Credit Risk Management

Credit management or credit risk management is usually the area responsible for managing the credit and collections function of a company. This area of CreditPulse will feature articles related to credit risk management both on the micro and macro level.

Recent Articles

Industry trends toward lower cash flow and higher debt are raising red flags with some of the world's largest wholesale distributors.

With slim profit magins and low asset bases, few companies depend on efficiencies in operating cash flow and working capital more than wholesale distributors. But, improvements in working capital aren't necessarily translating into improved cash flow, according to newly released benchmark data from the Credit Standards Index (CSI)

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Tunisia's currency gained on the dollar for the second consecutive year even as the nation's developing economy continues to struggle. 

The year 2020 saw many emerging and frontier market currencies get pummelled by the coronavirus pandemic, yet that wasn't the case for the tiny north African nation of Tunisia, which saw its currency, the dinar, rise 3.47% against the dollar.

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A California software company has developed a state-of-the-art accounts receivables platform uniquely designed to minimize DSO and maximize cash flow. 

In today's collections environment, understanding your customer data is one of the most critical elements in the collections process.  If you can't identify customer payment trends or tendencies it becomes nearly impossible to reasonably forecast company cash flow.

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DSO and bad debt benchmarks improved even as overall liquidity and solvency worsen in the multi-billion dollar world of athletic footwear.

Nike and Adidas are two of the most well-known brand names in the world as their athletic footwear have been worn for years by professional and amatuer athletes in just about every competitive sport.  A closer look at the two industry giants...

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Understanding three important principles of credit analysis will lead to better, safer and more credible credit decisions.  "A matter of perspective."

When it comes to credit risk no one has a crystal ball.  The closest anyone can come is the ability to examine information from the past while looking closely at what is happening in the present to hopefully gain insight as to what may happen in the future.

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One of the business world's top negotiators talks about the disadvantages of multilateral negotiating and why the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a bad deal for the United States.

Wilbur Ross Jr., the chairman and chief strategist of W.L. Ross & Co., a private-equity firm, has amassed a fortune over the past 15 years by purchasing bankrupt companies in old-line manufacturing industries such as steel, textiles and auto parts and rehabilitating them, often turning a profit by selling to overseas investors many in China.

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Credit practitioners and finance executives have ignored this question for years.  A nine-month discussion that began on LinkedIn last year reveals why the silence has been deafening.  

Since the days of Adam Smith over two centuries ago, the extension of credit has served as one of the most important and enduring aspects of commerce.  Yet, to this day, credit risk--a key component of credit extension--remains an enigma to many.  Find out why credit insurance really isn't necessary in this CreditPulse feature story.

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DSO's sensitivity to so many sales and industry-related factors give it strength, not weakness, in measuring the performance standards of credit departments.

The DSO benchmark is making a comeback.  Yet, despite the ratio's simplicity and benchmark status in the financial world, DSO has arroused controversy with some in the credit establishment who complain that it doesn't fully account for variances in net terms and sales fluctations.  Get the facts in this CreditPulse feature article.

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Cloud computing has been all the rage recently but cloud-based software technology companies are posting the industry's biggest losses, according to CSI data.

Cloud-based software companies, many of which have been publicly-traded for less than three years, posted some of the biggest losses in the software technology industry group of the CSI making the companies an increased credit risk factor as market capitalizations return to normal.  Find out which companies pose the biggests risks in this CreditPulse exclusive.

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In the past few years, YRC Worldwide has worked near miracles to stay out of bankruptcy court but the end may finally be drawing near for the nation's second largest trucking company.  "They're still burning cash."

With a fleet of 15,000 trucks and 23 percent of the less-than-truckload (LTL) market among public carriers, few companies in corporate America have delivered less value to its shareholders in relation to its industry position than YRC Worldwide, Inc., a $4.8 billion trucking company,

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