Global geography reappraised<br />
SOMETIMES we trust statistics too much,<br />
particularly when it comes to average. For<br />
instance, do you know anyone who actually<br />
earns the average UK salary?<br />
That's why I liked Euler Hermes' latest<br />
analysis of global corporate debt. Average<br />
net gearing across the world is 53 percent –<br />
but that's about as useful as knowing global<br />
average rainfall or average temperatures. If<br />
you're in South Africa, you will get higher<br />
temperatures – but also the world's least<br />
indebted corporates, with only 38 percent<br />
gearing. (Poland and Australia come close<br />
with 43 percent and 41 percent respectively.)<br />
Alternatively, if you're looking for trouble<br />
to steer clear of, Southern Europe looks like<br />
a hotspot of debt. Portugal has an impressive<br />
96 percent average leverage, with Greece at<br />
68 percent and Spain at 69 percent. Turkey,<br />
at 72 percent, doesn't look as exposed as<br />
Portugal until you think about its high<br />
budget deficit and the rising oil price.<br />
The same goes for sectors – some are<br />
horribly indebted, others not. Paper, transport<br />
and textile sectors are the chief trouble<br />
spots, but there is some good news in store<br />
– energy and metals companies are actually<br />
improving, though still with fairly high debt<br />
levels. Of course, these are still only averages.<br />
Even if you're exporting within a highly<br />
indebted sector and to a highly indebted<br />
country, you can at least choose the most<br />
credit-worthy customers and beat the odds.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 29
COUNTRY FOCUS<br />
The mechanics and<br />
legalities of doing<br />
business in Ireland.<br />
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein<br />
Ireland: Part two<br />
BUSINESS<br />
MATTERS<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 30
COUNTRY FOCUS<br />
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein<br />
WITH a framework<br />
not too dissimilar<br />
from that of the UK,<br />
little of the process<br />
should be much<br />
of a surprise to<br />
exporters. Ireland allows businesses to<br />
operate through companies (there are ten<br />
variants from private limited companies,<br />
public limited companies and Societas<br />
Europaea). These of course come with the<br />
usual regulatory duties to report and file<br />
on a public register. The duties placed on<br />
directors are similar to those placed on UK<br />
directors under Companies legislation.<br />
Partnerships are also available to those<br />
wanting to carry on business between<br />
two or more people (without the need for<br />
any formal registration). As in the UK,<br />
partners have unlimited personal liability<br />
for business debts. Again, as in the UK,<br />
a hybrid model exists of limited liability<br />
partnerships where partners are only liable<br />
to the limit of their investment.<br />
PROTECTING PROPERTY<br />
Businesses that depend upon IP rights<br />
benefit from practical protection under<br />
Irish law. Some consider that the Irish<br />
Trade Marks Act 1996 and the Copyright<br />
and Related Rights Act 2000 to be state<br />
of the art legislation which offer better<br />
protection than that afforded by other<br />
European states.<br />
Irish law meets the requirements of the<br />
Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement<br />
and the 1996 Geneva Copyright treaties,<br />
as well as all relevant IP EU directives.<br />
Considering that Ireland is one of the<br />
world’s largest exporters of software it’s<br />
not surprising that appropriate protections<br />
have been enshrined in Irish law to protect<br />
these IP rights. The regime is overseen by<br />
the Irish Patents Office at patentsoffice.ie/.<br />
EMPLOYMENT LAWS<br />
As in the rest of the EU, employment law<br />
applies to those working in Ireland, no<br />
matter what their nationality.<br />
Employment law is governed by a<br />
multitude of laws – the Constitution of<br />
Ireland 1937; Irish statutes and EU law;<br />
judicial precedents; common law (including<br />
contract law); statutory regulations that<br />
cover health and safety, redundancy<br />
payments, transfers of undertakings,<br />
collective bargaining agreements; as well<br />
as custom and practice in the workplace<br />
and workplace or industry rules.<br />
The primary legislation regulating<br />
employment includes the Unfair Dismissals<br />
Acts 1977 to 2015; Employment Equality<br />
Acts 1998 to 2015; National Minimum Wage<br />
Act 2000 and the Payment of Wages Act<br />
1991; Terms of Employment (Information)<br />
Acts 1994 to 2012; Maternity Protection<br />
Acts 1994 to 2004 and other protective leave<br />
legislation; Minimum Notice and Terms<br />
of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005; Fixed<br />
Term Workers, Part Time Employees and<br />
Agency Workers Protection Legislation;<br />
Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.<br />
Quite a list, but it should outline where<br />
those with queries should look.<br />
TAX MATTERS<br />
Corporation tax – companies that are<br />
resident in Ireland must pay corporation<br />
tax on worldwide profits and chargeable<br />
capital gains (subject to double taxation<br />
treaty relief). The standard rate on Irish<br />
trading profits is 12.5 percent. To benefit<br />
from this rate, companies must derive<br />
income from a trade that is actively<br />
carried on in Ireland.<br />
A rate of 25 percent applies to nontrading<br />
(for example, rental income<br />
and royalty income) and foreign-source<br />
income.<br />
VAT is charged on certain imports<br />
and on goods and services supplied in<br />
Ireland in the course of business. VAT<br />
ranges from zero to 23 percent depending<br />
on the product or service. There is more<br />
detailed information on this at revenue.ie/<br />
en/Home.aspx together with all the other<br />
taxation information an exporter will be<br />
interested in.<br />
As an aside, it’s worth stating that while<br />
taxes are never much fun other than for<br />
accountants and the tax collector, the<br />
Irish Revenue’s website is well designed<br />
and very easy to navigate.<br />
Employment – individuals who are a<br />
tax resident (183 days or more in a year,<br />
or 280 days or more over a year and the<br />
previous tax year taken together) will pay<br />
income tax on their worldwide annual<br />
taxable income at 20 percent on the first<br />
€34,550 to €43,500 (depending marital<br />
status / children) and 40 percent on the<br />
remainder.<br />
As in the UK, there are individual tax<br />
credits, which vary depending on the<br />
employee’s circumstances, and can be set<br />
off against their income tax liability.<br />
The Universal Social Charge (USC)<br />
replaced the health and income levies in<br />
2011, at rates varying from 0.5 percent (up<br />
to €12,012) to eight percent (income up to<br />
€100,000) with a three percent surcharge<br />
for income over €100,000, depending on<br />
income and age. USC is treated as a tax<br />
rather than a social security contribution<br />
for tax purposes.<br />
Most employers and employees (over<br />
16 years of age and under 66) pay social<br />
insurance (PRSI) contributions into the<br />
national Social Insurance Fund. This is<br />
set at four percent for employees.<br />
VISAS AND PERMITS<br />
Lastly, those from non-exempt countries<br />
must obtain an entry visa before travelling<br />
to Ireland; details of exempt and nonexempt<br />
countries can be obtained from<br />
the Department of Foreign Affairs and<br />
Trade (dfa.ie).<br />
Employment permits are required<br />
by all non-EEA/Swiss nationals. The<br />
Employment Permits Acts 2003 to 2014<br />
establish a statutory regime governing<br />
employment permits which is operated by<br />
the Department of Business, Enterprise<br />
and Innovation (dbei.ie). There are three<br />
primary types of permit: Critical Skills<br />
Employment Permits; General Work<br />
Permits and Intra Company Transfer<br />
Permits.<br />
Ireland is a land of opportunity and<br />
an easy gateway into Europe. For a post-<br />
Brexit United Kingdom, Ireland is a<br />
natural place to consider doing business.<br />
Adam Bernstein is a freelance<br />
business writer.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 31
DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!<br />
What drives debt in your organisation and<br />
whose responsibility is it?<br />
AUTHOR – Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
IT is true that the sales ledger is<br />
the window into an organisation’s<br />
processes. To be more accurate,<br />
it is the window into how good<br />
(or bad!) those processes are.<br />
Any credit management<br />
professional will tell you that 90 percent<br />
of the issues as they appear on the sales<br />
ledger are not of their making, but as<br />
the credit controllers are responsible for<br />
collections, so the expectation is that they<br />
are responsible for resolving the issues.<br />
But while Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) is<br />
seen as a finance measure against which<br />
the success of the credit management<br />
process is measured, credit managers<br />
are rarely measured on their ability to<br />
‘trouble shoot’ and resolve issues that<br />
ultimately impact the debts collected.<br />
Establishing the root causes of debt<br />
should be a fundamental part of the credit<br />
manager’s role, but many seem to just try<br />
to collect the debt as it is presented to<br />
them. Best practice credit management<br />
is more than that; it is about driving the<br />
organisation in the reduction of debt. This<br />
is where Stakeholder Management is a<br />
key requirement of a credit professional<br />
and the reasons why it is one of the six<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q Criteria.<br />
Credit managers rarely have direct<br />
responsibility for the Order to Cash<br />
process so working with stakeholders<br />
becomes important. Identifying who these<br />
stakeholders are is just the beginning.<br />
Stakeholder maps – who these individuals<br />
are, and their level of influence, is the<br />
place to start; stakeholder management<br />
is a constant requirement. The role of the<br />
credit manager here is to find the button<br />
that, when pressed, will change the<br />
behaviour of the business encouraging<br />
them to take action in improving debt.<br />
Looking at the end-to-end Order to Cash<br />
process, there are a number of areas<br />
which drive debt:<br />
Payment Terms – those which are<br />
standard and those which are offered<br />
to customers by sales teams may not<br />
always be the same, but do you as credit<br />
manager have control over this? If not,<br />
how can you get control? Days sales<br />
outstanding is formed of two component<br />
parts Delinquent Days Sales Outstanding<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 32
OPINION<br />
AUTHOR – Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
(DDSO) and Terms DSO. It is the Terms DSO<br />
which your sales can influence.<br />
I recall a client once said to me ‘Sales are<br />
only ever allowed to give payment terms<br />
that are listed in the SAP system.’ When<br />
asked ‘how many payment terms do you<br />
have on the system?’ the answer was an<br />
incredible 238, so this credit team failed to<br />
demonstrate any control over the process<br />
of payment terms and so, unsurprisingly,<br />
DSO was exceptionally high. If you can<br />
understand Terms DSO, working with Sales<br />
to reduce the number of terms offered<br />
would be a start. Putting in place escalation<br />
processes for the approval of non-standard<br />
terms will also help.<br />
New Customer Information – there is a<br />
standard credit mantra that ‘Sales don’t do<br />
admin.’ That may or may not be the case,<br />
but what is essential is that they are good at<br />
the necessary admin. It is the responsibility<br />
of the credit manager to educate the<br />
business on the critical elements of their<br />
role that impact debt and cash. During one<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q client assessment I attended a sales<br />
briefing where the credit manager and one<br />
of her team took the sales team through the<br />
credit application form – one of a series of<br />
presentations they had done. Again, this is<br />
not something that is ‘fire and forget’. This<br />
was something that the credit manager<br />
recognised would have to be an ongoing<br />
process at all sales meetings – educating new<br />
and existing sales people in the importance<br />
of clear and correct customer information.<br />
Billing Accuracy – this is a personal<br />
soapbox of mine and as I have said before<br />
‘the bill is another window into your<br />
processes’. One of the most common<br />
problems with billing is the poor processes<br />
leading up to bill production – pricing<br />
is a frequent root cause. Delays in the<br />
loading of prices and slow rebates for bulk<br />
discounts drive debts. There is a hidden<br />
cost in organisations: billing re-work; the<br />
investigation of disputes; raising of credits;<br />
credit and re-billing etc. If you think about<br />
it, the cost of re-work is more than the cost<br />
of the bill. This is a hidden cost because the<br />
resolution of disputes is spread throughout<br />
the organisation – from receiving the call<br />
to the investigation, raising of the credit,<br />
senior management sign-off and the costs<br />
of credit added to the terms for these delays.<br />
The required ‘segregation of duties’<br />
almost demands that these costs are<br />
distributed so they are difficult to measure.<br />
Start with the measurement of credit notes<br />
to bills as a percentage, and if you struggle<br />
to get traction with finance to create a<br />
‘Billing Assurance’ programme use this<br />
tactic. I once asked a FD of a client what the<br />
billing accuracy was. He said ‘pretty good<br />
actually around 95 percent.’ I said ‘So you<br />
are happy with five percent of your revenue<br />
being billed incorrectly?’ As this was a<br />
major international company, five percent<br />
amounted to a few billion dollars. This was<br />
the button I mentioned earlier that changed<br />
behaviour – two years later that 95 percent<br />
was 99 percent and debt performance<br />
improved dramatically.<br />
Measurement – some years ago I<br />
attended a CI<strong>CM</strong> Masterclass in London<br />
where I first heard the concept of ‘DSO<br />
Drivers’. Essentially, by understanding what<br />
a DSO day is worth you can then attribute<br />
these days to the values of the debts on<br />
your ledger. Presenting this at the senior<br />
managers meeting will enable you to<br />
demonstrate that DSO is not just a finance<br />
measure but one which should be owned by<br />
all of the business. You will also be able to<br />
establish how much is outside the control of<br />
the credit management team.<br />
Organisational Capability – what you<br />
are looking for as a credit manager is an<br />
engaged and motivated team, but a team<br />
that is neither of these things will result in<br />
poor collections performance. There is a<br />
soundbite meme that says ‘think of the cost<br />
if the people we train leave?’ and someone<br />
else says ‘but what is the cost of not training<br />
them and they stay?’ It is very difficult to<br />
quantify a benefit for training in value terms;<br />
it is one of those things that is an enabler.<br />
As one credit manager said at a CI<strong>CM</strong> Best<br />
Practice Event ‘training your staff is like<br />
servicing your car. You are making sure that<br />
it is operating at optimum performance.’<br />
The CI<strong>CM</strong>Q network of organisations invest<br />
in training and as a result it clearly enables<br />
higher performance in cash collection and<br />
debt management.<br />
These elements of the Order to Cash<br />
process are something to consider when<br />
you are seeking to improve the standing and<br />
performance of your credit management<br />
function. These elements also form a part<br />
of the CI<strong>CM</strong>Q programme’s six criteria –<br />
Policy and Compliance, Customer Service,<br />
Performance Monitoring, Personal and<br />
Professional Development and Stakeholder<br />
Management. Putting this together into a<br />
plan of action becomes your roadmap for<br />
improvement. All CI<strong>CM</strong>Q organisations<br />
strive for best practice and share this with<br />
others.<br />
Getting better never stops and, as we<br />
know, the credit manager can never take<br />
their foot off the accelerator, but we need<br />
also to recognise that it is not just the credit<br />
team’s responsibility to manage credit and<br />
debt. Looking at what drives debt in your<br />
organisation and sharing that responsibility<br />
is also part of the credit manager’s role.<br />
For more information please contact<br />
cicmq@cicm.com.<br />
Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Head of Accreditation – CI<strong>CM</strong>Q.<br />
It is true that the sales<br />
ledger is the window<br />
into an organisation’s<br />
processes. To be more<br />
accurate, it is the<br />
window into how good<br />
(or bad!) those processes<br />
are.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 33
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS<br />
CHRISTMASAPPS<br />
Our ongoing series has taken a festive twist. Credit Management takes a look<br />
at the most useful apps for tablets and smartphones to help with financial<br />
planning and gift buying for Christmas.<br />
Got a great app?<br />
Tell us about it at editor@cicm.com<br />
CHRISTMAS GIFT BUDGET<br />
Using Christmas Gift Budget you can add person and gift<br />
budgets, create groups, and it helps to keep track of budget and<br />
gift purchase status as well. One of the best features is a pass<br />
code that keeps your Christmas gift shopping list and budget<br />
secret from others.<br />
AVAILABILITY: Android<br />
COST: FREE<br />
MYSUPERMARKET<br />
mySupermarket lets you compare food prices across the UK’s<br />
biggest supermarkets. You can create shopping lists, and add<br />
alert notifications if products you enjoy drop below a certain<br />
price. And if you’re not sure where to do your main Christmas<br />
shop, you can find out which supermarkets Which? readers<br />
love, using the supermarkets compared guide.<br />
AVAILABILITY: Android/iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
WISH<br />
Wish suggests flash deals in categories of your choice such<br />
as dresses, watches and makeup, and allows you to buy them<br />
directly from the app.<br />
AVAILABILITY: Android/iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
ETSY<br />
Etsy is the ideal app for finding handmade and vintage presents. There<br />
are four tabs: For You, which recommends products based on your likes;<br />
Etsy Picks, a curated list from Etsy Editors; Local, showing nearby deals;<br />
and the Holiday Gift Guide. Etsy is the app you need if you want to find a<br />
custom gift with a personal touch.<br />
STREETLINK<br />
Christmas is also a time to think of others – StreetLink allows<br />
members of the public to inform local authorities about rough<br />
sleepers in their area and help get them off the streets.<br />
AVAILABILITY:Android/iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
NOTONTHEHIGHSTREET<br />
This app picks products from the UK’s best small businesses<br />
that are not on the high street. You can choose from an array<br />
of custom-made jewellery and homeware without having to<br />
search around looking for a different gift for that ‘difficult to<br />
buy for’ person any longer! Notonthehighstreet also has a<br />
variety of experiences on offer, such as urban beekeeping or<br />
gin making.<br />
AVAILABILITY: iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
AVAILABILITY: Android/iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
VOUCHERCODES<br />
When you open VoucherCodes for the first time you’ll be asked<br />
to list some brands that you like. This determines which offers<br />
appear in the ‘Tailored for you’ section. Many of the codes on<br />
this app are for food, and the Nearby tab is worth taking a look<br />
at if you’re keen to save money on lunch. The VoucherCodes<br />
app also includes advice on the best champagne and the best<br />
Christmas pudding.<br />
AVAILABILITY: iOS<br />
COST: FREE<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 34
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 35
PAYMENT TRENDS<br />
BAH HUMBUG<br />
The latest monthly business to business payment<br />
performance statistics.<br />
AUTHOR – Jason Braidwood FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad)<br />
TIS the season to be jolly, or is it? Last month<br />
saw signs of encouragement as the average<br />
Days Beyond Terms (DBT) figures across<br />
regions and sectors fell back into line<br />
following a blip the month before.<br />
This month, however, things have<br />
fluctuated again, and not in a good way. The average DBT<br />
figures across regions and sectors are on the up again, to<br />
16.0 days and 15.9 days respectively.<br />
SECTOR SPOTLIGHT<br />
The table does not make for particularly pleasant reading<br />
this month, with only five sectors showing improvement.<br />
It has, however, been an encouraging month for the<br />
Energy Supply sector, posting the biggest improvement<br />
across the board with a reduction of 4.0 days and with<br />
that moving off the bottom of the table. Not too far<br />
behind are Wholesale and Retail Trade and Real Estate,<br />
which have reduced their DBT scores by 3.0 and 2.5 days.<br />
It has also been a successful month for Agriculture,<br />
Forestry and Fishing and Public Administration, which<br />
have all reduced their DBT. Hospitality remains at the<br />
top of the table with a DBT of 9.8 days despite a slight<br />
increase.<br />
At the opposite end of the scale, it has been a very<br />
poor month for both International Bodies and Business<br />
from Home, with increases of 6.5 up to 18.6 and 5.9 up<br />
to 19.2 DBT. Meanwhile, Business Admin and Support<br />
continues to slip down the rankings, with DBT now up to<br />
18.7 days. Mining and Quarrying (17.4 DBT), Real Estate<br />
(17.2 DBT) and Financial and Insurance (16.8 DBT) are all<br />
moving in the wrong direction. It has also been another<br />
disappointing month for Professional and Scientific,<br />
now sitting rock bottom with a DBT of 21.6 days.<br />
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT<br />
The regional standings are also a cause for concern,<br />
with Scotland the only region to show improvement,<br />
reducing their DBT to 16.0 days and ending their lengthy<br />
stint at the bottom of the table. Things only get worse for<br />
London however, with their DBT increasing a further 4.5<br />
up to a worrying 20.7 days.<br />
Elsewhere, the South East, which topped the table<br />
last month with a DBT of 9.7, has experienced a sharp<br />
increase up to 14.4 days. Similarly, Yorkshire and<br />
Humberside’s DBT has jumped from 9.8 to 14.2 days,<br />
demonstrating the fluctuation in regional performance<br />
on a month-by-month basis.<br />
Perhaps it is not the time to panic, but it is a concern<br />
to see the majority of sectors and regions moving in<br />
the wrong direction when it comes to late payments,<br />
especially on the back of an encouraging last month.<br />
Ongoing uncertainty looks like it is here to stay for the<br />
foreseeable future, so will we have to wait and see how<br />
things fare as we enter the New Year and edge closer<br />
towards the dreaded Brexit deadline.<br />
Jason Braidwood FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad),<br />
Head of Credit and Collections at Creditsafe Business<br />
Solutions.<br />
Getting Better<br />
-4.0 Energy Supply<br />
-3.0 Wholesale & Storage<br />
-2.5 Transportation & Storage<br />
-1.1 Agriculture<br />
-0.7 Public Administration<br />
Getting Worse<br />
6.5 International Bodies<br />
5.9 Business from Home<br />
3.3 Health & Social<br />
3.0 Other Service<br />
2.4 Water & Waste<br />
Top Five Prompter Payers<br />
Top Five Prompter Payers Oct 18 Change from Sep 18<br />
South West 13.8 1.9<br />
Yorkshire and Humberside 14.2 4.4<br />
South East 14.4 4.7<br />
West Midlands 14.7 1.9<br />
East Anglia 14.7 0.3<br />
Top Five Prompter Payers<br />
Region Oct 18 Change from Sep 18<br />
Hospitality 9.8 0.8<br />
Entertainment 11.7 2.0<br />
Education 12.6 1.4<br />
Public Administration 12.9 -0.7<br />
Wholesale and retail trade 13.1 -3.0<br />
Bottom Five Poorest Payers<br />
Bottom Five Poorest Payers Oct 18 Change from Sep 18<br />
London 20.7 4.5<br />
North West 17.6 3.7<br />
Northern Ireland 17.5 1.9<br />
East Midlands 16.5 3.0<br />
Scotland 16.0 -0.3<br />
Bottom Five Poorest Payers<br />
Region Oct 18 Change from Sep 18<br />
Professional and Scientific 21.6 2.6<br />
Business from Home 19.2 5.9<br />
Business Admin & Support 18.7 1.1<br />
International Bodies 18.6 6.5<br />
Mining and Quarrying 17.4 1.0<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 36
PAYMENT TRENDS<br />
AUTHOR – Jason Braidwood FCI<strong>CM</strong>(Grad)<br />
Perhaps it is not the time to panic,<br />
but it is a concern to see the majority<br />
of sectors and regions moving in the<br />
wrong direction when it comes to<br />
late payments.<br />
SCOTLAND<br />
-0.3 DBT<br />
NORTHERN<br />
IRELAND<br />
1.9 DBT<br />
WALES<br />
2.1 DBT<br />
NORTH<br />
WEST<br />
3.7 DBT<br />
YORKSHIRE &<br />
HUMBERSIDE<br />
4.4 DBT<br />
WEST<br />
MIDLANDS<br />
1.9 DBT<br />
EAST<br />
MIDLANDS<br />
3.0 DBT<br />
LONDON<br />
4.5 DBT<br />
EAST<br />
ANGLIA<br />
0.3 DBT<br />
SOUTH<br />
EAST<br />
4.7 DBT<br />
SOUTH<br />
WEST<br />
1.9 DBT<br />
Getting Better – Getting Worse<br />
0.3<br />
3.0<br />
4.5<br />
3.7<br />
1.9<br />
-0.3<br />
4.7<br />
1.9<br />
2.1<br />
1.9<br />
4.4<br />
East Anglia<br />
East Midlands<br />
London<br />
North West<br />
Northern Ireland<br />
Scotland<br />
South East<br />
South West<br />
Wales<br />
West Midlands<br />
Yorkshire and Humberside<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 37
CAREERS ADVICE<br />
A bright future<br />
Salaries rise faster outside of<br />
London as credit professionals<br />
continue to be in demand.<br />
AUTHOR – Karen Young<br />
THE latest annual Hays Salary<br />
& Recruiting Trends 2019<br />
guide shows that credit<br />
professionals are confident<br />
in their skills and prepared to<br />
move roles as average salaries<br />
rise higher in areas outside of London. As<br />
credit talent continues to be in demand,<br />
salaries have risen steadily again this year<br />
at 2.4 percent, above the UK average of 1.9<br />
percent.<br />
Regionally, the largest increases<br />
witnessed for credit professionals were seen<br />
in Northern Ireland at 7.3 percent, followed<br />
by 6.9 percent in the North West, 6.1 percent<br />
in Scotland and 4.7 percent in the North<br />
East. Credit professionals in these areas<br />
are in particular demand, and as such are<br />
aware of their worth, and this together with<br />
skills shortages, is inflating salaries further.<br />
Encouragingly the steady salary rise seen<br />
over the past few years looks set to continue<br />
as 81 percent of finance employers said<br />
their salaries increased this year, and over<br />
three-quarters (77 percent) hope the same<br />
will happen again next year.<br />
As a result, over half (57 percent) of<br />
credit professionals say they are satisfied<br />
with their salary, an increase from 43<br />
percent last year. Pressure remains however<br />
for employers to continue to keep salaries<br />
above market rate, as close to two thirds (63<br />
percent) of professionals in the industry<br />
expect their salary to increase again in the<br />
year ahead.<br />
Two fifths (40 percent) of credit<br />
professionals said they have moved jobs<br />
in the last 12 months, while a further<br />
37 percent said they had considered<br />
leaving their roles. This figure combined<br />
points towards a large proportion of<br />
professionals who would be tempted<br />
to move for the right offer. With<br />
over two-thirds of employers expecting to<br />
encounter a shortage of suitable applicants<br />
over the next 12 months, organisations<br />
should look to tap into this passive talent<br />
pool.<br />
Looking ahead, over half (54 percent)<br />
of professionals expect to move jobs in<br />
the next 12 months, higher than the year<br />
prior at 49 percent. Over a third (37 percent)<br />
of the 49 percent plan to look for a new job<br />
in the next six months. The top reasons<br />
for professionals wanting to leave their<br />
roles is split equally between salary/and<br />
benefits packages and a lack of future<br />
opportunities – both at 23 percent.<br />
Half of professionals also cited that<br />
an improved salary or benefits package<br />
would tempt them to move jobs indicating<br />
that salary will be an important factor for<br />
employers if they hope to tap into the<br />
talent market in the year ahead.<br />
JOB SATISFACTION<br />
Alongside an increase in salary<br />
satisfaction, over two-thirds (67 percent)<br />
of professionals working in credit say they<br />
are currently satisfied in their roles and 49<br />
percent feel there is scope for progression<br />
within their organisation, an increase<br />
from 34 percent.<br />
While it’s reassuring employers<br />
have clearly been more transparent in<br />
communicating progression pathways<br />
within their organisations, only 39 percent<br />
of credit professionals feel positive about<br />
their career prospects. Although 94<br />
percent of finance employers expect their<br />
organisation’s activity levels to increase<br />
or stay the same over the next 12 months,<br />
it’s evident employees may be more<br />
concerned about future opportunities as<br />
economic uncertainty continues.<br />
WORK-LIFE BALANCE<br />
Over half of professionals (55 percent)<br />
rated their work-life balance as good,<br />
above the UK average of 45 percent. 51<br />
percent of professionals said they would<br />
change their working hours, including<br />
flexible working in order to improve this.<br />
Additionally, 29 percent of professionals<br />
said work-life balance was the most<br />
important factor when considering a<br />
new role with flexi-time cited as the most<br />
popular option. Positively, employers<br />
are aware of the importance of this for<br />
professionals. Aside from salaries, finance<br />
employers say work-life balance including<br />
flexible working was the most important<br />
factor towards helping to attract staff.<br />
While employers may be concerned<br />
about the impact of changing working<br />
hours when already struggling with staff<br />
shortages, offering and promoting these<br />
options is a valuable aid to attraction and<br />
retention.<br />
EMPLOYERS UNAWARE<br />
Our research indicates a clear mismatch<br />
between the benefits professionals in the<br />
industry desire and what employers are<br />
currently offering. Only two of the top five<br />
benefits for employees feature within the<br />
top five benefits offered by employers.<br />
The top benefits for 60 percent of<br />
professionals when looking for a new<br />
role were: over 28 days paid annual<br />
leave; pension provision above the legal<br />
minimum (51 percent); health insurance<br />
or private medical care (51 percent); life<br />
insurance (43 percent); and training and/<br />
or professional certification support (38<br />
percent).<br />
Employers, however, believe the top<br />
five benefits for attracting talent are:<br />
childcare voucher schemes (71 percent);<br />
pension provision above the legal<br />
minimum (54 percent); cycle to work<br />
schemes (51 percent); financial support<br />
for professional studies (49 percent); and<br />
health insurance/private medical care (45<br />
percent).<br />
It’s evident that benefits aid worklife<br />
balance such as a generous holiday<br />
entitlement are attractive to employees<br />
and employers who want to attract the<br />
right talent should think about how they<br />
can tailor their benefits to suit a changing<br />
workforce.<br />
Overall, it’s positive that professionals<br />
in the sector have the confidence to move,<br />
encouraging employers to offer increased<br />
and competitive salaries. Employers<br />
looking to hire in the coming year will<br />
need to act decisively as competition<br />
for talent continues to be fierce. Those<br />
looking for the best talent will require a<br />
clear progression map for their teams, as<br />
employees are not scared to move in order<br />
to build a long-lasting career in credit<br />
management.<br />
Karen Young is Director<br />
at Hays Credit Management.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 38
CAREERS ADVICE<br />
CREDIT SALARIES UK 2019<br />
Credit<br />
Controller<br />
Senior<br />
Credit Controller<br />
Credit Risk<br />
Analyst<br />
Credit Control<br />
Supervisor<br />
Credit<br />
Manager<br />
Group Credit Manager<br />
/ Head of Credit<br />
Credit<br />
Director<br />
Region 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019<br />
East Midlands £23,000 £25,000 £40,000 £30,000 £40,000 £58,000 £80,000<br />
East of England £24,500 £28,000 £40,000 £30,000 £38,000 £55,000 £70,000<br />
London £27,000 £32,000 £50,000 £36,000 £55,000 £72,000 £95,000<br />
North East £21,000 £25,000 £32,000 £26,000 £38,000 £60,000 £75,000<br />
North West £23,500 £26,000 £40,000 £30,000 £42,000 £60,000 £80,000<br />
Northern Ireland £23,000 £26,000 £32,000 £30,000 £42,000 £55,000 £70,000<br />
Scotland £22,500 £26,000 £32,000 £30,000 £40,000 £55,000 £65,000<br />
South East £26,500 £30,000 £40,000 £34,000 £45,000 £65,000 £85,000<br />
South West £24,500 £26,000 £42,000 £27,000 £38,000 £55,000 £70,000<br />
Wales £20,000 £23,000 £30,000 £27,000 £36,000 £52,000 £65,000<br />
West Midlands £23,500 £26,000 £40,000 £31,000 £45,000 £65,000 £85,000<br />
Yorkshire and the Humber £23,000 £24,000 £30,000 £27,000 £38,000 £57,000 £70,000<br />
National Average 2019 £23,500 £26,417 £37,333 £29,833 £41,417 £59,083 £75,833<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 39
LEGAL MATTERS<br />
The European Order<br />
for Payment<br />
How to use an EOP to enforce cross-border debt.<br />
DD +353 1 790 9415<br />
E susan.connolly@dwf.law W www.dwf.law/recover<br />
Susan Connolly –<br />
Senior Associate Commercial<br />
Litigation and Professional Indemnity<br />
THE European Order for<br />
Payment (EOP) is an underused<br />
but highly effective<br />
tool which allows for<br />
enforcement of crossborder<br />
debts. Council<br />
Regulation (EC) 1896/2006 brought about<br />
the EOP process, which allows a creditor<br />
to enforce a debt against a debtor residing<br />
in another European Member State (with<br />
the exception of Denmark). The procedure<br />
is administrative in nature and is faster<br />
and less costly than litigating uncontested<br />
money claims.<br />
For a claim to have a cross border<br />
element, at least one of the parties must<br />
be domiciled or habitually resident in<br />
an EU Member State other than the state<br />
where the Court is dealing with the EOP<br />
application. Article 3(3) of the Regulation<br />
outlines that the appropriate point at which<br />
to determine if a case can be considered<br />
as being of a 'cross-border' nature is the<br />
point at which the application is made as<br />
opposed to the point at which the subject<br />
matter of the claim arose.<br />
The procedure is available for 'civil and<br />
commercial matters in cross border cases<br />
irrespective of the nature of the court<br />
or tribunal'. The Regulation expressly<br />
excludes revenue, customs, administrative<br />
and state liability claims.<br />
Jurisdiction is determined in<br />
accordance with the Brussels I Regulation<br />
except in the cases of disputes arising<br />
from consumer contracts where the<br />
defendant is a consumer. In that instance,<br />
the Brussels I Regulations provides that<br />
the jurisdiction must be the Member State<br />
where the defendant is domiciled.<br />
The EOP procedure is particularly<br />
helpful in money claims for a specific<br />
amount, due and owing at the time the<br />
application is submitted.<br />
The procedure is that the creditor<br />
completes a series of forms in their own<br />
Member State. The initiating document<br />
is a Form A, which sets out the details of<br />
the parties, the amount claimed including<br />
principal, any interest or contractual<br />
penalties, a summary of the claim and<br />
supporting evidence.<br />
The Court first examines the<br />
application but does not consider the<br />
evidence. There is a Form B stage which<br />
affords applicants an opportunity to<br />
rectify applications if the Court deems it<br />
necessary. If the Court rejects the claim, it<br />
will issue a form D. If the Court only finds<br />
that part of the claim should proceed, it<br />
will issue a Form C.<br />
If the Court finds that the claim has<br />
merit, an EOP will issue by means of Form<br />
E. This contains the names and addresses<br />
of the parties and the order to pay the<br />
amount claimed, the interest, contractual<br />
penalties and costs. The debtor is notified<br />
by means of the Form E of the obligation<br />
to (1) pay the amount owed or (2) dispute<br />
the EOP by lodging a statement of<br />
opposition by means of Form F within 30<br />
days. Form E also notifies the debtor that<br />
if a statement of opposition is lodged, the<br />
matter must thereafter be dealt with by<br />
the courts of the Member State of origin.<br />
Form E must be served on the debtor<br />
in accordance with the national law of the<br />
Member State of origin and the method of<br />
service must comply with Articles 13 to 15<br />
of the Regulation.<br />
The procedure to proceed from Form<br />
A to Form E should take no more than<br />
30 days, but this does not include where<br />
a Form B amendment or rectification is<br />
required.<br />
If the debtor wishes to challenge the<br />
EOP a Form F must be lodged. There is<br />
no requirement to state grounds for the<br />
opposition.<br />
If no opposition is lodged, the Court<br />
will issue Form G which is a declaration<br />
of enforceability. Any EOP that has been<br />
declared enforceable in its Member State<br />
of origin is therefore enforceable in other<br />
Member States.<br />
The law of the Member State of<br />
enforcement will determine the means<br />
by which the EOP may be enforced. Any<br />
remedies which are available in relation<br />
to a judgment or order made within a<br />
Member State are also available in relation<br />
to the enforcement of the EOP.<br />
This procedure is well worth<br />
considering as a means to cut through<br />
lengthy and costly procedures when<br />
dealing with debtors outside of your own<br />
jurisdiction. The procedure affords the<br />
opportunity to have an enforceable order<br />
in a very short timeframe. In conventional<br />
civil litigation, the court proceedings can<br />
be lengthy and costly only to be followed<br />
by what can be equally lengthy and<br />
costly enforcement procedures. Where<br />
available, the EOP can have creditors at<br />
enforcement state in the Member State<br />
of enforcement significantly sooner than<br />
they would be if court proceedings were<br />
pursued.<br />
This information is intended as a general<br />
discussion surrounding the topics covered<br />
and is for guidance purposes only. It does<br />
not constitute legal advice and should<br />
not be regarded as a substitute for taking<br />
legal advice. DWF is not responsible for<br />
any activity undertaken based on this<br />
information.<br />
As a CI<strong>CM</strong> member you can receive free legal advice from<br />
DWF. Visit the CI<strong>CM</strong> website and click on the free Advice Line.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 40
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The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 41
EXCLUSIVE REPORT<br />
RISKY<br />
BUSINESS<br />
A global outlook of business performance in Q3.<br />
AUTHOR – Nalanda Matia<br />
THE global economic<br />
upswing that caused an<br />
uptick in global growth<br />
around mid-2016 and early<br />
2017 has largely sustained<br />
itself, with Real GDP<br />
growth rates for most country groups<br />
continuing to expand before stabilising<br />
in the next few years. While the overall<br />
trend seems to be similar in general, the<br />
outlook for emerging markets remains<br />
more positive. On average, the emerging<br />
nations are expected to maintain growth<br />
rates of about 4.5 percent in 2019, while<br />
the global average hovers around a tame<br />
three percent, although managing to<br />
remain above the post-recession average<br />
of two percent. Divergence will occur<br />
among the advanced economies as well,<br />
as Dun & Bradstreet economists expect US<br />
growth to decelerate post-2019 while the<br />
UK is expected to maintain an accelerated<br />
pace, given the nation is able to achieve<br />
the desirable outcome of a negotiated<br />
Brexit. From an economic perspective,<br />
Brexit negotiations aiming at retaining<br />
open trade with and access to the financial<br />
markets of the European Union will prove<br />
to be most beneficial.<br />
However, some global risks continue<br />
to linger. Markets have been rallying<br />
recently on reports that China and the US<br />
are making headway on trade, but tensions<br />
still remain. Another cause for concern<br />
and a possible threat to global growth<br />
prospects is that China seems to be in the<br />
initial phases of an economic slowdown<br />
that primarily emanates from declining<br />
effectiveness of several key factors like<br />
quality of labour, efficient re-allocation of<br />
capital that fuelled the country’s impressive<br />
economic expansion in the past. On the<br />
other hand, matters have eased slightly on<br />
the prospect of a North American trade war<br />
by the new agreement (USMCA) between<br />
the US, Mexico and Canada. Although final<br />
ratification and implementation of USMCA<br />
remain pending, the agreement went a<br />
long way to allay fears of a possible trade<br />
war in the region impacting sustainable<br />
growth within it and spreading globally.<br />
However, none of the above factors nor the<br />
currency crises in Argentina and Turkey<br />
will have a significant bearing on the<br />
outlook for global growth – at least in early<br />
2019.<br />
According to the Office for National<br />
Statistics, overall UK GDP grew by 1.4<br />
percent on a year over year basis in the second<br />
quarter of <strong>2018</strong>. A look into the vertical<br />
specific view shows a wide range of growth<br />
among the key industry segments. The<br />
Services segments, led by the Professional,<br />
Scientific and Technical Activities registered<br />
the most growth (5.3 percent) since Q2 2017,<br />
followed by Manufacturing and Real Estate<br />
which grew 1.3 percent and 0.5 percent<br />
respectively. Other segments like Health and<br />
Social activities, Agriculture and Natural<br />
Resources and the Financial and Insurance<br />
sectors saw some contraction since Q2 2017.<br />
Clearly, imbalances between important<br />
sectors of the British economy as the nation<br />
treads uncertainties surrounding Brexit.<br />
Despite pockets of concern, the UK<br />
labour market fundamentals remain fairly<br />
healthy. Unemployment rate stands at its<br />
post-recession low at four percent. Also,<br />
labour productivity measures by the ONS’<br />
Output per Worker index has continued<br />
to climb since late 2015, with a few dips<br />
along the way. There is some growth seen in<br />
wages (Average weekly earnings), which has<br />
increased by a little over two percent over<br />
the past year – the growth rate being slightly<br />
slower than that seen over the past quarters<br />
and also from what could be expected in the<br />
current job market.<br />
Moving from the fundamentals of the<br />
economy, to that of business health, we take<br />
a detailed look at business liquidations by<br />
industry. Significant variation exists between<br />
sectors, with sectors like Personal Services<br />
and Agriculture showing an increase in the<br />
number of business liquidations over the<br />
past year. Although all these sectors show<br />
an increase in business liquidations during<br />
the current quarter, differences in the trend<br />
exist among them.<br />
A third group of industry segments, led<br />
by Transportation/Comms/Utilities and<br />
Business Services, show a considerable<br />
drop in business liquidations. Although all<br />
these above-named sectors show a certain<br />
outcome (increase/decrease/no change)<br />
from the business liquidations perspective,<br />
during the current quarter, differences in<br />
the trend exist among them and may tell<br />
a more detailed story. For example, for<br />
the Agriculture, Government or the Retail<br />
sector, the number of business liquidations<br />
remain considerably lower than the post-<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 42
EXCLUSIVE REPORT<br />
AUTHOR – Nalanda Matia<br />
recession (2010-11) era while for sectors like<br />
Personal Services, Construction or Machinery<br />
Manufacturing have not seen any significant<br />
reduction in the number of liquidations since<br />
the post-recession period. These latter group<br />
of industry segments may be suffering on the<br />
stability perspective and it needs to be seen<br />
whether or not policies could be put in place to<br />
help businesses continue on the path of stable<br />
and sustainable growth. Overall, the number of<br />
businesses that closed their doors in the past year<br />
has declined by a little over 20 percent. However,<br />
on the whole, the volatility in change of business<br />
failures has declined considerably, businesses<br />
within the UK economy have slowly gained<br />
stability over time, attaining maximum stability<br />
around late 2015 through mid 2017. Business<br />
liquidations seemed to take an upturn on the<br />
annual basis again in the second half of 2017,<br />
but have been steadily declining, achieving the<br />
highest decline since Q1 2016 during the current<br />
quarter – but there are pockets of concern that<br />
need further attention.<br />
A potent leading indicator of business<br />
stability is a business’ payment performance<br />
– how promptly a business has been paying its<br />
creditors and/or suppliers. The 12-month view<br />
of the percentage of prompt payments made<br />
by UK businesses on an average shows that the<br />
metric has been quite stable over this period of<br />
time. For the past year, the percentage of prompt<br />
payments for these businesses have hovered<br />
approximately around the 30 percent mark,<br />
with small improvements around early <strong>2018</strong> and<br />
stabilising around 31 percent currently after a<br />
slight drop earlier in the quarter. This number<br />
Nalanda Matia<br />
In conclusion,<br />
the overall health<br />
of the business<br />
population in<br />
the UK seems to<br />
be fairly robust,<br />
with pockets of<br />
concern present<br />
in some major<br />
industries.<br />
varies considerably for business segments – and<br />
have a strong correlation with business size.<br />
The smallest businesses (by employee counts)<br />
seem to make the highest percentage of prompt<br />
payments – over 35 percent of their account<br />
payables are paid promptly within terms. This<br />
percentage declines systematically, dropping to<br />
14 percent of prompt payments for mid-sized<br />
businesses with 101-250 employees on their<br />
payroll. The percentage of prompt payments for<br />
the largest businesses in the country with more<br />
than 1,000 people under their employ pay only<br />
about six percent of their accounts payable in a<br />
prompt manner. This trend is not only true for<br />
the current recording period, but holds true for<br />
all historical periods as well and clearly points to<br />
the position of confidence that large businesses<br />
enjoy by virtue of their market power and possibly<br />
brand name in the industry. This also brings<br />
to the forefront the plight of small businesses,<br />
that in spite of their incessant cash-constrained<br />
state, they do not have the bargaining power to<br />
attain more favourable terms for their accounts<br />
payable and are obligated to pay a relatively<br />
higher percentage of these in a prompt manner.<br />
This trend can best be addressed by regional and<br />
local authorities by providing special financing<br />
programs for small businesses in need to help<br />
them maintain better payment terms as well as<br />
gain stability and reduced financial stress.<br />
As for all other metrics reviewed above,<br />
the percentage of prompt payments vary<br />
considerably by industry as well. This variation<br />
is usually attributed to the norms set within<br />
an industry which vary considerably from<br />
industry to industry. As can be seen from the<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 43<br />
continues on page 44 >
EXCLUSIVE REPORT<br />
AUTHOR – Nalanda Matia<br />
chart, the Agriculture sector pays close<br />
to 55 percent of their accounts payables<br />
in a prompt manner. This is followed by<br />
Construction at approximately 40 percent<br />
and then the Personal Services Sector<br />
by about 33 percent. The above-named<br />
sectors, specifically the Agriculture and<br />
Construction verticals have a seasonality<br />
element in their operations and earning<br />
cycle and possibly not able to bargain<br />
payment terms beyond their operating<br />
periods and have to pay their suppliers<br />
relatively promptly. For all other industries,<br />
the percentage of prompt payments<br />
remains below the national average of 31.2<br />
percent. It seems that the Government is<br />
able to evoke enough confidence among its<br />
suppliers to be able to pay only 20 percent<br />
of their accounts promptly. The industry<br />
payment pattern is something that is<br />
noticed in historical periods as well – not<br />
just the current one and seem to be wellestablished<br />
norms among businesses in<br />
each sector.<br />
The final segmented look at the<br />
percentage of prompt payments is by<br />
regions. Like the last two segmentations,<br />
the time series view of prompt payments<br />
shows that the pattern of percentage of<br />
prompt payments has remained more or<br />
less stable over the past 12 months.<br />
A glance at the regional breakdown<br />
of percentage prompt payments shows<br />
that the East Anglia region registers the<br />
highest percentage of prompt payments<br />
with 38 percent of their accounts payable<br />
promptly. Greater Manchester, which is on<br />
the other side of the spectrum pays 25.1<br />
percent of their accounts payable promptly.<br />
Businesses in the United Kingdom do not<br />
vary widely in payment manner as they do<br />
by business size or by industry segment.<br />
This indicates some consistency in the<br />
nation’s economic profile as far as the<br />
larger regions are concerned, which will<br />
prove to be as a positive as the country<br />
explores the arduous process of Brexit.<br />
Finally, we take a look at UK business<br />
health under the backdrop of Dun &<br />
Bradstreet’s Failure and Delinquency<br />
scores, classifying business into four<br />
categories based on their risk profiles.<br />
The first category are businesses with the<br />
lowest risk profile, by both delinquency and<br />
failure perspectives. Around 82 percent of<br />
all businesses considered for this study fall<br />
into this segment. These are the ideal set<br />
of businesses to engage in commerce and<br />
will prove to be the ideal customers down<br />
the line. The next segment is made up of<br />
businesses that are marked as the riskiest<br />
with high probability of failure in the next<br />
12 months, but with a low risk of severe<br />
delinquency. These are the businesses<br />
that might be able to cover their payables<br />
before closing their doors but need to be<br />
monitored very closely. It might be worth<br />
to cut as many ties with these businesses<br />
as possible.<br />
The UK economy has approximately<br />
one percent of these businesses that might<br />
face insolvency in the next 12 months.<br />
The third risk segment are businesses<br />
that are in a contrasting situation – with<br />
high risk of delinquency in the next 12<br />
months, but not projecting a high risk<br />
from the standpoint of liquidation. These<br />
businesses are ones under severe financial<br />
duress and having severe difficulties<br />
managing their cashflow. About 13 percent<br />
of all businesses fall into this category and<br />
any relationship with them needs to be<br />
handled with utmost caution. The final<br />
segment – about four percent of the UK<br />
business population – are considered to<br />
be under severe risk. These businesses<br />
face the risk of both severe delinquency as<br />
well as insolvency in the next 12 months.<br />
Any commercial relationship entered<br />
into with these set of businesses has a<br />
very high probability of incurring severe<br />
losses.<br />
In conclusion, the overall health of the<br />
business population in the UK seems to<br />
be fairly robust, with pockets of concern<br />
present in some major industries. With<br />
the country’s inflation hovering above<br />
target, and uncertainties looming in<br />
the next few quarters, monetary policy<br />
is expected to normalise gradually. To<br />
help businesses gain stability and move<br />
towards a sustainable growth path in<br />
this environment, internal policies like<br />
strategic investments and adoption<br />
of productivity-augmenting technologies<br />
may prove to be effective.<br />
Nalanda Matia is Senior Director,<br />
Econometrics Solutions at Dun &<br />
Bradstreet.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 44
“CSA compliance essentials is a<br />
one stop shop to key compliance<br />
changes and highlights.<br />
It helps me keep up-to-date with<br />
factors that could potentially<br />
impact my firm and its clients<br />
and customers, saving me lots of<br />
time having to complete research<br />
myself.”<br />
Hayley Crombleholme<br />
Ascent Performance Group Ltd<br />
CSA compliance essentials<br />
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• Monthly compliance updates with accompanying questions to aid learning<br />
• Access to a regularly updated knowledge database<br />
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• The ability to trace progress for audit purposes and compliance records<br />
• Annual certification<br />
To learn more contact:<br />
t: 0191 217 3073<br />
e: sales@csa-uk.com<br />
or visit<br />
www.csa-uk.com<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 45
EDUCATION<br />
Have you heard the news?<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Qualifications are changing<br />
We are delighted to be launching our new programme of professional<br />
qualifications. With a simpler and more flexible structure to help you and<br />
your teams find the right level and path to become CI<strong>CM</strong> qualified, we are<br />
now offering more flexibility in subject and study methods.<br />
SO WHAT’S NEW? SOMETHING FOR<br />
EVERYONE AND FLEXIBILITY<br />
You can now choose to study a small CI<strong>CM</strong> CPD<br />
‘award’ or unit that you can bank to build up to a<br />
full CI<strong>CM</strong> qualification over time, or you can decide<br />
to study for a Certificate or Diploma leading to<br />
Professional Membership up front.<br />
THE RIGHT LEVEL<br />
We now have combined Credit & Collections<br />
qualifications at three levels:<br />
Entry Level – the benchmark for credit controllers,<br />
collectors and enforcement agents working in<br />
operational roles, with little or no experience in the<br />
profession.<br />
Intermediate – the benchmark for credit<br />
controllers, collectors working in senior operational<br />
roles.<br />
Advanced – the benchmark for credit and<br />
collections management, strategic/managerial level.<br />
THE RIGHT CONTENT AND SUBJECTS<br />
We are offering you and your teams the opportunity<br />
to tailor your qualifications and learning to fit your<br />
needs. With a selection of awards or units for each<br />
level, you can choose to study the areas that fit your<br />
role, business or career aspirations.<br />
THE RIGHT STUDY METHODS<br />
AND TIME COMMITMENT<br />
Whether you want to study in groups, at home or<br />
online, we are offer a wide range of study options.<br />
I AM STUDYING ALREADY –<br />
WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?<br />
Do not worry. If you are part way through your CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
qualification we will move you to the new format<br />
automatically if that is the best path for you.<br />
You can stay on the current qualification route if this<br />
suits you better (if you only have one further unit to<br />
pass) and you will have until 2021 to complete the ‘old’<br />
qualification assignments and exams.<br />
LOOK IN YOUR INBOX<br />
We will be contacting our members soon with more<br />
details about the new qualifications and instructions<br />
on what to do if you are part way through your CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
qualification.<br />
ENTRY LEVEL CERTIFICATE AND<br />
DIPLOMA IN CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS<br />
For professionals working at operational level, or<br />
looking for an introduction to credit, collections or<br />
enforcement.<br />
CHOICE OF 7 CI<strong>CM</strong> AWARDS<br />
Choose one as a CPD<br />
award, or build to the Entry<br />
Certificate or Diploma.<br />
ENTRY LEVEL<br />
CERTIFICATE<br />
2 CI<strong>CM</strong> awards at<br />
Entry-Level<br />
Regulated by the qualifications regulators in England, Wales and Northern Ireland<br />
INTERMEDIATE DIPLOMA IN<br />
CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS<br />
For professionals working in, or working towards,<br />
senior operational roles in credit, collections or<br />
enforcement.<br />
CHOICE OF 10 CI<strong>CM</strong> AWARDS<br />
Choose 1 as a CPD award,<br />
or build to the CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Intermediate Diploma.<br />
INTERMEDIATE DIPLOMA<br />
4 CI<strong>CM</strong> INTERMEDIATE<br />
AWARDS<br />
including at least one<br />
mandatory unit<br />
LEVEL 2<br />
ENTRY LEVEL<br />
DIPLOMA<br />
Any 4 CI<strong>CM</strong> awards<br />
at Entry-Level<br />
Regulated by the qualifications regulators in England, Wales and Northern Ireland<br />
ADVANCED DIPLOMA IN CREDIT<br />
AND COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT<br />
For professionals working in, or working towards,<br />
managerial or leadership roles in credit, collections<br />
or enforcement.<br />
CHOICE OF 6 CI<strong>CM</strong> AWARDS<br />
Choose 1 as a CPD award, or<br />
build to the CI<strong>CM</strong> Advanced<br />
Diploma.<br />
ADVANCED<br />
DIPLOMA<br />
Any 4 CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Advanced awards<br />
LEVEL 3<br />
Diploma leads to<br />
ASSOCIATE<br />
(ACI<strong>CM</strong>)<br />
MEMBERSHIP<br />
LEVEL 5<br />
Diploma leads to<br />
MEMBER LEVEL MCI<strong>CM</strong> (GRAD)<br />
(must have Intermediate<br />
Diploma or MCI<strong>CM</strong> Experience<br />
Assessment pass)<br />
Regulated by the qualifications regulators in England, Wales and Northern Ireland<br />
See www.gov.uk to compare qualification levels in different countries.<br />
You can get in touch any time to talk to the CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
qualifications team. They will be able to give you advice on<br />
the next steps. E: professionalqualifications@cicm.com<br />
T: 01780 722909<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 46
CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
QUALIFIED<br />
your way<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> qualifications<br />
are changing<br />
In a world where time is your most precious<br />
commodity, we understand that you need flexibility<br />
and different options at different times of your life<br />
and career.<br />
Find out more<br />
T: 01780 722900 W: www.cicm.com<br />
E: qualifications@cicm.com<br />
Where will the new flexible<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> qualifications take you?<br />
WHAT<br />
ARE YOU<br />
WAITING<br />
FOR?<br />
Entry Level awards, Certificate and Diploma in Credit & Collections (Level 2)<br />
Intermediate awards and Diploma in Credit & Collections (Level 3, leading to ACI<strong>CM</strong>)<br />
Advanced awards and Diploma in Credit & Collections (Level 5, leading to MCI<strong>CM</strong> (Grad)*<br />
* MCI<strong>CM</strong> (Grad) is awarded to those who meet specific criteria. Please call us for more information.<br />
Your choice, your way: subject, study method, place and time<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 47
EDUCATION - LEARNING ONLINE<br />
KNOWLEDGE<br />
TESTS<br />
NEW<br />
Knowledge Hub<br />
Premium<br />
Content<br />
Check your knowledge of key credit management,<br />
collections and enforcement areas with these knowledge tests.<br />
PREPARE FOR A CI<strong>CM</strong> AWARD<br />
Equally valuable as a baseline test of your team’s knowledge on CI<strong>CM</strong> Knowledge Hub, these multiple<br />
choice questions support preparation towards CI<strong>CM</strong> Level 2 and 3 awards and credit controller/<br />
collections apprenticeships.<br />
Each test includes advice on the art of answering multiple choice questions, the opportunity to<br />
practice multiple choice exam questions for each syllabus area working at your own pace, feedback<br />
on the correct answer, a final timed mock exam accessed anywhere/anytime, and a mock exam<br />
completion certificate for learners who complete course evaluations and pass the mock.<br />
KNOWLEDGE TESTS ARE AVAILABLE IN:<br />
• Credit Management (trade, export and consumer)<br />
• Consumer Collections NEW programme<br />
• Consumer Credit Management<br />
• Taking Control of Goods<br />
• Trade Credit Management<br />
• Export Credit Management<br />
• Business Environment<br />
• Business Law<br />
The knowledge test course takes around three hours to complete,<br />
including the pre-reading, mock exam at the end, a course evaluation<br />
and CPD reflection. The course could form part of a taught programme<br />
leading towards a CI<strong>CM</strong> award or stand-alone knowledge test.<br />
You can complete multiple choice questions for each module all<br />
at once or over several visits to suit you. The one-hour mock exam<br />
must be completed in one go, however it can be repeated on more<br />
than one occasion.<br />
Course fees apply<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> members £25 for 12 month licence * Non-members - £83<br />
Learners studying through a CI<strong>CM</strong> Credit Academy virtual class,<br />
evening class or Learning Support will have free access to the related<br />
test as part of their programme.<br />
The Taking Control of Goods test is part of an online course<br />
sponsored by the High Court Enforcement Officers Association and is<br />
therefore offered free to CI<strong>CM</strong> members (Non-member fee - £50*).<br />
CPD<br />
3<br />
Email: learningsupport@cicm.com or<br />
call 01780 722909 to purchase course<br />
*Fees are subject to VAT
CI<strong>CM</strong> MEMBER<br />
EXCLUSIVE<br />
Your CI<strong>CM</strong> lapel badge<br />
demonstrates your commitment to<br />
professionalism and best practice<br />
TAKE PRIDE IN<br />
WEARING YOUR BADGE<br />
If you haven’t received your badge<br />
cicmmembership@cicm.com<br />
Debt Recovery is<br />
nothing new to Keebles.<br />
Having practised successfully in this<br />
area for many decades, you can be<br />
confident inour experience and ability.<br />
We appreciate the needs of our clients<br />
and understand that each client’s<br />
requirements are different. Whether<br />
you are alarge organisation requiring<br />
regular management reports and file<br />
reviews, or asmall business growing<br />
rapidly, but with little experience of the<br />
debt recovery process, we have the<br />
flexibility tocater for your needs.<br />
We work closely with our clients and<br />
will tailor aservice level agreement so<br />
that we both know exactly what needs<br />
to be achieved and at what cost.<br />
No Recovery No Fee<br />
We do not charge for issuing aLetter<br />
Before Action. Wewill only charge you<br />
commission, at an agreed rate, on any<br />
sums recovered. If we are unable to<br />
recover your debt atthis stage it will<br />
cost you nothing.<br />
No Hidden Costs<br />
For many cases, where itisnecessary<br />
to issue legal proceedings, we can<br />
offer service on afixed fee basis with<br />
no hidden costs and, where possible,<br />
we will make additional claims onyour<br />
behalf for interest and compensation<br />
under The Late Payment ofCommercial<br />
Debts legislation to further minimise the<br />
recovery cost to you.<br />
Success is the Key<br />
Over the past 5years we have<br />
successfully recovered over 80%<br />
of our Clients’ debts in full or by<br />
way ofanagreed settlement.<br />
Call now totalk toamember of<br />
the Debt Recovery Team:<br />
0113 399 3470<br />
charise.marsden@keebles.com<br />
www.keebles.com
HR MATTERS ROUNDUP<br />
Unintended Consequences<br />
Giving notice but not resigning, searching an<br />
employee’s mobile phone, and the new parental<br />
bereavement act.<br />
CAN an employee ‘resign’ and<br />
not mean it? It appears that<br />
they can following East Kent<br />
Hospitals University NHS<br />
Foundation Trust v Levy.<br />
The claimant, Mrs Levy,<br />
was employed in the records department<br />
of the trust. She successfully applied for<br />
an internal position in the trust's radiology<br />
department, subject to pre-appointment<br />
checks.<br />
After having been given the conditional<br />
offer and following some form of<br />
altercation with another staff member in<br />
the records department, Levy handed in<br />
a letter stating: ‘Please accept one month's<br />
notice from the above date’.<br />
On receiving this letter Levy's manager<br />
wrote back accepting the ‘notice of<br />
resignation’ and referring to her last<br />
working day in the records department.<br />
AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards<br />
Her manager did not complete a staff<br />
termination form and did not deal with<br />
any other outstanding issues, such as<br />
making a payment for accrued but unused<br />
annual leave.<br />
Following the completion of the<br />
pre-appointment checks, the offer of a<br />
position in the radiology department was<br />
withdrawn, prompting Levy to attempt<br />
to retract her notice. The trust refused<br />
to accept the withdrawal of her notice,<br />
stating that her employment would end at<br />
the end of her notice period. Levy made<br />
an unfair dismissal claim stating that she<br />
had not resigned.<br />
The Employment Tribunal (ET) held<br />
that Levy's letter had been ambiguous as<br />
to whether she was giving notice to leave<br />
the records department or the trust. The<br />
ET went on to find that, from the trust’s<br />
actions, it could be shown that the notice<br />
had been taken by the trust to be notice<br />
of Levy's departure from the records<br />
department and therefore Levy had not<br />
resigned. Her unfair dismissal claim was<br />
successful.<br />
The Employment Appeal Tribunal<br />
(EAT) agreed with the ET, holding that<br />
Levy's letter had been ambiguous despite<br />
the use of the word ‘notice’. On these<br />
particular facts, the EAT held that the ET<br />
had been entitled to find that the words<br />
used in the letter related to Levy's position<br />
in the records department.<br />
The decision highlights that employers<br />
should not be too eager to accept an<br />
employee's apparent resignation without<br />
considering the meaning behind it,<br />
particularly where there could be any<br />
ambiguity as to the employee's intentions.<br />
Changing phone passwords without permission<br />
IN what circumstances can an employer<br />
search an employee’s mobile phone? The<br />
High Court case of Richmond v Selecta<br />
Systems Limited offers guidance in that<br />
it found that a search can be conducted<br />
where a company wants to protect its<br />
interests, has a reasonable suspicion that<br />
an employee has openly taken confidential<br />
information, and the mobile phone has<br />
been provided by the employer.<br />
However, in this case, the managing<br />
director's actions of changing the employee's<br />
passwords in relation to personal accounts<br />
(iTunes, iCloud and WhatsApp) while<br />
searching for information, because some<br />
company data was found, was deemed<br />
a step too far. The court found that<br />
the employer had breached their duty of<br />
care owed to the employee who was deprived<br />
of access to his personal accounts and<br />
was therefore awarded £1,000<br />
compensation.<br />
The employer had been in discussions<br />
with the employee who had worked for<br />
the company for over 20 years, as to the<br />
terms of his departure from the company.<br />
The employer knew that the employee<br />
had previously asked for copies of client<br />
information to be made for him to keep<br />
at home. The employee was involved in<br />
a sales role and worked from home from<br />
time-to-time. The information being sought<br />
included customer contact information<br />
as well as discounted price structures for<br />
the company's products. The latter being<br />
commercially sensitive information.<br />
New Parental Bereavement Act <strong>2018</strong><br />
UNDER the Parental Bereavement (Leave<br />
and Pay) Act <strong>2018</strong>, parents who suffer the<br />
death of a child under the age of 18, or a<br />
stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy, will<br />
be entitled to two weeks paid leave.<br />
The Act, which is expected to come into<br />
force in 2020, will give bereaved parents<br />
a statutory right to two weeks' pay by<br />
inserting new sections (80EA- 80EE) into<br />
the Employment Rights Act 1996. This new<br />
right will be subject to employees meeting<br />
eligibility criteria similar to that of statutory<br />
paternity pay, which includes having had 26<br />
weeks continuous employment. However,<br />
much of the detail is still unknown as it will<br />
be set out in supporting regulations.<br />
The regulations will detail among other<br />
things the definition of ‘bereaved parent’;<br />
how and when parental bereavement leave<br />
and pay can be taken; and the notice and<br />
evidence which will be required.<br />
Gareth Edwards is a partner in<br />
the employment team at<br />
VWV.gedwards@vwv.co.uk.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 50
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MAKE YOUR CASE<br />
MAKE<br />
YOUR CASE<br />
With the festive season almost upon us,<br />
Credit Management asked some of its contributors for<br />
their top hangover cures and recipes for leftover turkey.<br />
Brendan Clarkson FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
Kevin Reed<br />
HANGOVER – drink between half-apint<br />
to a pint of water before you go to<br />
bed, also ensure you have a large glass<br />
of water next to your bed for thirsty<br />
moments in the night. In the morning<br />
start with a decent breakfast, something<br />
hot and stodgy! If this fails, a can of Stella<br />
around 11.01am.<br />
Turkey leftovers – I love a turkey<br />
toasted sandwich. Not some half-hearted<br />
attempt using a pre-sliced loaf but<br />
instead with some thickly cut soda bread<br />
lightly toasted with some melted brie<br />
done under the grill. Add some sliced<br />
turkey which has been warmed in the<br />
microwave and then top with cranberry<br />
sauce and some rocket leaves or baby<br />
spinach. Season with salt and pepper.<br />
Bon appetit!<br />
PERSONALLY, I have never had a<br />
hangover so I wouldn't know. Obviously,<br />
that is nonsense. The best hangover<br />
cure that I know is a full English. Now<br />
the controversial bit – with brown sauce<br />
as is only proper with a full English.<br />
Tomato Ketchup is only for steak, chips,<br />
burgers and Americans. As far as the<br />
sausages in a full English are concerned<br />
(there should be two) these are best cut<br />
lengthways then spread with Marmite.<br />
Yes, you either love it or hate it, but don't<br />
knock it until you try it. Trust me on this I<br />
am a credit manager!<br />
I have two Chocolate Labradors –<br />
believe me when I say there is never<br />
any leftover turkey. So, what to do with<br />
leftover turkey? Get a Labrador or two.<br />
They will help you walk off Christmas<br />
over-indulgence and the fresh air will<br />
clear your head the morning after.<br />
SO, the life of a journalist – freelance or<br />
otherwise – is pretty hectic at Christmas.<br />
Deadlines don’t take breaks in <strong>December</strong>.<br />
Having said that, advertising<br />
salespeople do like to take a break. So that<br />
means print titles usually drop an issue<br />
over the festive period. So, <strong>December</strong> can<br />
become a bit of a ‘meetings boozefest’.<br />
Hangover cures? Well, in the old days<br />
I simply wouldn’t have stopped drinking<br />
and a Bloody Mary, pint of stout or even<br />
fizzy lager would sort out the headache.<br />
Nowadays, I can’t keep up that pace.<br />
So, my emergency hangover kit normally<br />
includes salt and vinegar crisps and<br />
Ribena as the first line of offence.<br />
As for leftover turkey – I’d go with it<br />
gently reheated and whacked between<br />
two doorsteps of bread with an inch of<br />
butter either side of said meat, along<br />
with salt, ketchup and stuffing. I should<br />
probably go and get my cholesterol level<br />
checked!<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 52
MAKE YOUR CASE<br />
Karen Young Peter Walker Heather Greig-Smith<br />
AS crazy as it might seem, my best cure<br />
for a hangover is to be brave and do some<br />
exercise! You have to go through a bad<br />
patch at the start as it will get worse<br />
before it gets better, but once your pores<br />
open and you are exercising hard you<br />
will drink more water – sweat it out and<br />
re-hydrate all in one cure.<br />
I’ve got to be honest and say in our<br />
house that the leftover turkey from<br />
Christmas Day usually turns into Boxing<br />
Day dinner i.e. the cold meats put out on<br />
a platter with mashed potato and salad.<br />
Although we always cook some fresh<br />
pigs in blankets which go down a storm<br />
every time. Anything that is left over<br />
from that (unlikely) gets put into a curry<br />
for the day after Boxing Day once I have<br />
done duties of running relatives back<br />
home and things go back to ‘normal’.<br />
THE festive season can be a source of<br />
problems including what to do with the<br />
leftover turkey. When my late wife, a<br />
Chinese from Malaysia, cooked turkey<br />
for the first time, she then had to deal<br />
with the remains. She made a soup stock<br />
– ordinary so far – but she had brought<br />
some shark’s fin from Malaysia, so the<br />
result was shark’s fin soup. That was<br />
back in 1970, but don’t do it today! Sharks<br />
need protection, so make something less<br />
adventurous with that stock.<br />
I was once adventurous with wine<br />
during an evening with some barristers<br />
– this time we were all at a different<br />
bar. I telephoned my tenants from the<br />
tube station. They came to the rescue<br />
and poured me back home. No cure for<br />
the subsequent hangover, but at least I<br />
arrived home safely. I will make such<br />
rescues as an obligation in the tenancy<br />
agreement.<br />
THE best hangover cure has to be going<br />
for a run – rain, shine or snow, a winter<br />
run always leaves me rosy-cheeked and<br />
virtuous (smug), even if it’s utter hell at<br />
the time. A two-hour adventure through<br />
snow-coated fields with an equally<br />
crazy friend or a true crime podcast for<br />
company. Followed by a nice rewarding<br />
gin and tonic. Oh, wait...<br />
What to do with leftover turkey?<br />
Obviously, sandwiches – lots of<br />
mayonnaise and salad. There is always<br />
masses left in our house so we box it<br />
up carefully and put it in the freezer for<br />
future meals/curries, only to dig it out<br />
from the back of the freezer and chuck it<br />
away 12 months later. Must do better this<br />
year!<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 53
SOAPBOX CHALLENGE<br />
High Drama<br />
The editor’s love of all things aviation<br />
does not necessarily extend to flying<br />
with the World’s Favourite Airline.<br />
SOAPBOX<br />
challenge<br />
HAVE any of you, I<br />
wonder, ever taken off<br />
in a passenger aircraft<br />
at the departure time<br />
stated on your ticket?<br />
That, you may argue,<br />
is not a problem as long as you arrive at<br />
your destination on time, and to an extent<br />
I agree. But what really annoys me is the<br />
unnecessary, soap-opera style drama that<br />
we now go through before, during and<br />
after every flight. I shall explain.<br />
Take my recent return from a<br />
business trip to Hamburg. Having been<br />
patronisingly congratulated for boarding<br />
our aircraft on time (‘Cabin crew, boarding<br />
complete’) the Captain then adds that we<br />
will be delayed taking off, cos although<br />
we’re all good to go, there are delays from<br />
Air Traffic Control. There is an audible<br />
groan from the passengers upfront in the<br />
posh seats.<br />
Never fear, we’re told, while the Captain<br />
is speaking to us, the First Officer is busy<br />
on the blower, attempting to negotiate an<br />
earlier slot (yeah, right). Now when I say<br />
‘earlier’, that will of course still be later<br />
than our actual stated departure time, so<br />
let’s not dress it up like he (or she) is doing<br />
us a favour.<br />
Finally, of course, we do get away, 30<br />
or so minutes late, but our Captain Marvel<br />
again comes on the intercom to tell us<br />
that there is a tail wind and he’ll put his<br />
foot down and do his damnedest to get us<br />
there on time, come hell or high water.<br />
Great. Thanks skipper, but you do know<br />
you are just delivering a service we’ve all<br />
paid good money for, don’t you? And it<br />
wasn’t cheap.<br />
Then of course we have the comedy<br />
of approaching London Heathrow, and<br />
being told that we are going to have to<br />
‘hold’ for ten minutes or so to the south.<br />
‘It’s very busy’ our Captain says, ‘but<br />
fingers’ crossed we won’t be delayed too<br />
long.’ Fingers’ crossed? Fingers’ crossed?!<br />
I’ll give you blooming fingers’ crossed old<br />
son. Did you not know it would be busy?<br />
We did, and we knew we’d fly around in<br />
circles ‘cos we always do.<br />
Now of course when we do finally<br />
get the nod from the Gods at Air Traffic<br />
Control (who must be having the time of<br />
their lives down there working out who<br />
they are going to let land and who they’ll<br />
leave up top for a few more minutes),<br />
the skipper announces ‘Cabin crew ten<br />
minutes to landing’ and a collective sigh<br />
of relief can be felt down the aisle.<br />
We land to the news that not only have<br />
we made up the time lost while waiting to<br />
take off, but we are now actually early. It is<br />
trumpeted as though we should be doing<br />
cartwheels with joy and wanting to start<br />
a family with our hero up front. But, of<br />
course, there’s another snag.<br />
Because we’re early, there’s another<br />
aircraft on our stand, and we have to wait<br />
for him to push back. Then the ground<br />
crews are not ready for us, the air wing<br />
isn’t aligned, and the coaches scheduled<br />
to ship us back to the Terminal building<br />
are nowhere in sight. When we do finally<br />
disembark (‘Cabin crew doors to manual<br />
and cross check’), we’re back to being<br />
only a few minutes late again, and the<br />
Captain is out of his cockpit, grinning like<br />
a schoolboy whose Tuck Shop allowance<br />
has just been increased, expecting a high<br />
five for his efforts on our behalf.<br />
Communication, we know, is<br />
important, and it is better for the crew<br />
to say something rather than leave us<br />
guessing, but the speech is the same<br />
speech, every time, regardless of airline.<br />
Indeed, it is wholly unfair of me to single<br />
out British Airways; they are still the best<br />
IMHO (to be down with the kids). Every<br />
airline does it. So, stop the pantomime<br />
fellas; we’re on to you.<br />
Sean Feast FCI<strong>CM</strong> is getting grumpier.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 54
Are you a Leader<br />
or follower?<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accreditation is a proven model that has consistently delivered<br />
dramatic improvements in cashflow and efficiency<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong>Q is the hallmark of industry leading organisations<br />
The CI<strong>CM</strong> Best Practice Network is where CI<strong>CM</strong>Q accredited organisations<br />
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Be a leader – Join the CI<strong>CM</strong> Best Practice Network today<br />
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E: cicmq@cicm.com, T: 01780 722900<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 55
MEET THE PARTNERS<br />
THEY'RE WAITING TO TALK TO YOU...<br />
For further information and to discuss the opportunities of entering into a<br />
Corporate Partnership with the CI<strong>CM</strong>, contact Marketing on 01780 727273<br />
Hays Credit Management is the award winning national specialist<br />
division of Hays Recruitment, dedicated exclusively to the recruitment<br />
of credit management professionals in the public and private<br />
sectors. Whether you are looking to further your career in credit<br />
management, strengthen your existing team, or would simply like an<br />
overview of the market, it pays to speak to the market leaders.<br />
www.hays.co.uk<br />
HighRadius is the leading provider of Integrated<br />
Receivables solutions for automating credit, collections,<br />
cash allocation, deductions and eBilling operations.<br />
The solutions are delivered as a software-as-a-service<br />
(SaaS) or as SAP-certified Accelerators for SAP<br />
Finance Receivables Management. With a track record<br />
of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad-debt<br />
and increasing operational efficiency, HighRadius<br />
solutions help teams achieve payback within a year.<br />
www.highradius.com<br />
We offer the most powerful comparable data<br />
resource on private companies.<br />
We capture and treat private company<br />
information for better decision making and<br />
increased efficiency, so we’re ideally suited to help<br />
credit professionals.<br />
Orbis, our global company database has<br />
information on 250 million companies, and offers:<br />
Standardised financials<br />
Financial strength metrics<br />
Extensive corporate structures<br />
www.bvdinfo.com<br />
Sanders Consulting is a niche consulting firm<br />
specialising in improving Credit Management<br />
Leadership & Performance for our clients.<br />
We provide people and process focussed<br />
pragmatic solutions, consultancy, strategy days and<br />
performance improvement workshops and we<br />
are proud to manage and develop the CI<strong>CM</strong>Q<br />
Programme and the Best Practice Network on<br />
behalf of the CI<strong>CM</strong>. For more information please<br />
contact: enquiries @chrissandersconsulting.com.<br />
www.chrissandersconsulting.com<br />
Key IVR provide a suite of products to<br />
assist companies across Europe with credit<br />
management. The service gives the end-user<br />
the means to make a payment when and<br />
how they choose. Key IVR also provides a<br />
state-of-the-art outbound platform delivering<br />
automated messages by voice and SMS. In a<br />
credit management environment, these services<br />
are used to cost-effectively contact debtors and<br />
connect them back into a contact centre or<br />
automated payment line.<br />
www.keyivr.co.uk<br />
American Express is a globally recognised provider<br />
of payment solutions to the business sector<br />
offering flexible collection capabilities to meet<br />
company cashflow objectives across a range of<br />
industries. Whether you are looking to accelerate<br />
cashflow, create a competitive advantage to drive<br />
business or looking to support your customers<br />
in their growth American Express can tailor a<br />
solution to support your needs.<br />
www.americanexpress.com<br />
Credica are a UK based developer of specialist<br />
Credit and Dispute Management software. We<br />
have been successfully implementing our software<br />
for over 15 years and have delivered significant<br />
ROI for our diverse portfolio of customers. We<br />
provide a highly configurable system which enables<br />
our clients to gain complete control over their<br />
debtors and to easily communicate disputes with<br />
anyone in their organisation.<br />
www.credica.co.uk<br />
Moore Stephens is a top ten accounting and<br />
advisory network. Our national creditor services<br />
team has expert insights in debt recovery. This,<br />
combined with unparalleled industry and sector<br />
knowledge, enables our team to assist creditors in<br />
recovering outstanding debts.<br />
www.moorestephens.co.uk<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 56
Proud supporters<br />
of CI<strong>CM</strong>Q<br />
With over 90 years’ experience, we have an<br />
in-depth understanding of the importance of<br />
maintaining customer relationships whilst efficiently<br />
and effectively collecting monies owed, we deliver<br />
when it comes to collecting outstanding debts.<br />
Our Client focus is reflected in the customer<br />
relationships. Structuring our service to meet your<br />
specific needs, providing a collection strategy that<br />
echoes your business character, trading patterns<br />
and budget.<br />
www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/<br />
Graydon UK provides its clients with Credit<br />
Risk Management and Intelligence information<br />
on over 100 million entities across more than<br />
190 countries. It provides economic, financial<br />
and commercial insights that help its customers<br />
make better decisions. Leading credit insurance<br />
organisations, Atradius, Coface and Euler Hermes,<br />
own Graydon. It offers its seamless service<br />
through a worldwide network of offices and<br />
partners.<br />
www.graydon.co.uk<br />
Rimilia provides intelligent, finance automation<br />
solutions that enable customers to get paid<br />
on time and control their cashflow and cash<br />
collection in real time. Rimilia’s software solutions<br />
use sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence<br />
to predict customer payment behaviour and<br />
easily match and reconcile payments, removing<br />
the uncertainty of cash collection. Rimilia’s<br />
software automates the complete accounts<br />
receivable process improving cash allocation, bank<br />
reconciliation and credit management operations.<br />
www.rimilia.com<br />
DWF is a global legal business, transforming legal<br />
services through our people for our clients. Led by<br />
Managing Partner & CEO Andrew Leaitherland,<br />
we have over 26 key locations and 2,800 people<br />
delivering services and solutions that go beyond<br />
expectations. DWF offers a full range of cost<br />
effective debt recovery solutions including pre-legal<br />
collections, debt litigation, enforcement, insolvency<br />
proceedings and ancillary services including tracing,<br />
process serving, debtor profiling and consultancy.<br />
www.dwf.law/recover<br />
Data Interconnect provides integrated e-billing<br />
and collection solutions via its document delivery<br />
web portal, WebSend. By providing improved<br />
Customer Experience and Customer Satisfaction,<br />
with enhanced levels of communication between<br />
both parties, we can substantially speed up your<br />
collection processes.<br />
www.datainterconnect.com<br />
Dun & Bradstreet grows the most valuable<br />
relationships in business. Whether your customer<br />
portfolio spans a city, a country or the globe, Dun<br />
& Bradstreet delivers the data, analytics and insight<br />
to grow your most profitable relationships and<br />
obtain a global, unified view of your customer<br />
relationships across credit and collections.<br />
www.dnb.co.uk<br />
Organisations around the world rely on Company<br />
Watch’s industry-leading financial analytics to drive<br />
their credit risk processes. Our financial risk<br />
modelling and ability to map medium to long-term<br />
risk as well as short-term credit risk set us apart<br />
from other credit reference agencies. With our<br />
unique H-Score® predicting almost 90 percent<br />
of corporate insolvencies in advance, it is the risk<br />
management tool of choice, providing actionable<br />
intelligence in an uncertain world.<br />
www.companywatch.net<br />
Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps<br />
businesses pay and get paid. Businesses and banks<br />
rely on Bottomline for domestic and international<br />
payments, effective cash management tools,<br />
automated workflows for payment processing<br />
and bill review and state of the art fraud<br />
detection, behavioural analytics and regulatory<br />
compliance. Every day, we help our customers by<br />
making complex business payments simple, secure<br />
and seamless.<br />
www.bottomline.com/uk<br />
Tinubu Square is a trusted source of trade<br />
credit intelligence for credit insurers and for<br />
corporate customers. The company’s B2B<br />
Credit Risk Intelligence solutions include the<br />
Tinubu Risk Management Center, a cloud-based<br />
SaaS platform; the Tinubu Credit Intelligence<br />
service and the Tinubu Risk Analyst advisory<br />
service. Over 250 companies rely on Tinubu<br />
Square to protect their greatest assets: customer<br />
receivables.<br />
www.tinubu.com<br />
The Recognised Standard<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 57
BRANCH NEWS<br />
FOLLOWING feedback<br />
received last year, the <strong>2018</strong><br />
Turner Lecture broke with<br />
tradition as it was held on<br />
a Wednesday evening for<br />
the first time in its 18-<br />
year history. Once again, the intimate<br />
surroundings of the Strand, Fleet and Bell<br />
Suite at the Law Society, Chancery Lane,<br />
was the venue and around 60 members<br />
and guests were in attendance. In addition,<br />
there was a welcome return for Robert<br />
Turner, who was unable to attend the event<br />
last year.<br />
The format this year was an interactive<br />
debate/question and answer session and<br />
Richard Seadon, Kent Branch Committee<br />
Member, introduced the session and acted<br />
as moderator/time-keeper throughout.<br />
Following a drinks reception at 17.30, the<br />
delegates then filed into their seats and,<br />
Turner Lecture<br />
The Law Society<br />
in turn, were duly captivated, cultivated<br />
and even somewhat concerned by the<br />
illustrations and presentations of the three<br />
panellists/speakers.<br />
First up was Richard Mawrey QC of<br />
Henderson Chambers who gave a wry but<br />
informative insight into the new Pre-Action<br />
Protocols that were introduced in October<br />
2017. The talk covered the processes<br />
which now had to be adopted by creditors<br />
pursuing money from individuals, and<br />
highlighted the increased time involved as<br />
well as potential pitfalls and scenarios that<br />
could arise for creditors.<br />
Ruth Duncan, immediate Past President<br />
of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association<br />
(IPA) then took to the stage to explain what<br />
her role involved, the current status of the<br />
world of insolvency, and then discussed<br />
the new rules affecting the Insolvency Act<br />
1986.<br />
The final slot was reserved for<br />
Matthew Richardson, Barrister at Law<br />
with Henderson Chambers, and worldacknowledged<br />
expert in the field of<br />
Cyber-Crime. Some of the statistics, losses<br />
of money involved, and security breaches<br />
covered by Matthew (all backed up with<br />
real-life examples), certainly gave the<br />
audience a jolt as to just how vulnerable<br />
we all are to our personal data being<br />
accessed.<br />
A brief question and answer session<br />
followed the talks before several of the<br />
guests then adjourned for a delightful<br />
dinner in an adjoining room at the Law<br />
Society. Thanks again must go to Richard<br />
for his efforts in making the event such a<br />
success.<br />
AUTHOR: Kevin Artlett FCI<strong>CM</strong><br />
New CI<strong>CM</strong> members<br />
The Institute welcomes new members who have recently joined<br />
ASSOCIATE<br />
AFFILIATE<br />
FELLOW<br />
MEMBERS<br />
Anna Maria<br />
Apenit-Mitula<br />
William Nelson<br />
Kirsten Wachs<br />
Daniel Carlton<br />
Katherine Flowers<br />
Matthew Gibson<br />
Lucky Locord<br />
Nelson Rea<br />
Sue Wood<br />
Andrew Birkwood<br />
Sean Feast<br />
Ben Archer<br />
Wayne Damster<br />
Parya Darabi<br />
Philip Elliott<br />
Joycelin Evans<br />
Karen Herron<br />
Massimo Lepri<br />
Sharon Noland<br />
Francine Pearlman<br />
Matthew Radcliffe<br />
Patrick Rawson<br />
STUDYING MEMBERS<br />
Qasam Ali<br />
Carmel Austin<br />
Olabanji Bamiduro<br />
Simona Bengescu<br />
John Buckley<br />
James Burke<br />
Ellie Cheetham-Blake<br />
Joanne Clarke<br />
Mitchel Cooper<br />
Hannah Curtis<br />
Gavin Duxbury<br />
Michael Falzarano<br />
Raffeina Feeney<br />
Nick Glendening<br />
Stuart Gray<br />
Adele Gray<br />
Yvette Grey<br />
Janet Grimm<br />
Lynsey Handley<br />
Donna Hardy<br />
Lianne Hare<br />
Nigel Harris<br />
Rebecca Harris<br />
Michael Hashim<br />
Jess Hill<br />
Charlene Hughes<br />
Emma Hynes<br />
Olivia Ionescu<br />
Francine Jackson<br />
Kirsty Johnson<br />
Eric Kezayo<br />
Eloise Lawrence<br />
Karen McManus<br />
Demitra Michael<br />
Christopher Milner<br />
Christopher Moore<br />
Nicola Newman<br />
Jodie Pratt<br />
Eoghan Rodgers<br />
Edward Sagoe<br />
Carla Scott<br />
Gareth Short<br />
Michael Shubh<br />
Aurelija Sitvenkina<br />
Michala Skuse<br />
Julie Smith<br />
Charlie Smith<br />
George Smith<br />
Karl Smith<br />
Julie Somerville<br />
Tammy Taylor<br />
Annette Thornalley<br />
Jodie Todd<br />
Kelsey Toon<br />
Cristina Turturean<br />
Karolina Vacz Hosszu<br />
Rosie Walker<br />
Claire Watkins<br />
Paul Willard<br />
Chelsey Williecarr<br />
Donna Wilson<br />
Max Young<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 58
BRANCH NEWS<br />
A Successful Re-Launch<br />
North West Branch<br />
EMIRATES Old Trafford was<br />
the iconic venue for a highly<br />
successful re-launch event<br />
for the North West Branch.<br />
Almost 60 delegates<br />
were present to hear<br />
presentations from Philip King, Chief<br />
Executive, and Claire Bishop, Head of<br />
Member Administration, who talked<br />
about the CI<strong>CM</strong>, its history, its work, its<br />
future plans and the various study and<br />
membership options available.<br />
Executive Board member Victoria<br />
Herd followed explaining why credit<br />
management is vital to any business,<br />
along with real-life examples of what can<br />
go wrong when a company neglects best<br />
practice. Victoria went on to describe<br />
the characteristics that go into making<br />
a good credit professional. Christopher<br />
Hardman from Bureau Veritas gave an<br />
amusing and well-received account of his<br />
journey as a CI<strong>CM</strong> Apprentice, drawing<br />
on comparisons with ‘The most famous<br />
apprentice of them all’, Luke Skywalker.<br />
The presentations were rounded off<br />
with a summary from Karen Young,<br />
Director of Hays Credit Management, of<br />
salary and recruitment trends in the credit<br />
profession, with particular emphasis on<br />
the North West Region.<br />
After a round up from Branch Chair<br />
Peter Gent, there was an opportunity<br />
for a lively networking session, over an<br />
excellent buffet provided by the staff at<br />
Old Trafford.<br />
The branch committee would like to<br />
express its thanks to all who attended,<br />
along with Hays for their support; our<br />
presenters for their time and effort; and<br />
the staff at Lancashire County Cricket Club<br />
for their hospitality.<br />
The committee are keen to maintain<br />
the momentum the event has provided<br />
and would like to receive feedback from<br />
members in order to compile a calendar<br />
of future events which will hopefully be as<br />
strongly supported.<br />
Author: David R Thornley FCI<strong>CM</strong> MAAT<br />
Full name:<br />
Mark Clowes.<br />
Current job title:<br />
Credit Control Team Leader.<br />
Current company name:<br />
Hays Specialist Recruitment.<br />
Number of years in credit management:<br />
One and a half.<br />
Number of years in current role: My current<br />
role is my first in credit management.<br />
How did you get into credit management?<br />
I previously worked in payroll and really<br />
enjoyed chasing overpayments we had made<br />
to temporary workers. When a job in credit<br />
control came up I applied and was successful<br />
in getting the role.<br />
What is the best thing about where you work?<br />
I really enjoy the people I work with on a daily<br />
basis. We are all like a little family.<br />
What motivates you?<br />
Career progression, doing my job to the best of<br />
my ability and supporting my team.<br />
What skill do you think has helped you most in<br />
your credit career so far?<br />
I would say my firm but fair approach. You<br />
need to be able to empathise with clients but<br />
at the same time ensure you get the result you<br />
require.<br />
Name three people you would invite to a dinner<br />
party and why?<br />
Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un and Vladimir<br />
Putin. Being involved in a private conversation<br />
with the most powerful leaders in the world<br />
would be interesting to say the least.<br />
What is your favourite pastime/relaxation<br />
activity?<br />
I like to spend time with my children and<br />
family, socialising with friends and going to<br />
watch the football or boxing.<br />
What is the best/worst quality in a leader?<br />
The best quality is taking responsibility and<br />
ownership for yours and your team’s actions.<br />
The worst quality is to be disengaged and<br />
unaware in what your team are doing<br />
Who is your business or personal hero?<br />
My personal hero is Aleksandar Mitrovic for<br />
pretty much single handily getting Fulham FC<br />
back into the Premier League.<br />
What can't you live without?<br />
I’d say food as I have to have at least three<br />
meals a day.<br />
60SECONDS<br />
WITH<br />
WE WANT<br />
YOUR NEWS!<br />
Get in touch with Andrew Morris by emailing<br />
andrew.morris@cicm.com with your branch<br />
news and event reports. Please only send up<br />
to 400 words and any images need to be high<br />
resolution to be printable, so 1MB plus.<br />
What’s been your most rewarding moment in<br />
your credit career?<br />
When I have worked with a client by agreeing<br />
a repayment plan and the client sticks to that<br />
plan and pays off all of their outstanding debt.<br />
On a personal level, it was being recognised by<br />
my team in our circle of excellence reward and<br />
recognition scheme.<br />
What has surprised you the most about<br />
working in credit?<br />
How difficult it is to get invoices paid.<br />
If you weren’t working in credit management,<br />
what would you be doing?<br />
When I was younger I aspired to be a TV<br />
presenter so probably the next Ant or Dec.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 59
TAKE CONTROL<br />
OF YOUR CREDIT<br />
CAREER<br />
WORKING CAPITAL ASSISTANT<br />
JOIN AN INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM<br />
London, up to £29,000<br />
Due to a backlog of high volume invoices, this<br />
international law firm is seeking an individual to assist<br />
and make a difference through a 3-6 month fixed term<br />
contract. With a strong focus on invoice amendments,<br />
high volume processing and allocation of fees and<br />
disbursements, this role will require billings experience<br />
and good time management skills to meet deadlines.<br />
You will be able to deal with enquiries and conduct<br />
yourself professionally, ensuring you assist with the<br />
running of a department. This is a fantastic opportunity<br />
to enhance your CV and make a huge impact.<br />
Ref: 3460483<br />
Contact Megan Allen on 020 3465 0020<br />
or email megan.allen@hays.com<br />
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE ASSISTANT<br />
MANAGE YOUR OWN PORTFOLIO<br />
London, £25,000-£27,000<br />
A well-established and successful media publishing<br />
business is looking for an AR specialist to take full<br />
ownership of the end-to-end Accounts Receivable<br />
function. Managing an ever expanding portfolio of<br />
international accounts, you will responsible for chasing<br />
payment in a proactive manner, with the aim of improving<br />
DSO. Experience dealing with international clients<br />
and multi currencies is essential, and a track record of<br />
implementing controls/processes would be advantageous.<br />
In return, you will work in a modern and happy office<br />
environment with a supportive and friendly team.<br />
Ref: 3450829<br />
Contact Julia Foster on 020 3465 0020<br />
or email julia.foster2@hays.com<br />
JUNIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER<br />
GERMAN SPEAKING WITH<br />
FINANCE EXPERIENCE<br />
London, £28,000 + bonus<br />
This fast-paced, modern and exciting recruitment<br />
company is looking for a credit controller to join its<br />
sociable team. In this role, you will chase the European<br />
ledger and speak to multiple German clients, building<br />
relationships with them. You will also be involved in<br />
allocations and reconciliations with the management of<br />
a £5million plus ledger. To be successful, you will have a<br />
driven and hardworking attitude and be able to fit into<br />
a fun and sociable team. Any finance background will be<br />
suitable but fluency in German is essential.<br />
Ref: 3448464<br />
Contact Holly Parkes on 020 3465 0020<br />
or email holly.parkes@hays.com<br />
CREDIT CONTROLLER<br />
BUILD STRONG RELATIONSHIPS<br />
Coventry, up to £24,000<br />
An excellent opportunity has arisen at a large retail<br />
company for a credit controller with experience working<br />
in a large complex commercial business handling debts of<br />
£1 million upwards. With a strong emphasis on reviewing<br />
credit worthiness, credit limits, risk categories and stops in<br />
respect of existing accounts, this role focuses on building<br />
relationships with large clients who hold high volume and<br />
high value accounts, ensuring that queries are resolved<br />
promptly. As a confident communicator, you will be able<br />
to prioritise your own work and manage your own diary in<br />
relation to chasing the debt.<br />
Ref: 3460095<br />
Contact Janice White on 024 7690 2024<br />
or email janice.white@hays.com<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 60
MULTILINGUAL SENIOR<br />
CREDIT CONTROLLER<br />
MAKE AN IMPACT<br />
Sheffield, £23,000 + benefits<br />
This well-established, market leading company is looking<br />
for a senior credit controller with linguistic capability to<br />
join its finance team. Your duties will include ensuring<br />
cash collection is achieved and payments obtained by<br />
agreed terms through the maintenance and control of<br />
the sales ledger across the entire EMEA region. Previous<br />
credit control experience is essential and you will ideally<br />
be a French or Italian speaker. To be successful, you will<br />
have the ability to work towards and achieve deadlines,<br />
work well as part of a team or on your own initiative,<br />
possess good self-motivational and organisational skills<br />
and excellent Excel skills. Ref: 3178916<br />
Contact Daniel Cherry on 0114 273 8775<br />
or email daniel.cherry@hays.com<br />
SENIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER<br />
MAKE AN IMPACT<br />
Abingdon, £15-£20 per hour<br />
An industry leading manufacturing company requires<br />
a senior credit controller to join its finance team on<br />
a full time temporary basis until February. Reporting<br />
into the Financial Controller, you will be responsible for<br />
maintaining upkeep of the complicated credit ledger<br />
for specified territories, ensuring the company complies<br />
with the group policies on risk management and aged<br />
debt reporting. As an experienced credit controller, you<br />
will have worked at a senior level, dealing with high debt<br />
clients. You will receive a competitive hourly rate in line<br />
with £30,000-40,000, with guaranteed work over the<br />
Christmas period. Ref: 3465957<br />
Contact Imtiaz Khandokar on 01865 727071<br />
or email imtiaz.khandokar@hays.com<br />
CREDIT CONTROLLERS<br />
PROVIDE EXCELLENT<br />
CUSTOMER SERVICE<br />
Worksop, up to £22,000 + bonus<br />
This national services company requires multiple credit<br />
controllers for a central services office based in Worksop.<br />
This is an excellent opportunity to work alongside a<br />
large finance team and develop your experience as an<br />
outstanding credit controller, working to KPI targets<br />
to retrieve and minimise outstanding debt. You will be<br />
driven and competent, keen to enhance your credit<br />
skills and work for a well-known organisation where<br />
progression opportunities are available for strong<br />
performers. Natural progression into future roles will<br />
likely be available if desired for high performers.<br />
Ref: 3442016<br />
Contact Arthur Blyth on 0114 273 8775<br />
or email arthur.blyth@hays.com<br />
REVENUE ASSISTANT<br />
SUCCESS THROUGH EXPERTISE<br />
London, up to £19 per hour (PAYE)<br />
This company is a market-leading software developer and<br />
is one of leading tech companies in London. Due to rapid<br />
growth, this company now requires a revenue assistant<br />
to come in and take ownership of the revenue. You will<br />
be responsible for client billing, cash allocations and<br />
bank reconciliations. To be successful, you will have high<br />
volume invoice experience and be a motivated individual<br />
who can take control of the entire function. The company<br />
is located in modern offices with an open-plan breakout<br />
area and multiple perks.<br />
Ref: 3452877<br />
Contact Nathan Cumine on 020 3465 0020<br />
or email nathan.cumine@hays.com<br />
This is just a small selection of the many<br />
opportunities we have available for credit<br />
professionals. To find out more email<br />
hayscicm@hays.com or visit us online.<br />
hays.co.uk/creditcontrol<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 61
CALENDAR<br />
The rise and rise of<br />
Peer-to-Peer alternative<br />
finance. Page 13<br />
The story behind the<br />
collapse of Toys R Us.<br />
Page 36<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND<br />
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
<strong>CM</strong> <strong>December</strong> 2017.indd 1 21/11/2017 13:41<br />
Sean Feast comments<br />
on the Bell Pottinger<br />
saga. Page 4<br />
Are CRAs doing<br />
enough around bogus<br />
accounts. Page 26<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR<br />
CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL<br />
CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
<strong>CM</strong> October 2017.indd 1 21/09/2017 13:47<br />
MARCH <strong>2018</strong> £12.00<br />
People Power<br />
How self-serve is<br />
supporting customer<br />
engagement. Page 14<br />
Taken On Trust<br />
Sean Feast speaks to<br />
Joanna Elson of the Money<br />
Advice Trust. Page 22<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND<br />
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
Winners of the<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> British<br />
Credit Awards<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>CM</strong> March <strong>2018</strong>.indd 1 21/02/<strong>2018</strong> 13:56<br />
How AI is challenging<br />
our ethical code.<br />
Page 17<br />
The state of the credit<br />
management nation.<br />
Page 34<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND<br />
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
<strong>CM</strong> April <strong>2018</strong>.indd 1 21/03/<strong>2018</strong> 11:10<br />
Sean Feast talks to<br />
the new CEO of Hoist<br />
Finance. Page 13<br />
How Bexley Council<br />
is improving supplier<br />
relationships. Page 16<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong> MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND<br />
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
<strong>CM</strong> June <strong>2018</strong>.indd 1 21/05/<strong>2018</strong> 11:04<br />
FORTHCOMING EVENTS<br />
Full list of events can be found on our website: www.cicm.com/events<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> EVENTS<br />
1 <strong>December</strong><br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Sheffield and District Branch<br />
SHEFFIELD<br />
Tis The Season To Be Networking<br />
Contact : (0114) 2518850 (239) / 0771 3367588<br />
Paula Uttley<br />
VENUE : Genting Casino, St Paul's Place, Arundel<br />
Gate, Sheffield, S1 2PN<br />
4 <strong>December</strong><br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> North East Branch<br />
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE<br />
Christmas Quiz<br />
Contact : Email northeastbranch@cicm.com<br />
by 29 November <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Please look out for any further updates on<br />
our Branch forthcoming events at http://<br />
www.cicm.com/branches/north-east/ .We are<br />
actively seeking people who are keen to find<br />
out more about the CI<strong>CM</strong>, and always welcome<br />
non-members and members bringing a friend,<br />
colleague or even their whole team!<br />
VENUE : Old George Inn (upstairs bar)<br />
Old George Yard (just off Bigg Market), Newcastle<br />
upon Tyne, NE1 1EE.<br />
5 <strong>December</strong><br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> West Midlands Branch<br />
BIRMINGHAM<br />
German Market Winter Warmer<br />
Contact : Kim Delaney-Bowen: 07581 160 521<br />
VENUE : RSM Office, St Philips Point,<br />
Birmingham, B2 5AF<br />
30 January<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> South Wales Branch<br />
CARDIFF<br />
Are The Robots Coming or Are They Here<br />
Already? What will you do?<br />
Contact : To reserve a place please email<br />
southwalesbranch@cicm.com<br />
Diana Keeling (07921) 492348<br />
VENUE : Atradius, 3 Harbour Road, Cardiff, CF10<br />
4WZ<br />
OTHER EVENTS<br />
6-7 <strong>December</strong><br />
Forums International – International<br />
Telecoms Risk Forum (ITRF)<br />
LONDON<br />
Contact : For more information email<br />
itrf@forumsinternational.co.uk<br />
11 <strong>December</strong><br />
Experian Credit Forum – FMCG Ireland<br />
DUBLIN<br />
Contact : Please contact Brent.cumming@<br />
experian.com on 07885 675 092 if you would like<br />
further details.<br />
11 <strong>December</strong><br />
Experian Credit Forum –<br />
Oil & Fuelcard Ireland<br />
DUBLIN<br />
Contact : Please contact Brent.cumming@<br />
experian.com on 07885 675 092 if you would like<br />
further details.<br />
12 <strong>December</strong><br />
Forums International – Export/International<br />
Credit Forum (ECF/ICF)<br />
LONDON<br />
Contact : For more information email<br />
ecf@forumsinternational.co.uk<br />
VENUE : Moore Stephens, London<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
The magazine for<br />
consumer and<br />
commercial credit<br />
professionals<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
<strong>DECEMBER</strong> 2017 £12.00<br />
INSIDE<br />
<strong>2018</strong> DESKTOP<br />
Face to Face<br />
Sean Feast speaks<br />
to Business Minister<br />
Margot James<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
OCTOBER 2017 £10.00<br />
Life on the edge<br />
Consumers caught<br />
in the debt trap<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
Chain Reaction<br />
The cost of being in<br />
– and out – of debt<br />
THE CI<strong>CM</strong>'S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED MAGAZINE<br />
INSIDE<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
APRIL <strong>2018</strong> £12.00<br />
Barrel Role<br />
How the UK wine industry<br />
is finding cash to grow<br />
<strong>CM</strong><br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
JUNE <strong>2018</strong> £12.00<br />
Winds of<br />
change<br />
Headwinds on<br />
the path to<br />
economic<br />
improvement<br />
SPECIAL<br />
FEATURES<br />
IN DEPTH<br />
INTERVIEWS<br />
ASK THE<br />
EXPERTS<br />
GLOBAL<br />
NEWS<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
TRADE<br />
CURRENCY<br />
EXCHANGE<br />
HR<br />
MATTERS<br />
MOBILE DIGITAL<br />
EDITION<br />
THE LEADING JOURNAL FOR CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS<br />
TO SUBSCRIBE CONTACT: T: 01780 722903 E: ANGELA.COOPER@CI<strong>CM</strong>.COM<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / July/August June <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE <strong>2018</strong> / 58 PAGE 58<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 62
CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
KNOWLEDGE<br />
HUB<br />
Access over 1,000 credit<br />
and collection resources<br />
anytime, anywhere.<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Knowledge Hub is a new online platform for credit<br />
professionals, providing one location to easily find the tools<br />
and information you need to help you in your job.<br />
‣ Tailored elearning courses ‣ <strong>CM</strong> Magazine articles<br />
‣ Research papers from industry experts ‣ Webinars<br />
‣ Best practice guidance.<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Members get free access to CI<strong>CM</strong> Knowledge Hub and much<br />
more from just £8* a month. Join now to explore all the benefits of<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Membership.<br />
National and<br />
regional events<br />
Qualifications<br />
and training<br />
Mentor<br />
Hub<br />
Monthly<br />
e-newsletter<br />
Branches around<br />
the country<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 63<br />
*Price shown is for Affiliate Grade. Does not include joining fee. Subject to Terms & Conditions.
Cr£ditWho?<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Directory of Services<br />
COLLECTIONS<br />
COLLECTIONS LEGAL<br />
CONSULTANCY<br />
Atradius Collections Ltd<br />
3 Harbour Drive,<br />
Capital Waterside,<br />
Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 4WZ<br />
United Kingdom<br />
T: +44 (0)2920 824700<br />
W: www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/<br />
Atradius Collections Ltd is an established specialist in business<br />
to business collections. As the collections division of the Atradius<br />
Crédito y Caución, we have a strong position sharing history,<br />
knowledge and reputation.<br />
Annually handling more than 110,000 cases and recovering over<br />
a billion EUROs in collections at any one time, we deliver when<br />
it comes to collecting outstanding debts. With over 90 years’<br />
experience, we have an in-depth understanding of the importance of<br />
maintaining customer relationships whilst efficiently and effectively<br />
collecting monies owed.<br />
The individual nature of our clients’ customer relationships is<br />
reflected in the customer focus we provide, structuring our service<br />
to meet your specific needs. We work closely with clients to provide<br />
them with a collection strategy that echoes their business character,<br />
trading patterns and budget.<br />
For further information contact: Hans Meijer, UK and Ireland Country<br />
Director (hans.meijer@atradius.com).<br />
INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS<br />
Premium Collections Limited<br />
3 Caidan House, Canal Road<br />
Timperley, Cheshire. WA14 1TD<br />
T: +44 (0)161 962 4695<br />
E: paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk<br />
W: www.premiumcollections.co.uk<br />
For all your credit management requirements Premium Collections<br />
has the solution to suit you. Operating on a national and international<br />
basis we can tailor a package of products and services to meet your<br />
requirements.<br />
Services include B2B collections, B2C collections, international<br />
collections, absconder tracing, asset repossessions, status reporting<br />
and litigation support.<br />
Managed from our offices in Manchester, Harrogate and Dublin our<br />
network of 55 partners cover the World.<br />
Contact Paul Daine FCI<strong>CM</strong> on +44 (0)161 962 4695 or<br />
paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk<br />
www.premiumcollections.co.uk<br />
COLLECTIONS LEGAL<br />
Blaser Mills Law<br />
40 Oxford Road,<br />
High Wycombe,<br />
Buckinghamshire. HP11 2EE<br />
T: 01494 478660/478661<br />
E: Jackie Ray jar@blasermills.co.uk or<br />
Gary Braathen gpb@blasermills.co.uk<br />
W: www.blasermills.co.uk<br />
A full-service firm, Blaser Mills Law’s experienced Commercial<br />
Recoveries team offer pre-legal collections, debt recovery,<br />
litigation, dispute resolution and insolvency. The team includes<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> qualified staff, recommended in both Legal 500 and<br />
Chambers & Partners legal directories.<br />
Offices in High Wycombe, Amersham, Rickmansworth, London<br />
and Silverstone<br />
Lovetts Solicitors<br />
Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, Old Portsmouth<br />
Road, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LR<br />
T: +44(0)1483 457500 E: info@lovetts.co.uk<br />
W: www.lovetts.co.uk<br />
Lovetts has been recovering debts for 30 years! When you<br />
want the right expertise to recover overdue debts why not use a<br />
specialist? Lovetts’ only line of business is the recovery of<br />
business debts and any resulting commercial litigation.<br />
We provide:<br />
• Letters Before Action, prompting positive outcomes in more than 80<br />
percent of cases • Overseas Pre-litigation collections with<br />
multi-lingual capabilities • 24/7 access to our online debt<br />
management system ‘CaseManager’<br />
Don’t just take our word for it, here’s recent customer feedback:<br />
“...All our service expectations have been exceeded...”<br />
“...The online system is particularly useful and is extremely easy<br />
to use... “...Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates<br />
successful results...”<br />
STRIPES SOLICITORS LIMITED<br />
St George’s House, 56 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NQ<br />
W: www.stripes-solicitors.co.uk<br />
T: 0161 832 5000<br />
95percent success rate in disputed litigation<br />
cases over several decades<br />
Stripes technical excellence, tenacity and commercial insight has led<br />
to this 95 percent success rate over several decades. We have been<br />
particularly recommended as a leading law firm by the Legal 500 in<br />
the litigious field for representing clients with significant and complex<br />
issues.<br />
Our specialist commercial debt recovery and insolvency team work<br />
with businesses ranging from SMEs to larger PLCs recovering<br />
business debts on a no cost or fixed fee basis and often<br />
recovering debts within days. We aim to understand your business<br />
and tailor our services to suit your requirements. Our online service<br />
provides you with 24/7 access to manage your account, to upload<br />
new debtor cases and to generate new legal instructions.<br />
Yuill + Kyle<br />
Capella, 60 York Street, Glasgow, G2 8JX, Scotland, UK<br />
T: 0141 572 4251<br />
E: scowan@yuill-kyle.co.uk<br />
W: www.debtscotland.com<br />
Do You Have Trouble Collecting Debts in<br />
Scotland? We Don’t<br />
Yuill + Kyle is one of Scotland’s leading debt recovery and credit<br />
control law firms. With over 100 years of experience, we are<br />
specialists in resolving disputed and undisputed debts. Our track<br />
record for successful recoveries means you have just moved one step<br />
closer to getting your money back.<br />
How we can help you:<br />
• Specialist advice for all of your legal matters<br />
• A responsive and straightforward approach<br />
• Providing you with solutions-driven advice<br />
• Delivering cost certainty and value for money<br />
Our services<br />
• Pre-sue<br />
• Fast track collections<br />
• Judgement enforcement<br />
• Insolvency<br />
• Bankruptcy<br />
• Liquidation<br />
Sanders Consulting Associates Ltd<br />
T: +44(0)1525 720226<br />
E: enquiries@chrissandersconsulting.com<br />
W: www.chrissandersconsulting.com<br />
Sanders Consulting is an independent niche consulting firm<br />
specialising in leadership and performance improvement in all aspects<br />
of the order to cash process. Chris Sanders FCI<strong>CM</strong>, the principal, is<br />
well known in the industry with a wealth of experience in operational<br />
credit management, billing, change and business process improvement.<br />
A sought after speaker with cross industry international experience in<br />
the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets, his<br />
innovative and enthusiastic approach delivers pragmatic people and<br />
process lead solutions and significant working capital improvements to<br />
clients. Sanders Consulting are proud to manage CI<strong>CM</strong>Q on behalf of<br />
and under the supervision of the CI<strong>CM</strong>.<br />
COURT ENFORCEMENT SERVICES<br />
Court Enforcement Services<br />
Wayne Whitford – Director<br />
M: +44 (0)7834 748 183 T : +44 (0)1992 663 399<br />
E : wayne@courtenforcementservices.co.uk<br />
W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk<br />
High Court Enforcement that will Empower You!<br />
We help law firms and in-house debt recovery and legal teams to<br />
enforce CCJs by transferring them up to the High Court. Setting us<br />
apart in the industry, our unique and Award Winning Field Agent App<br />
helps to provide information in real time and transparency, empowering<br />
our clients when they work with us.<br />
• Free Transfer up process of CCJ’s to High Court<br />
• Exceptional Recovery Rates<br />
• Individual Client Attention and Tailored Solutions<br />
• Real Time Client Access to Cases<br />
CREDIT INFORMATION<br />
BUREAU VAN DIJK<br />
Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London, EC1V 0PP<br />
T: +44 (0)20 7549 5000E: bvd@bvdinfo.com<br />
W: www.bvdinfo.com<br />
We offer the most powerful comparable data resource on private<br />
companies. We capture and treat private company information for<br />
better decision making and increased efficiency, so we’re ideally suited<br />
to help credit professionals. Orbis, our global company database has<br />
information on 250 million companies, and offers:<br />
• Standardised financials so you can assess companies globally<br />
• Financial strength metrics using a range of models and including a<br />
qualitative score for when detailed financials aren’t available<br />
• Projected financials<br />
• Extensive corporate structures so you can assess the complete group<br />
– or take the financial stability of the parent into account<br />
Credit Catalyst is a platform where you can combine information from<br />
Orbis with you own knowledge of your customers and get dashboard<br />
views of your portfolio.<br />
Register for your free trial at bvdinfo.com.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 64
FOR INFORMATION,<br />
OPTIONS AND PRICING<br />
PLEASE EMAIL:<br />
grace@cabbell.co.uk<br />
CREDIT INFORMATION<br />
CREDIT INFORMATION<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
Company Watch<br />
Centurion House, 37 Jewry Street,<br />
LONDON. EC3N 2ER<br />
T: +44 (0)20 7043 3300<br />
E: info@companywatch.net<br />
W: www.companywatch.net<br />
Organisations around the world rely on Company Watch’s industryleading<br />
financial analytics to drive their credit risk processes. Our<br />
financial risk modelling and ability to map medium to long-term risk as<br />
well as short-term credit risk set us apart from other credit reference<br />
agencies.<br />
Quality and rigour run through everything we do, from our unique<br />
method of assessing corporate financial health via our H-Score®, to<br />
developing analytics on our customers’ in-house data.<br />
With the H-Score® predicting almost 90 percent of corporate<br />
insolvencies in advance, it is the risk management tool of choice,<br />
providing actionable intelligence in an uncertain world.<br />
Graydon UK<br />
66 College Road, 2nd Floor, Hygeia Building, Harrow,<br />
Middlesex, HA1 1BE<br />
T: +44 (0)208 515 1400<br />
E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk<br />
W: www.graydon.co.uk<br />
Graydon UK is a specialist in Credit Risk Management and Intelligence,<br />
providing access to business information on over 100 million entities<br />
across more than 190 countries. Its mission is to convert vast amounts<br />
of data from diverse data sources into invaluable information. Based<br />
on this, it generates economic, financial and commercial insights that<br />
help its customers make better business decisions and ultimately<br />
gain competitive advantage. Graydon is owned by Atradius, Coface<br />
and Euler Hermes, Europe's leading credit insurance organisations. It<br />
offers a comprehensive network of offices and partners worldwide to<br />
ensure a seamless service.<br />
Credica Ltd<br />
Building 168, Maxell Avenue, Harwell Oxford, Oxon. OX11 0QT<br />
T: 01235 856400E: info@credica.co.uk<br />
W: www.credica.co.uk<br />
Our highly configurable and extremely cost effective Collections and<br />
Query Management System has been designed with 3 goals in mind:<br />
• To improve your cashflow • To reduce your cost to collect<br />
• To provide meaningful analysis of your business<br />
Evolving over 15 years and driven by the input of 1000s of Credit<br />
Professionals across the UK and Europe, our system is successfully<br />
providing significant and measurable benefits for our diverse portfolio<br />
of clients.<br />
We would love to hear from you if you feel you would benefit from our<br />
‘no nonsense’ and human approach to computer software.<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
CoCredo<br />
Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD<br />
T: 01494 790600<br />
E: customerservice@cocredo.com<br />
W: www.cocredo.co.uk<br />
CoCredo’s award winning credit reporting and monitoring systems have<br />
helped to protect over £27 billion of turnover on behalf of our customers.<br />
Our company data is updated continually throughout the day and access<br />
to the online portal is available 365 days a year 24/7.<br />
At CoCredo we aggregate data from a range of leading providers in<br />
the UK and across the globe so that our customers can view the best<br />
available data in an easy to read report. We offer customers XML<br />
Integration and D.N.A Portfolio Management as well as an industry-first<br />
Dual Report, comparing two leading providers opinions in one report.<br />
Top Service Ltd<br />
2&3 Regents Court, Farmoor Lane, Redditch,<br />
Worcestershire, B98 0SD<br />
T: 0152 750 3990.<br />
E: enquiries@top-service.co.uk<br />
W: www.top-service.co.uk<br />
Top Service is the only credit reference and debt recovery<br />
agency to specialise in the UK construction sector. Top Service<br />
customers benefit from sector specific information, detailed<br />
payment history intelligence and realtime trade references in<br />
addition to standard credit information. There are currently<br />
3,000 construction sector companies subscribing to the service,<br />
ranging from multi-national organisations to small family firms.<br />
The company prides itself on high levels of customer service<br />
and does not tie its customers into restrictive contracts. Top<br />
Service offers a 25 percent discount to all CI<strong>CM</strong> Members as<br />
well as four free credit checks of your choice.<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
Experian<br />
The Sir John Peace Building<br />
Experian Way<br />
NG2 Business Park<br />
Nottingham NG80 1ZZ<br />
T: 0844 481 9920<br />
W: www.experian.co.uk/business-information/<br />
For over 30 years Experian have been processing, matching and deriving<br />
insights to provide accurate, up-to-date information that helps B2B<br />
organisations to make more effective, fact based decisions, reduce<br />
risks and meet regulatory standards. We turn complex data into clear<br />
insights that help manage UK and international businesses to maximise<br />
opportunities for growth and identify and minimise the associated risks.<br />
Blending our business and consumer data we can offer a truly blended<br />
score for sole traders and enhanced scoring on SME’s to tell you more<br />
about the business and the people behind the business. Experian can<br />
support with new business, acquisition through to collections while<br />
managing KYC requirements online or via our suite of APIs.<br />
Innovation Software<br />
Innovation Software, Innovation House,<br />
New Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1BG.<br />
T: +44 (0)1634 812300<br />
E: jay.inamdar@innovationsoftware.uk.com<br />
W: www.creditforceglobal.com<br />
Innovation Software are the authors of CreditForce, the leading<br />
Collections and Working Capital Management Systems. Our solutions are<br />
used in over 26 countries and by over 20 percent of the Top 100 Global<br />
Law Firms.<br />
Our solutions have optimised Accounts Receivables processes for over<br />
20 years and power Business Intelligence, with functionality to:<br />
• improve cash flow • reduce DSO • control risk<br />
• automate cash allocation • speed up query resolution<br />
• improve customer relationship management<br />
• automatically generate intelligent workflows and tasks<br />
• manage the entire end-to-end collections cycle.<br />
Fully integrated with over 40 leading ERP and Accounting systems,<br />
including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics and product partners with<br />
Thomson Reuters Elite we can deliver on either your own computing<br />
infrastructure or through Microsoft Azure’s award winning and secure<br />
cloud service.CreditForce remains the choice solution for world class<br />
businesses.<br />
Book a demonstration by calling T: +44 (0)1634 812 300 or visit<br />
www.creditforceglobal.com for more information.<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
STA International<br />
3rd Floor, Colman House, King Street Maidstone , ME14 1DN<br />
T: +44(0)844 324 0660.<br />
E: enquiries@staonline.com<br />
W: www.stainternational.com<br />
GETTING BUSINESS PAID<br />
STA is an award winning B2B and B2C debt collection, confidential<br />
credit control and tracing supplier. ISO9001 quality accredited, and<br />
with the CSAs Collector Accreditation Initiative, duty-of-care is as<br />
important to us as it is to you. Specialising in international debt, in the<br />
past 12 months we’ve collected from 146 countries worldwide. “Your<br />
Debts Online” gives you transparent access to our collection success<br />
and detailed management information, keeping you in control of your<br />
account. We look forward to getting your business paid.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 65 continues on page 66 >
Cr£ditWho?<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> Directory of Services<br />
FOR INFORMATION,<br />
OPTIONS AND PRICING<br />
PLEASE EMAIL:<br />
grace@cabbell.co.uk<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
Tinubu Square UK<br />
Holland House,<br />
4 Bury Street, London .<br />
EC3A 5AW<br />
T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 /<br />
E: uksales@tinubu.com<br />
W: www.tinubu.com<br />
Tinubu Square offers companies across the world the appropriate<br />
SaaS platform solutions and services to significantly reduce their<br />
exposure to risk, and their financial, operational and technical<br />
costs. Easy to implement, our solutions provide an accurate<br />
picture of a customers’ financial health through the entire<br />
order-to-cash cycle, improve cash flow, and facilitate control<br />
of risk across the organization whether group-wide or locally.<br />
Founded in 2000, Tinubu Square is an award winning expert in<br />
the trade credit insurance industry, with offices in Paris, London,<br />
New York, Montreal and Singapore. Some of the largest multinational<br />
corporations, credit insurers and receivables financing organizations<br />
depend on Tinubu to provide them with the means to drive greater<br />
trade credit risk efficiency.<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
Data Interconnect Ltd<br />
Unit 7, Radcot Estate, 7 Park Rd, Faringdon,<br />
Oxfordshire. SN7 7BP<br />
T: +44 (0) 1367 245777 F: +44 (0) 1367 240011<br />
E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk<br />
W: www.datainterconnect.com<br />
Data Interconnect provides integrated e-billing and collection<br />
solutions via its document delivery web portal, WebSend.<br />
By providing improved Customer Experience and Customer<br />
Satisfaction, with enhanced levels of communication between both<br />
parties, we can substantially speed up your collection processes.<br />
Proud supporters<br />
of CI<strong>CM</strong>Q<br />
Rimilia<br />
Corbett House, Westonhall Road, Bromsgrove, B60 4AL<br />
T: +44 (0)1527 872123 E: enquiries@rimilia.com<br />
W: www.rimilia.com<br />
Operating globally across any sector, Rimilia provides intelligent,<br />
finance automation solutions that enable customers to get paid on time<br />
and control their cashflow and cash collection in real time. Rimilia’s<br />
software solutions use sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence<br />
(AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and<br />
reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection. The<br />
Rimilia software automates the complete accounts receivable process<br />
and eliminates unallocated cash, reducing manual activity by an<br />
average 70% and achieving best in class matching rates recognised<br />
by industry specialists such as The Hackett Group.<br />
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<br />
DATA AND ANALYTICS<br />
Dun & Bradstreet<br />
Marlow International, Parkway Marlow<br />
Buckinghamshire SL7 1AJ<br />
Telephone: (0800) 001-234 Website: www.dnb.co.uk<br />
Dun & Bradstreet grows the most valuable relationships in business.<br />
By uncovering truth and meaning from data, we connect our<br />
customers with the prospects, suppliers, clients and partners that<br />
matter most, and have since 1841. Whether your customer portfolio<br />
spans a city, a country or the globe, Dun & Bradstreet delivers the<br />
data, analytics and insight to grow your most profitable relationships<br />
and navigate credit risk. By combining your insights with our own,<br />
Dun & Bradstreet facilitates a global, unified view of your customer<br />
relationships across credit and collections.<br />
FINANCIAL PR<br />
Gravity London<br />
Floor 6/7, Gravity London, 69 Wilson St, London, EC21 2BB<br />
T: +44(0)207 330 8888. E: sfeast@gravitylondon.com<br />
W: www.gravitylondon.com<br />
Gravity is an award winning full service PR and advertising<br />
business that is regularly benchmarked as being one of the best<br />
in its field. It has a particular expertise in the credit sector, building<br />
long-term relationships with some of the industry’s best-known<br />
brands working on often challenging briefs. As the partner agency for<br />
the Credit Services Association (CSA) for the past 13 years, and the<br />
Chartered Institute of Credit Management since 2006, it understands<br />
the key issues affecting the credit industry and what works and what<br />
doesn’t in supporting its clients in the media and beyond.<br />
INSOLVENCY<br />
Moore Stephens<br />
Moore Stephens LLP, 150 Aldersgate Street,<br />
London EC1A 4AB<br />
T: +44 (0) 20 7334 9191<br />
E: Brendan.clarkson@moorestephens.com<br />
W: www.moorestephens.co.uk<br />
Moore Stephens is a top ten accounting and advisory network,<br />
with offices throughout the UK. Our clients range from individuals<br />
and entrepreneurs, through to large organisations and complex<br />
international businesses. We partner with them, supporting their<br />
aspirations and helping them to thrive in a challenging world.<br />
Our national creditor services team has expert insights in debt<br />
recovery which, combined with their unparalleled industry and<br />
sector knowledge, enables them to assist creditors in recovering<br />
outstanding debts.<br />
LEGAL MATTERS<br />
PAYMENT SOLUTIONS<br />
American Express<br />
76 Buckingham Palace Road,<br />
London. SW1W 9TQ<br />
T: +44 (0)1273 696933<br />
W: www.americanexpress.com<br />
American Express is working in partnership with the CI<strong>CM</strong> and is<br />
a globally recognised provider of payment solutions to businesses.<br />
Specialising in providing flexible collection capabilities to drive a<br />
number of company objectives including:<br />
•Accelerate cashflow •Improved DSO •Reduce risk<br />
•Offer extended terms to customers<br />
•Provide an additional line of bank independent credit to drive<br />
growth •Create competitive advantage with your customers<br />
As experts in the field of payments and with a global reach,<br />
American Express is working with credit managers to drive growth<br />
within businesses of all sectors. By creating an additional lever<br />
to help support supplier/client relationships American Express is<br />
proud to be an innovator in the business payments space.<br />
PAYMENT SOLUTIONS<br />
Bottomline Technologies<br />
115 Chatham Street, Reading<br />
Berks RG1 7JX | UK<br />
T: 0870 081 8250 E: emea-info@bottomline.com<br />
W: www.bottomline.com/uk<br />
Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps businesses<br />
pay and get paid. Businesses and banks rely on Bottomline for<br />
domestic and international payments, effective cash management<br />
tools, automated workflows for payment processing and bill<br />
review and state of the art fraud detection, behavioural analytics<br />
and regulatory compliance. Businesses around the world depend<br />
on Bottomline solutions to help them pay and get paid, including<br />
some of the world’s largest systemic banks, private and publicly<br />
traded companies and Insurers. Every day, we help our customers<br />
by making complex business payments simple, secure and seamless.<br />
RECRUITMENT<br />
PORTFOLIO<br />
CREDIT CONTROL<br />
Portfolio Credit Control<br />
1 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AE<br />
T: 0207 650 3199<br />
E: recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com<br />
W: www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com<br />
Portfolio Credit Control, solely specialises in the recruitment of<br />
permanent, temporary and contract Credit Control, Accounts<br />
Receivable and Collections staff. Part of an award winning recruiter<br />
we speak to and meet credit controllers all day everyday understanding<br />
their skills and backgrounds to provide you with tried and tested credit<br />
control professionals. We have achieved enormous growth because we<br />
offer a uniquely specialist approach to our clients, with a commitment<br />
to service delivery that exceeds your expectations every single time.<br />
HighRadius<br />
T: +44 7399 406889<br />
E: gwyn.roberts@highradius.com<br />
W: www.highradius.com<br />
HighRadius is the leading provider of Integrated Receivables<br />
solutions for automating receivables and payment functions such<br />
as credit, collections, cash allocation, deductions and eBilling.<br />
The Integrated Receivables suite is delivered as a software-as-aservice<br />
(SaaS). HighRadius also offers SAP-certified Accelerators<br />
for SAP S/4HANA Finance Receivables Management, enabling<br />
large enterprises to maximize the value of their SAP investments.<br />
HighRadius Integrated Receivables solutions have a proven track<br />
record of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad-debt and<br />
increasing operation efficiency, enabling companies to achieve an<br />
ROI in less than a year.<br />
DWF LLP<br />
David Scottow Senior Director<br />
D +44 113 261 6169 M +44 7833 092628<br />
E: David.Scottow@dwf.law W: www.dwf.law/recover<br />
DWF is a global legal business, transforming legal services through<br />
our people for our clients. Led by Managing Partner & CEO Andrew<br />
Leaitherland, we have over 26 key locations and 2,800 people<br />
delivering services and solutions that go beyond expectations. We<br />
have received recognition for our work by The Financial Times who<br />
named us as one of Europe's most innovative legal advisers, and we<br />
have a range of stand-alone consultative services, technology and<br />
products in addition to the traditional legal offering.<br />
Hays Credit Management<br />
107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN<br />
T: 07834 260029<br />
E: karen.young@hays.com<br />
W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol<br />
Hays Credit Management is working in partnership with the CI<strong>CM</strong><br />
and specialise in placing experts into credit control jobs and credit<br />
management jobs. Hays understands the demands of this challenging<br />
environment and the skills required to thrive within it. Whatever<br />
your needs, we have temporary, permanent and contract based<br />
opportunities to find your ideal role. Our candidate registration process<br />
is unrivalled, including face-to-face screening interviews and a credit<br />
control skills test developed exclusively for Hays by the CI<strong>CM</strong>. We offer<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> members a priority service and can provide advice across a wide<br />
spectrum of job search and recruitment issues.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 66
FROM THE<br />
ARCHIVE<br />
Credit Management<br />
magazine from 46 years ago.19<br />
72<br />
In November 1972 Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat<br />
George McGovern in a landslide, although the election has<br />
the lowest voter turnout since 1948 with only 55 percent of the<br />
electorate voting. The last executions took place in Paris – the<br />
President Georges Pompidou upheld both death sentences despite<br />
public opinion. Atari released the arcade version of Pong which<br />
became the first generation of video game to achieve commercial<br />
success. In <strong>December</strong> 1972 Apollo 17 became the last manned<br />
moon mission when the ‘Blue Marble’ picture of Earth was taken.<br />
THE INSTITUTE’S<br />
ANNUAL DINNER<br />
Robert Head, Financial Correspondent<br />
for the Daily Mirror entertained the<br />
crowd at the Crypt of the Guildhall<br />
as one of the guest speakers.<br />
Chairman of Council, Owen Mayo<br />
summarised the year’s progress with<br />
representations to the Department<br />
of Trade and Industry, and a meeting<br />
with the Conservative Credit and<br />
Insurance Trade Committee.<br />
THE COMPUTER – AN AID TO CREDIT MANAGEMENT<br />
Following the Annual Conference of the Institute of Credit Management at the Royal<br />
Garden Hotel on 25 October 1972, AJ Thomas outlines where a computer could assist<br />
credit managers perform tasks such as reviewing credit limits and debt collecting.<br />
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / <strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong> / PAGE 67
THE RECOGNISED<br />
STANDARD<br />
CI<strong>CM</strong> British Credit Awards 2019<br />
7 February 2019<br />
Royal Lancaster, London<br />
The shortlist has just been announced. Book your table today!<br />
The entries are in... and the shortlist has just been<br />
announced! To see who made the shortlist for the 2019<br />
awards, please visit: www.cicmbritishcreditawards.com<br />
Don’t miss this fantastic evening of networking and celebration<br />
of all of the incredible achievements across the credit and<br />
collections community. With a fabulous line up of entertainment,<br />
it’s the one event in the credit calendar not to be missed!<br />
The CI<strong>CM</strong> British Credit Awards is central to our ethos, rewarding<br />
outstanding achievement and innovation shown by individuals<br />
and organisations.<br />
BOOK YOUR TABLES TODAY<br />
AND JOIN US ON THE NIGHT<br />
WHERE ALL WINNERS WILL BE<br />
REVEALED<br />
cicmbritishcreditawards.com<br />
Table bookings<br />
Please contact Natasha Witter on:<br />
T: 020 7484 9876<br />
E: natasha.witter@incisivemedia.com<br />
HEADLINE SPONSOR:<br />
SPONSORS:<br />
PALADIN