Five Business Credit Risks You Can Target with Best Practices

In today’s business environment, managing risk and improving cash flow are more challenging then ever:

• With bankruptcy rates rising, the risk of incurring substantial losses is increasing.
• While economic pressures and business practices are causing companies to pay slower, there is a greater focus on increasing cash flow.
• Credit departments are being asked to do more with less without assuming additional risk.

In response to these trends. many credit professionals are unfortunately becoming more reactive instead of proactive. Every credit professional should be on the lookout for opportunities to implement proven best practices throughout the entire order-to-cash process. To help you on your journey, here are five common pitfalls that can be easily avoided by upgrading your practices.

1. Failing to Recognize Potential Frauds
Fraud costs businesses billions of dollars a year. Unfortunately, many credit professionals do not know what they should be watching for. However, if you understand which data elements correlate most often with fraud, you can more easily focus your investigations and save time. Here are some situations that deserve attention: