Credit Matters Newsletter
In This Issue
- What's New At Credit Matters?
- Quote Of The Month
- Monthly Business Observation
- Monthly Business Conundrum
- This Month's Business Inconvenient Truth
- Latest Blogs & Readings
- Special Topic
- THE LATEST ASIC UPDATES
- AUSTRAC MEDIA RELEASES
- ACCC UPDATES
What's New At Credit Matters?
This month we have been focusing on completing our next three-month observational report on what is happening in Australia due to the pandemic and recession. This report will be available in the first week of June if all goes to plan.
Included in this newsletter there are several links to interesting developments from Australian regulators ASIC, ACCC and AUSTRAC
There are two brochures from The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman regarding tradies and the franchise industry which provide further interesting updates.
As always, if you wish to promote your business services at an affordable rate, contact Kim at kim@creditmatters.com.au. You will be surprised at the value we have to offer.
Quote Of The Month
Bill Coles: Can I speak frankly? Lawrence Garfield: No. Lie to me! Tell me how thrilled you are to know me. I always speak frankly. I hate people who say, "Can we speak frankly?" It means they're bullshittin' me the rest of the time.
Monthly Business Observation
The current rhetoric of many is that whilst there is some damage to the business community due to the pandemic, it is not as bad as first anticipated. Even the people who were fearful at the beginning of the pandemic are starting to change their mind. Nevertheless, there are strong signs that a recession is still with us and will get worse over the years ahead.
The truth is, we are currently in the midst of a phoney recession as many people only see (or want to see) positive signs around them. As always, this positivity is propagated by people with vested interests. What many people are seeing and experiencing is a little bit like the phoney war in the first eight months of the World War 2. In this period, many people did not see any of the signs or sights of the war. Of course, the war was already in operation and building up. It was just that some sections of the world did not see the signs, or want to believe, the war would affect them.
This current recession is a bit like that because many are doing well and they do not see or feel the effects of those that are suffering. Alternatively, some people also do not want to see what is happening around them. We know for instance, that the global debt is now at a ridiculous high level. Closer to home, these same people do not want to see the empty shops in almost every shopping centre or precinct or town. It is perhaps because they also don’t see the people who have lost jobs or the landlords who no longer receive any income whilst their expenses increase.
However, like any other economic period, recessions also provide wonderful opportunities for survival and growth. You just need to manage your negative thoughts which may prevent you seizing opportunities and not be too optimistic so that you miss the risks ahead.
Those business people who understand the current dynamics, opportunities and risks, are careful not to let either extreme opinion dominate their thinking or actions. It is these people which keep an open mind to different thoughts, cultivate acquaintances of both extremes, plus all those in between, which will always do the best now and into the future.
Monthly Business Conundrum
Experience suggests every new CEO or CFO needs to understand the dynamics of their appointment first, and in particular, what they can or cannot do before taking any action.
One key aspect of their authority should be to allow them discretion on what bad debts they can write off. Two types of write off should be those bad debts which are quickly obvious are bad and those where the account or an invoice will never be collected. The other write-off should be those customers which should be let go unless they are willing to pay up-front for any purchases. Every effort should be made to keep these customers still willing to pay cash upfront.
Bad accounts kept in the Debtors ledger because management is afraid to write them off, wastes time and drains your employees of their energy to work on positive outcomes. Dealing with these accounts, even briefly, distracts your employees from concentrating on the other customers and keep the cash flowing, or which with a bit of extra attention could be made profitable.
All other difficult customer accounts need to be investigated to see if the problem is caused by inefficiencies within your own busines; e.g., lack of care, poor processes, lack of staff etc. If this is the case, every effort needs to be taken to solve the issues inhouse to try and win back the customer.
If the customer is the current problem, then they should be contacted in a cordial and neutral manner to see if they can be converted in to a profitable customer. After all, every bad customer drains your business’s cashflow and profits. A good customer meanwhile which has become alienated and leaves to do business with a competitor, supports their cashflow and profit growth.
Unfortunately, many new CEO’s and CFO’s do not get these messages and strive to be champions by collecting the payments from those delinquent accounts which should be written off. If not written off, these accounts will continue to waste time which could spent on the other accounts which may have been saved.
This Month's Business Inconvenient Truth
One of the hardest tasks of any credit or accounts manager is to convince management, especially if they are also the owner of a business, to write off an invoice that is never going to be paid. In the eyes of management or a business owner, all invoices are an asset of the business. Unfortunately, the truth is far different.
An uncollectable invoice that has no chance of being paid, is always a liability. It soaks up time and saps energy out your employees who have to deal with it knowing there is no chance of it being paid.
In addition, when an uncollectable invoice is not written off, it also has other negative cost implications. For instance, a review may be missed to learn from the situation, time wasted which could be better spent by improving your business’s processes, customer service standards, or more profitable customers and sales.
Latest Blogs & Readings
Interesting thought by George Zeidan seen on LinkedIn recently when thinking about protecting your business’s brand.
Updates courtesy of www.asic.gov.au
Media Updates
Speeches and Articles
Media Updates
News Updates
Media Releases
Credit Matters is a financial risk management resource centre for the Australian business community. If you are in business, Credit Matters is your ideal source of financial risk management solutions.
Future Opportunities & Possibilities
Credit Matters is continuing to grow and provide marketing and knowledge about financial risks to the Australia business community.
Futhermore, we invite marketing and knowledge ideas from our readers and contributors on how we can assist our respective firms grow. If you have any ideas, please contact me at info@creditmatters.com.au.
If you are interested in finding new ways to reach your marketplace, why not try Credit Matters. Our prices for advertising are very reasonable and advertising packages are on offer to make any cost, even more affordable. So if you are interested in reaching your customers at the right price, please contact Kim at info@creditmatters.com.au for options.