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The Publication for Credit and Financial Professionals I N A U S T R A L I A

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Volume 22, No 1 October 2014

2014AnnualConferencen 2014 AnnuAl RepoRt HigHligHts

n CRedit MAnAgeMent

n teCHnology

n pRivACy

CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2014

QLD Division: Roger Masamvu (2013 Qld YCP) with Stacey Woodward (2014 Qld YCP) and Murray Walter (D&B).

NSW Division: YCP Dinner guests.

SA Division: Dun & Bradstreet’s Abigail Wright and Michael Seychell with YCP State Winner Rebecca Edmiston.

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26

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WA Divisioin: 25 Year Badge – Mike Murphy, Kevin Allen, Steve Thomas and presented by President Colin Phillis.

VIC/TAS Division: Louie Tzakopoulos (Wurth), Seth Arora (D&B) and Joel Arnold (D&B).

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38EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO:The Editor, Level 1, 619 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065or Email: [email protected]

DIRECTORS

Australian President – G.L. Morris MICM CCE

Australian VP, Law & Regulation – J.A. Neate MICM

Professional Development – S.D. Mitchinson LICM

YCPA & CCE – G.C. Young MICM

Member Services – J.G. Hurst FICM CCE

Finance – G.S. Odlum

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

N. Pilavidis MICM CCELevel 1, 619 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065Tel: (02) 9906 4563, Fax: (02) 9906 5686Email: [email protected]

EXECUTIVE SUPPORT

SA Division – Kerry HammillPO Box 2131, Felixstow SA 5070Tel: (08) 8365 9021, Fax: (08) 8365 9021, Email: [email protected]

EDITOR/PUBLISHER

Nick Pilavidis | Email: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Colin Magee NSWMurray Ashford QLDKerry Hammill SAWarren Meyers WADonna Smith VIC/TAS

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Tony Paul | Association MediaTel: 0401 917 799, Email: [email protected]

EDITING & PRODUCTION

Anthea Vandertouw | Ferncliff ProductionsTel: 0408 290 440, Email: [email protected]

PRINTING

Pegasus Print Group, Building B, 1A Bessemer Street, Blacktown NSW 2148, Ph: 8822 0600

THE EDITOR reserves the right to alter or omit any article or advertisement

submitted and requires idemnity from the advertisers and contributors

against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published. CREDIT

MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA is published by the Australian Institute of Credit

Management, Level 1, 619 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. The views

expressed in CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA are not necessarily those

of Australian Institute of Credit Management, which does not expect or invite

any person to act or rely on any statement, opinion or advice contained herein

(whether in the form of an advertisement or editorial) and neither the Institute

or any of its employees, agents or contributors shall be liable for any opinion

contained herein. © The Australian Institute of Credit Management, 2014.

October 2014 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Grant Morris

Giles Woodgate

Richard Rowley

Moses Samaha

Volume 22, Number 1 – October 2014

AICM Annual Report 2

Message From the President 5

Credit ManagementAre you looking out for Phoenix Companies? 6By Moses Samaha

The Cost of Fraud 8By Richard Rowley and Giles Woodgate

From risk to growth: With business conditions 10 shifting, so too must the focus of businessBy Gareth Jones

Technologye-Billing: Boosting your accounts receivable 12efficiency. By Vinay Chand

YCPA12 Months on: Balveen Saini 15

Learning & DevelopmentBenefits of Online Learning 16

Are you currently meeting your obligations 17 under the Australian Privacy Principles?

Credit Team of the YearMeet the finalists for 2014 18

AICM Can we helpBureau meetings and Caveats 20

PrivacyJoining an EDR scheme - Privacy Act requirement 22Raj Venga explains

Around the StatesQueensland 24

New South Wales 26

South Australia 30

Western Australia/Northern Territory 34

Victoria/Tasmania 38

New Members 41

CONTENTS

Gareth Jones

Balveen Saini

ASSOCIATION MEDIA

For Advertising Opportunities

in Credit Management In Australia

CALL Tony PaulPhone:

0401 917 799

Email: [email protected]

Raj Venga

Rhett Kipps

Karl Hill

2 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2014

HIGHLIGHTS IN 2013/2014

AICM Submissions to Government EnquiriesAICM made three significant

submissions and undertook direct

consultation to advance the position

of credit practitioners in Australia in

2013/14.

z AICM Submission to the July

2014 Interim Report of the Federal

Attorney General’s Review as to the

Operation of the Personal Property

Securities Act (PSA) Affecting SME’s.

Prepared by Peter Mills MICM – Qld

Vice President and submitted on 6

June 2014

z Meeting between AICM and

the Independent Reviewer of the

Operation of the Personal Property

Securities Act (PSA).

One-on-one meeting between AICM

representative Peter Mills MICM – Qld

Vice President and the Independent

Reviewer of the Operation of the

Personal Property Securities Act,

Bruce Whittaker on 18 July 2014

z Further Submission by AICM to

the Federal Attorney General’s Review

as to the Operation of the Personal

Property Securities Act (PSA)

Affecting SME’s and other portions of

the Review.

Prepared by Peter Mills MICM – Qld

Vice President and submitted on 25

July 2014

z AICM Submission to the Privacy

Act – Credit Reporting Consultation –

External Dispute Resolution Scheme –

Exemption Extension.

Prepared by James Neate MICM –

AICM Director and submitted on 14

July 2014

Professional DevelopmentAICM Learning Services

AICM Learning Services writes and/

or delivers qualifications at Certificate

and Diploma level across Australia,

through face to face public courses,

on-line courses, in-house corporate

training and under licence to tertiary

institutions and other professional

organisations.

AICM Learning Services registered

a record 411 new students and

issued 178 nationally recognised

Qualifications or Statements of

Attainment, recognised by the

Australian Skills Quality Authority,

in 2013/14 bringing the total number

of registered students to have

studied with the AICM since 2001

to 2,905 with over 868 formal

Qualifications and Statements of

Attainment issued.

Professional Development,

Events and Functions.

AICM delivered over 75 Division

events including seminars, network

meetings, working breakfasts,

lunches, dinners, social events and

conferences across 5 AICM Divisions

in 2013/ 2014.

Privacy Reforms.

AICM and ARCA (Australasian Retail

Credit Association) formed a joint

venture in 2013, branded as Privacy

and Credit Compliance Solutions

(PCCS), to develop and deliver

training and seminars on the National

Privacy Reforms to be introduced in

March 2014. Since July 2013, 22 days

of seminars were delivered across

all AICM Divisions and in-house for

Corporations, and a total of 40 days’

seminars on Privacy Reform were

delivered since February 2013.

2013 Young Credit Professional of the Year Award The Australian Institute of Credit

Management - National Young Credit

Professional of the Year Award (YCPA)

continues to attract, encourage and

promote credit professionals under

30 years of age in Australia. The 2013

AICM Young Credit Professional of the

Year Award attracted 50 prospects

from whom 23 finalists were selected

across the 5 AICM Divisions. The 2013

Young Credit Professional of the Year

Award National Finalists were,

z Roger Masamvu (QLD.)

z Balveen Saini (NSW)

z Anthony Petraitis (VIC/TAS)

z Amanda Campbell (SA)

z Rosanna Maugeri (WA)

The National YCPA for 2013 was

announced at the AICM National

Conference Dinner in Adelaide and the

winner was Balveen Saini (NSW).

2014 Young Credit Professional of the Year AwardThe 2014 National Young Credit

Professional of the year Awards

program was sponsored by D&B for

the eighteenth consecutive year. A

record 59 expressions of interest

were received from young credit

professionals across Australia. YCP

Award dinners were held in each of

the five AICM Divisions in July and

August adding to the spectacle of

the credit industry’s celebration of its

rising stars.

AICM Councillors and past YCPA

candidates used their extensive

network of contacts to source and

assess candidates and to encourage

participation. AICM Youth network

nights were also held to inform and

encourage young credit professionals

to participate.

Annual ReportSUMMARYThe Australian Institute of Credit Management (AICM) undertook a significant restructure in 2013/14, reducing expenditure and working closer with other professional bodies to achieve both professional advancement for our members and a positive financial outcome for the Institute. AICM enrolled a record number of students in 2013/14, achieved the largest number ever of expressions of interest in the Young Credit Professional of the Year Award, conducted the inaugural National Credit Team of the Year Award, recorded positive growth in membership, conducted Australia wide Privacy Reform Seminars, held a successful AICM National Conference in Adelaide and played a leading role in advocacy on the PPSA and Privacy Reforms whilst generating a $59,229 surplus for the financial year.

aicm

October 2014 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 3

Gregg Odlum MICM CCE

Jeff Hurst FICM CCE

James Neate MICM

Greg Young MICM

The 2014 YCPA National Finalists are;

z QLD - Stacey Woodward – Boral Shared Business

Services

z NSW – Anna Golubeva – Hilti

z WA – Tamera Russell – Westrac

z VIC – Rex Cheng – CGU Insurance

z SA - Rebecca Edmiston – Bendigo & Adelaide Bank

The National YCPA Finalists will be presented to

delegates at the 2014 AICM National Conference

with the announcement of the National Winner

occurring at the Conference Dinner.

2013 AICM National Conference The 2013 AICM National Conference was held in

Adelaide, for the first time since 2002 and it was an

outstanding success with just under 400 delegates

in attendance at the Hilton Hotel.

2013 National Credit Team of the Year2013 was the inaugural year for the National Credit

Team of the Year. This award had been a successful

NSW Division award for a number of years and

thanks to the continuous support of Veda as both the

NSW Credit Team of the Year sponsor and the 2013

National Credit Team of the Year sponsor, this award

program achieved overwhelming support from credit

teams across Australia. A total of 15 applications

were received with applicants coming from banks,

insurance companies, large industrial companies,

multinationals, IT, telecommunications and transport.

Four finalists were selected for interview and

2 teams selected as nominees for the 2013 Credit

Team of the Year. The 2 teams selected as ‘nominees

for winner’, Kings Transport and PFD Foods, were

guests at the 2013 AICM National Conference where

PFD Foods was announced as the winner.

2014 National Credit Team of the YearThe success of the inaugural 2013 National Credit

Team of the Year together with the continuing

sponsorship by Veda in 2014 and promotions in the

AICM magazine, AICM Website and by direct mail to

AICM members, generated 8 completed applications

from a wide range of industries for the 2014 National

Credit Team of the Year Award, with many more

indicating their interest in future years’ participation.

The National Credit Team of the Year winner will

be announced at the 2014 AICM National Conference.

2013 Certified Credit Executive Program Candidates who successfully completed the CCE

on line exam and their professional paper prior to

the 2013 National Conference were eligible for the

2013 CCE dux award. CCE Dux sponsor, NCI Credit

Insurance (Brokers) presented the 2013 Dux prize

to James Devonish (South Australia Division) at the

CCE Lunch held at the 2013 National Conference.

2014 Certified Credit Executive Program11 applicants successfully passed the CCE Exam and

completed their Professional Paper in 2014. The new

CCE’s for 2014 are;

z David Haysom (Victoria/Tasmania Division)

z Ralf Ziccarello (Victoria/Tasmania Division)

z Amit Jaiswal (Victoria/Tasmania Division)

z Christopher Wheatley (NSW Division)

z Denise Kritikakas (NSW Division)

z Anthony Tran (NSW Division)

z Mel Joiner (NSW Division)

z Kathy Neale (NSW Division)

z Sev Indrele (NSW Division)

z Jo Ellice (NSW Division)

z Brian Curran (NSW Division)

Congratulations to all graduating CCE’s and the

CCE Dux sponsor, NCI Credit Insurance (Brokers) will

announce the 2014 Dux at the CCE lunch to be held

at the AICM National Conference in October 2014.

AICM Job Vacancy WebsiteAICM established a credit job vacancy facility on the

AICM home page in 2012. This facility draws credit

related job vacancies from a number of commercial

sites across Australia to create the largest dedicated

credit job vacancies site in Australia. As at August

2014 there were a record 248 credit job vacancies

on the AICM website, an increase of 10% over the

previous year.

Credit Network WebsiteAICM supported the establishment of a credit

industry website that included a Forum for

questions, answers and discussion to enhance

professional development in the credit industry.

AICM awards 2 CCE Professional Points per year

to members for active participation in the Credit

Network Forum. The Credit Network website was

launched at the 2011 AICM National Conference and

as at August 2014 there were 1389 registered users,

an increase of 25% over the previous year.

AICM Employer Membership Discount ProgramThe Employer Member Discount Program offers

employers up to 10 AICM members for $1,000, up to

20 members for $2,000 and up to 50 members for

$2,500. The Employer Member Discount Program

continues to grow with a total of 61 companies (an

increase of 35% over the previous year) and with 686

October 2013 - August 2014 annua l repor t

Nick Pilavidis MICM CCE

Steve Mitchinson LICM

Grant Morris MICM CCE

aicm


AnnualReport October 2013 -

August 2014 annua l repor t

employee members (an increase of 14%

over the previous year) in 2013/14.

Financial PerformanceThe June 2014 financial report

shows a surplus of $59,229. This is

a $298,184 turn-around from the

previous financial year’s defecit. In the

previous 2 financial years, 2012/13 and

2013/14, income has fallen by $153,441

or 9.3%, (due primarily to the loss of

projected income from a dispute with

a training client which was settled, out

of court, in AICM’S favour in 2012/13)

and expenditure was cut by a massive

$503,048 or 26% in the same 2 year

period to achieve the $59,229 surplus

in 2013/14. Whilst the cost cutting was

painful and slowed development in

some areas, it did show a commitment

and ability by the Board and

management to adopt strategies to

meet these unforeseen circumstances

and to place AICM in a stronger

financial position for the future.

Retirement of AICM CEO and Appointment of New AICM CEOTerry Collins retired on 21 August 2014

after nearly 14 years as the AICM CEO.

Nick Pilavidis MICM, CCE was

appointed as the new AICM CEO.

Prior to his appointment to AICM,

Nick was the National Credit Manager

at Ricoh, a former National Young

Credit Professional of the Year winner

(2005), a Certified Credit Executive,

a past AICM NSW President and

Vice President and an immediate

past AICM Director responsible for

the Finance portfolio. Nick holds a B.

Com. from Deakin University and has

presented at various NSW events and

at the 2012 National Conference.

Resignation of NSW Director Nick Pilavidis resigned as Director on

2 August 2014 to take up the position

of AICM CEO.

New Director from NSWGregg Odlum was endorsed as

Director from NSW on 2 August 2014

Division Presidents - 2014Division Presidents elected for

2013/14 were;

z QLD – Brian Kay FICM CCE

z NSW – Gregg Odlum MICM CCE,

resigned and elected Director

August 2014

z NSW – Colin Magee MICM elected

August 2014

z VIC/TAS – Lou Caldararo FICM

CCE

z SA – Gail Crowder MICM

z WA – Colin Phillis MICM

Farewell and Thankyou from Terry Collins

I leave the AICM with a great sense of appreciation for the commitment of the volunteers who give of their time and expertise to advance the objectives of the AICM. Members, and in some cases non-members, but professionals all in the credit industry, who serve as Directors, Councillors, speakers or by assisting with the many tasks associated with running our events.

I have seen the AICM spread its influence to now be the ‘go to’ organisation for government departments and agencies on matters relating to credit. AICM made over 20 formal submissions in the past 5 years on matters such as Personal Property Securities Amendments, Privacy Reform, Debt Collection Regulation and Guidelines and was approached on a number of occasions by government representatives to consult on proposed changes and to be the initial forum for feedback to government from the credit industry.

Our Registered Training Organisation has, over the past 10 years all but eliminated qualification based credit training at TAFE and private training organisations in Australia. This has resulted with nearly 3,000 students enrolling with AICM Learning Services to receive high quality, co-ordinated and consistent training and professional development by the one, National Industry Based Professional Body - AICM.

AICM has evolved into a true industry representative body that draws its membership, representation and expertise from the widest reaches of the credit industry. Our elected officials include not only credit managers but legal practitioners, accountants, H.R. and business consultants, mercantile agents, trade insurance experts and we are much the better for it, now having the intellectual resources to inform our submissions, enhance our lobbying and giving us the industry based expertise to develop the most informed and relevant training courses to the credit industry. The AICM has deliberately and successfully

established itself as the common ‘marketplace’ for credit information and services. Credit practitioners and credit service providers meet and interact at AICM National Conferences, professional events, social functions and via the various AICM social media outlets. This is an important facility provided by AICM to expose credit practitioners to the ever changing environment within which they work and provides them with information, options and opportunities regarding new advancements in technology and processes.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the AICM, take pride in our achievements and progress and confidently hand over to your new CEO, Nick Pilavidis who is well qualified to lead the AICM into the future.

AICM has a small and extremely dedicated staff team led by our training and office manager Debby Manners, accounts officer Wendy Liu, events officer Karen Croft, membership officer Jan Rann and our executive support officer Kerry Hammill. These professionals, three of whom are part time, administer every training course, professional event, social function, conference, website, magazine, CCE exams, YCPA, Credit Team of the Year, membership records, sponsorship, income and expenditure and financial reporting for the AICM. They do this, sometimes under great pressure due to financial constraints and lack of time and resources with a pleasant and professional approach to all and I am indebted to them for their efforts, support and friendship.

I can leave the AICM with no better security for the future than the dedication and professionalism of your staff. I can think of no better asset for the future of the AICM than the dedication and professionalism of those who are your volunteers.

Terry Collins, Chief Executive Officer (Retired)

Australian Institute of Credit Management

aicm


f rom the p res iden t

This issue of our magazine is due to hit the stands

during the week of our national conference on the

Gold Coast. This is the single largest gathering of

credit professionals in Australia each year and if you

are attending then I look forward to catching up with you. If

you are not attending then it is not too early to start planning

to attend the 2015 conference which is to be held in my home

town of Sydney and promises to be bigger and better than

ever. If you need approval from your Manager, want to make it

a reward for special performance by your team or coincide it

with a national work conference or personal holiday then now

is the time to start planning for it. Early bird discounts where

we hold the 2015 price at 2014 levels are available until early

2015 and planning is already underway.

Please make the most of the conferences by attending all

the sessions and taking the period between sessions and the

evening events as opportunities to renew acquaintances or

make new ones with other credit professionals from within your

own industry segment or the profession generally. If you only

take one idea away from networking you will finish in front.

The conference is featuring a presentation from the Credit

Ombudsman’s Service (COSL) who are represented by Raj

Venga, their CEO and Ombudsman, Alison Dam, Head of

Policy & Compliance and Mark Wesker, Head of Operations

and Corporate Affairs who will talk about the structure and

procedures of COSL. I had the pleasure of meeting them and

seeing a presentation a couple of months ago in Sydney and

I recommend this session to you. At this stage the recent

introduced Privacy reforms requirement for membership of

an External Dispute Resolution scheme (EDR) has only been

deferred until March next year and this is a must presentation

which should alleviate some of your concerns.

Our recently retired CEO, Terry Collins, will be at the

conference and this will be a chance for us to thank Terry for

his guidance and assistance over the last 13 years. It will also be

a great opportunity to make Nick Pilavidis welcome as our new

CEO. Nick has hit the ground running and promises us an even

more exciting future.

Our financial position has turned the corner and our profit

this year is $59K which a substantial turnaround on the last 2

years losses of some quarter of a million dollars each year. This

is after a detailed review of debtors and other areas. We need

to maintain tight reins on expenditure to restore our financial

position to historical levels and our auditor is looking a little

happier and a lot more comfortable. That is not to say that

we have taken our eyes away from education and training or

events generally, far from it. This will remain a strong focus over

the next 2 years.

The Attorney-General’s Department called for submissions

regarding the recent Privacy Reforms and your AICM provided

a submission. This submission is available on the AICM website.

In addition the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA)

is being reviewed this year and your AICM through Peter

Mills has been most active and provided a great submission

to Government. Since then then the government released

their Interim Report into the PPS Review on 15 August 2014.

AICM are considering how to best participate with others

in implementing the initial recommendations. No further

immediate amendments to the PPSA are recommended

(except for those currently in Bill form before parliament).

Review of the Government PPS website content and further

government consultation are likely

to occur before the end of 2015. Stay

tuned and catch up with Peter at the

conference for the latest.

Our search for the 2014 Young

Credit Professional of the Year is

drawing to a close with Division finalists

announced. Congratulations to our

finalists - Rex Cheng of CGU (Vic/Tas

Division), Rebecca Edmiston of Bendigo

and Adelaide Bank (SA/NT Division),

Anna Golubeva of Hilti (NSW Division),

Tamera Russell of Westrac (WA Division)

and Stacey Woodward of Boral (Qld

Division). The winner will be announced at the President’s

Dinner at the conference with the award and dinner being

sponsored yet again by Dun & Bradstreet. Thanks to Darin

Milner and the team for their ongoing support.

Our Credit Team of the Year will also be announced at the

conference. We had a strong field which included teams from

national and international companies and I am pleased to

announce the four finalists are Hilti (Aust) Pty Ltd, Recoveries

Corporation Pty Ltd – Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Team, Reece Pty Ltd and Seek Limited. The winners will be

announced at the conference and I must thank Moses Samaha

and his team at Veda who are the award sponsors and whose

ongoing support is invaluable.

Each division has now held their AGM and elected a Council

to plan and run events in their states. Each council has elected

a President to guide them through the next 12 months and I

would like to both congratulate and thank Queensland’s Brian

Kay, New South Wales’ Col Magee, Victoria’s Lou Caldararo,

South Australia’s Gail Crowder and Western Australia’s Col

Phillis for stepping up to the challenge of being the 2014/5

President’s. I look forward to working with all of them

throughout the year as I know we all share the same wish to

see our profession grow and prosper.

Our Councils have also accepted the challenge to ensure

all councillors show their commitment and professionalism and

attain their CCE this year.

In November the NSW Division will be continuing the

Pinnacle Awards it launched last year where it seeks to

recognise 2014’s top performer in many categories including

Credit Manager, Credit Supervisor, Senior Credit Officer, Legal

Representative and External Collector in NSW. Please keep

an eye out for the promotion of these awards. They will be

announced in a gala presentation dinner in November.

Please take the time to read the various articles and sections

in this magazine including Around the States to see what is

happening in your neck of the woods and “AICM – Can We Help”

where there is an interesting letter on attendance at Bureau

meetings and another on taking security ie by way of caveat,

during an Administration period. I encourage you to submit

your questions to [email protected] and we will seek answers

from experts in the topic. By sharing your questions you may

obtain additional information or a different perspective free of

charge and you will definitely help share some knowledge and

experience with your fellow Credit Professionals.

I look forward to seeing you at the national conference

or at an AICM event soon as you support the Institute which

supports you.

Grant Morris CCEAustralian President

annua l repor t

Credit Management


officers (directors and secretaries)

being imprisoned.

At Veda, we also broaden the def-

inition to include any company that is

created by directors of another com-

pany that will fail or has failed, in order

to mask the credit risk involved in deal-

ing with the people behind the busi-

ness. Whilst this behaviour is not illegal

unless there is illegal transfer of assets

occurring, it is important information

to know when dealing with prospective

customers as this may influence the

type or amount of credit you extend.

Identifying phoenix companiesVeda recently analysed its commercial

data which showed that one in three

companies which entered external

administration set up a new related

entity within two years (one year either

side of the event). Of these, almost

two out of three possible phoenix

companies were created 12 months

prior to the external administration

event, as seen in the chart below.

This means that simply knowing

the registration status of associated

entities for detail will not tell you

which registered businesses are

performing poorly. Without additional

credit information you could be

missing out on seeing two in three

possible phoenix relationships.

The chart opposite also shows

that for new companies created

before the related external

administration event, approximately

23% of the related future external

administration companies have

adverse data on file compared to

a bureau average of just 5.7%. In

other words, where the conditions

for new phoenix companies are met,

there is substantially more adverse

recorded on the related entities than

in standard conditions.

When dealing with prospective

customers, it is critically important

to have as much information as you

can as this can influence the type or

amount of credit you extend.

“Using a real life example, one of

our customers had an application

where a company with a ‘clean’ credit

file was related to other companies

through a director. These related

companies had a range of court

actions, payment defaults and external

administrations recorded against them.

Are you looking out for Phoenix Companies?

Moses Samaha

By Moses Samaha*

Phoenix companies are four times

more likely to fail in their first 12

months, which is why it is essential to

get the full picture of an entity before

you agree to any credit terms.

ASIC defines a Phoenix company

as follows:

Illegal phoenix activity involves the

intentional transfer of assets from an

indebted company to a new company

to avoid paying creditors, tax or

employee entitlements.

The directors leave the debts

with the old company, often placing

that company into administration or

liquidation, leaving no assets to pay

creditors.

Meanwhile, a new company, often

operated by the same directors and in

the same industry as the old company,

continues the business under a new

structure. By engaging in this illegal

practice, the directors avoid paying

debts that are owed to creditors,

employees and statutory bodies

(e.g. the ATO).

Illegal phoenix activity is a serious

crime and may result in company

Credit Management


“Without looking at this level of

detail the applying company may have

appeared a good credit risk, however

less than three years later the pattern

of poor credit performance seen in

the related companies had spread

to the applicant – which now had 4

defaults and 10 judgements totalling

$145K”. This highlights the risk of doing

business without checking the broader

network of relationships for patterns of

poor credit performance.

How to identify risky companies before they failObtaining information on the trading

history of related entities can assist

in the identification of phoenix

companies, as it shows the credit

activity of the related entities, the

credit history of the subject company

and all directors of that company.

The example (right) is an

illustration on what needs to be

looked at for ABC Plumbing. The

diagram illustrates the need to look at

ABC Plumbing, its directors George

Smith and John Harris, and ABC

Trading, ABC Drains, ABC Electrical

and ABC Plumbing World.

Many credit professionals are

conducting this level of assessment

today, in line with their credit policies,

however this exercise can be quite

time consuming and cost prohibitive

(due to the many searches required).

Efficiently identifying phoenix behaviour with Veda Veda’s higher level reports (In-Depth

Company Trading History and Financial

Assessments) can assist you in the

identification of phoenix companies

by showing the credit activity of the

related entities in the same credit

report as it shows credit history of the

subject company and all directors of

that company. This means that users

can get an accurate picture of the

overall credit risk of the applicant in

one simple report. These reports:

z Provide credit data on the subject

company, directors and any other

companies (and/or businesses)

those directors are related to.

z Shows detailed analysis into

companies that appear to be

related based on the directors. n

*Moses Samaha is Veda’s General Manager of Commercial Risk. For more information on Veda’s In-Depth Trading History and Financial Assessment reports and how they can help you to identify possible phoenix companies, contact your Veda account manager or email [email protected]

We’ll connect the dots when it comes to the right trade credit solution

• 28 years experience• National coverage• Innovative solutions

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When it comes to credit risk management, navigating the different options requires specialist expertise. And that’s what you get with NCI:

To find out how you can protect your profitability whilst growing your business, visit www.nci.com.au, email [email protected] or telephone 1300 654 500

National Credit Insurance (Brokers) Pty LtdABN 68 008 090 702 AFS Licence No 233817 Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Perth Auckland | Wellington | Singapore

Credit Management


a maximum prison term of 10 years

and a maximum fine of $110,000. The

maximum penalties for fraud in the

other States and Territories range

from prison terms of five years to 15

years and maximum fines ranging

from $75,000 to $459,500.

By contrast, in the United Kingdom,

there was no limit on the quantum of a

fine that a Court could impose, whilst

in the United States the maximum fine

for a corporation was $US25M and

for an individual US$5M. The United

Kingdom and the United States also

had a broader range of administrative

penalties, including the disgorgement

of profits obtained by fraud. The report

concluded that the penalties available

to ASIC had not been reviewed for

over a decade and in some cases did

not meet community expectations.

The size of the problemThere are many different types of

fraud, including fraud involving

credit and debit cards, cheques and

social security. Bribery, corruption,

counterfeiting and other deception

may also be considered forms of

fraud. For a fraud to be committed

there must be a motivated offender, a

prospective victim and the absence of

reliable internal controls. The victims

of fraud can include individuals,

corporations and governments.

The definition of fraud varies from

jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Statistics

obtained from the State and Territory

Police forces for the year ended 30

June 2013 recorded the following

fraud related offences:

This only represents the

instances of fraud reported to

police. According to the Australian

Institute of Criminology, fraud is an

underreported offence, with less than

50% of incidents being disclosed to

the police.

According to a survey of fraud,

bribery and corruption in Australia

and New Zealand prepared by

KPMG in 2013, 75% of major

corporate frauds were committed

by insiders, usually employees of the

organisation. For major frauds the

typical offender was a male, with no

known history of fraud, whose salary

was nearly $100,000 a year and

who acted alone. The most common

motivations for fraud were greed,

lifestyle costs or personal financial

pressure. The Australian Institute

of Criminology noted that most

serious fraud offenders were born in

Australia or New Zealand and had

completed secondary education or

had some professional qualifications.

Serious fraud offenders were more

likely to be a company director or

an accounting professional, with

relatively stable employment at the

victim organisation.

According to the KPMG

survey, the total losses from fraud

experienced by its respondents

during the period from 1 February

2010 to 31 January 2012 amounted

to $373M, with the total number

of fraud incidents in Australia and

New Zealand amounting to 194,454.

Whilst the average value of the fraud

committed was less than $2,000 per

fraud incident, some serious fraud

offenders commit many frauds on a

victim organisation. Therefore, the

individual loss to an organisation

may be significantly greater.

According to KPMG, there were 20

incidents with losses over $1M, with

the largest single loss amounting to

$12M.

The cost of fraudBy Giles Woodgate and Richard Rowley

Giles Woodgate Richard Rowley

The penalties availableIn March 2014 the Australian Securities

and Investments Commission (“ASIC”)

published a report comparing the

penalties for corporate wrongdoing

in Australia to those in Canada, Hong

Kong, the United Kingdom and the

Unites States of America. The report

noted that the maximum prison term

in Australia for fraud is 10 years,

which was comparable to the other

jurisdictions, with the exception of the

United States of America, where the

maximum prison term is 20 years. The

report also compared the maximum

penalties available to be sought by

ASIC under the Corporations Act

2001 (Cth) (“Corporations Act”) to the

maximum penalties available to other

Australian regulators.

The report noted that the

maximum prison terms for fraud

under the Corporations Act were as

follows:

The maximum fines for

contraventions of Section 184 and

Section 596 of the Corporations

Act were $340,000 and $17,000,

respectively. By contrast, a conviction

for fraud pursuant to Section 192E

of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)

(“NSW Crimes Act”), could result in

Number of offences

NSW 48,154

Vic 26,177

WA 19,619

Qld 19,021

ACT, NT and SA 3,698

116,669

SectionMaximum

term

Section 184 – Good faith, use of position and use of information

5 years

Section 596 – Frauds by officers

2 years

Credit Management


The warning signs of fraudSome of the warning signs of fraud

include:

z employees who rarely take

holidays;

z employees whose lifestyle is not

commensurate with their salary;

z employees who have gambling or

substance abuse problems;

z excessive secrecy concerning a

function, particularly if requests

from external accountants or

auditors for information are not

complied with;

z a lack of segregation of duties in

the subject area;

z weak internal controls, particularly

in the administrative function;

z reconciliations not being performed

on a regular basis, on the bank

account(s), wages clearing and tax

control accounts. Failure to perform

regular physical stocktakes and

then reconcile to book values, may

also be a warning sign;

z the organisation’s financial

performance is inconsistent with

that of competitors. For example,

the organisation appears to be

performing much better than

competitors;

z photocopied or missing

documents;

z management that is dominated

by an individual or a small group

of individuals. This is a particular

danger if the founder dominates

the organisation;

z unusually close relationships with

certain suppliers or customers, and,

z bypassing normal procedures for

ordering goods or services.

Fraud prevention strategiesPrevention of fraud is almost always

better than its cure. Some strategies

to prevent fraud include:

(a) thorough pre-employment probity

checks of employees;

(b) reviewing and maintaining sound

internal controls, including regular

reviews of internal controls;

(c) having a workplace culture that is

intolerant of unethical, fraudulent

or corrupt practices, generally.

Most fraud offenders start soft and

small. Therefore, taking a standard

against what may be seen as

relatively minor infractions, such

as unreasonable expense claims,

will send a message that dishonest

conduct will not be tolerated; and,

(d) having capable and well-resourced

external accountants and/or

auditors.

Reporting fraudIf an organisation suffers from a fraud

many organisations do not report the

fraud to the police. This reluctance to

report fraud may be due to:

(i) the fear of throwing good money

after bad;

(ii) a desire to avoid reputational

damage;

(iii) a wish to have a bargaining chip to

negotiate with the offender;

(iv) uncertainty as to whether a crime

has been committed; and,

(v) a reluctance by management

to allocate time and resources

to assisting the police or other

authorities with their enquiries.

Many of these fears are well

grounded. For example, a company

director perpetrated a fraud of $1.5M,

which was discovered in September

2008 and reported to the NSW

Police in January 2009. The victim

organisation was a subsidiary of a

European multinational. Civil legal

proceedings were commenced in

November 2008 to recover the funds

and the director became a bankrupt

in October 2009. The funds recovered

by the victim organisation post-

bankruptcy were modest.

The director pleaded guilty in

February 2012 to five counts of

cheating and defrauding under the

former Section 176A of the NSW

Crimes Act and was sentenced to two

years imprisonment, to be served by

way of an intensive corrective order in

the community. Following a successful

appeal by the Crown, a custodial

sentence was imposed in December

2013 with a non-parole period of 2½

years. The actual custodial sentence

was ¼ of the maximum term of

imprisonment under the NSW Crimes

Act, some five years after the fraud

was detected. It is doubtful whether

strengthening the penalties available

in Sections 184 and 596 of the

Corporations Act would have changed

the result. The answer may be for the

Courts to take a more serious view of

white collar crime.

For those disheartened by the

prospects of a serious fraud offender

not being sentenced to gaol for a

lengthy term, choosing not to report

the crime is not the answer. Section

316 of the NSW Crimes Act states that

a person who fails to report conduct

which amounts to a serious indictable

offence is liable to prosecution and

may be imprisoned for up to two years.

SolutionThe key to dealing with fraud is having

a strong corporate culture, employing

good people, maintaining sound

internal controls and being aware of

the warning signs of fraud. Woodgate

and Co. are experienced in assessing

fraud risk and formulating solutions

including internal controls. Further,

Woodgate & Co. are experienced in

conducting investigations, analysing

evidence, considering contraventions

of relevant laws and preparing expert

witness reports.

Woodgate & Co. can also provide

an assessment as to the likelihood of

recovering funds from an offender.

Whilst most frauds do not result in an

organisation becoming insolvent, in

small organisations serious frauds can

be financially fatal. n

Woodgate & Co, Chartered Accountant and Insolvency Practitioners. Business Recovery Services, Official Liquidators & Trustee in Bankruptcy.Level 8, 6 - 10 O’Connell Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, GPO Box 882, Sydney, NSW, 2001Telephone: (02) 9233 6088, Fax: (02) 9233 1616, www.woodgateco.com.auAssociated Offices: Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth

DISCLAIMER:The material contained in this newsletter is merely general commentary and the comments and information do not represent a legal or professional service. Advice should be sought from Woodgate & Co. in relation to the circumstances of each matter before acting in this area.

Credit Management


Following the release of the

Federal Budget this year, consumer

confidence took a hit and the

developing signs of business

optimism appeared at risk. These

risks, however appear to have now

abated, with recent numbers on

the economy indicating that the

near-term outlook for Australian

businesses remains healthy.

This has been borne out in D&B’s

own data, with business confidence

and expectations about future growth

on a steady lift this year.

While the sharp and immediate

impact of the Budget on confidence

highlighted the fragility that still

exists, the underlying strength of the

Australian economy and improving

conditions in key international markets

are reasons why businesses should

now be turning their attention to

growth.

There are signs that many

businesses are already moving.

During the second quarter of

this year 62,000 new businesses

commenced operations, a 23 per cent

increase from the previous quarter.

Additionally, Dun & Bradstreet’s latest

survey of company expectations has

revealed that 21 per cent of executives

intend to access new finance to grow

their operations this quarter. That is

the highest response since January

2011, and it has been matched by

positive findings on the number of

executives planning to invest more in

their business and hire new staff – two

preparatory signs that increased trade

is expected.

To capitalise on a more positive

outlook and stable business

conditions, credit and risk teams

need to align with their sales and

marketing colleagues. Traditional risk

management is no longer relevant in a

data-driven business environment that

is constantly changing. Today’s credit

function needs to adopt a whole-

of-business approach and deliver its

unique customer insight through to

the marketing, sales, customer service,

technology and product areas.

The extra expense and additional

resources required to secure new

customers are good reasons for

businesses to first look for growth

opportunities within their current

portfolio.

More so, this is where deep

customer insight on behaviour,

payment patterns, credit history

and propensity to buy already

exists. By gaining visibility of these

characteristics and identifying the

‘good’ customers in your portfolio,

sales and marketing teams can look

to offer higher value products or

new credit terms. Additionally, by

understanding the corporate family

trees of good customers, sales efforts

can be extended through entity

relationships with a multiplying effect.

At the same time, clear visibility

of your portfolio allows you to direct

sales effort away from low value

customers. Naturally, this process

From risk to growthWith business conditions shifting, so too must the focus of business

By Gareth Jones*

To capitalise on a more positive outlook and stable business conditions, credit and risk teams need to align with their sales and marketing colleagues.

Gareth Jones

Credit Management


also identifies risky entities within

your portfolio. Given 80 per cent

of bad debt is known to come from

customers you’ve had on the books

for more than 12 months, this is

critical.

When it comes to looking beyond

your current portfolio, the same

in-house insight is invaluable. Guided

by the characteristics of existing good

customers, product and marketing

campaigns can be built to target

prospects with similar profiles. While

mass marketing may have previously

sufficed, the availability of rich

business insight now allows smart

businesses to overlay a targeted

marketing list against their existing

portfolio to identify sectors where

they may be under or over penetrated.

Combined with risk scores, to

understand both the likelihood a

prospect will experience financial

distress, and its ability and propensity

to pay on time, businesses can chase

new business with a greater return on

investment.

Despite the sound fundamentals

in the economy and supportive

operating conditions, businesses will

also need to maintain due diligence

as they look to both develop their

existing portfolio and target new

customers.

Although offset by other positive

movements during the second

quarter of this year, D&B found that

91,000 businesses became a greater

risk of late payment, while 9,927

failed. Cashflow remains the most

significant issue at play, with one-

in-three businesses naming it as the

factor most likely to impact their

operations. This is not surprising given

D&B research shows that it is taking

an average of 53 days for invoices to

be paid.

These findings are significant and

companies must not compromise

the opportunity for growth by failing

to conduct thorough checks on new

customers, monitor the performance

of current customers or act promptly

with collections activity when

necessary.

Maintaining visibility on risk, while

also finding new avenues to growth

both depend on the availability of

up-to-date and useable insight.

From targeted lead-generation and

marketing, through to on-boarding, risk

assessments, portfolio management

and collections prioritisation –

customer insight is the key.

Those businesses that recognise

the depth and breadth of insight that

is available from within their current

portfolio will be best placed to quickly

react and act, and make the move

from risk to growth. n

*Gareth Jones is CEO of Dun & Bradstreet–Australia and New Zealand

Improve cashflow and reduce bad debtBeing able to quickly pin-point the financial risks

and opportunities across your customer base

is critical to effective risk management

and business growth.

Contact us to arrange a demonstration.

13 23 33 portfolioinsight.dnb.com.au

Portfolio Insight


Technology

A slowing economy has highlighted

what credit managers have long

known: the quicker companies can

get their invoices out, the sooner

they will get paid.

Clearly if your sales revenue is

flowing in a predictable and cost

efficient manner, it makes planning

more simple. A modern invoicing

system will also have the tools to

track progress of invoices and help

forecast cash flow.

If you can tap into the key areas

of any receivables process, starting

with the distribution of invoices,

right through to making it easier

for clients to pay through a secure

portal, it’s very likely you will receive

your funds sooner, which reduces

your days sales outstanding (DSOs).

Electronic access to data

in real time is also making a

difference, according to Moses

Samaha, General Manager of

Commercial Risk Products at

Veda. “Just the fact that you can

send out an invoice with a click

and have it paid with another

click is driving down days sales

outstanding,” he says.

“Or you can click to see the

risks with payments outstanding,

which makes a real difference

from an invoicing perspective.”

In previous years, people

have chased debtors based on

those who owed them the most

or those who have had a debt

outstanding for 90 days or more.

“That has worked reasonably

well but, in the digital world

you can use insights from data

to drive down DSOs, eliminate

bad debt and also strip out

inefficiencies in collection

practices,” says Samaha.

In his view, with powerful

concepts like credit scores, better

trade payment data, and being

able to cross reference publicly

available information, people

should think about chasing

debtors who are more likely to

fail, on a weighted risk score, as

e-Billing: Boosting your accounts receivable efficiencyBoosting the efficiency of your accounts receivable team through an enterprise- wide electronic invoicing and payments system is fast becoming the default setting for doing business. By Vinay Chand*


Technology

opposed to those who owe them the

most or who haven’t paid for 90 days.

For many firms, though, complete

electronic management of debtors

has proved awkward to apply, as

consistent processes need to be

in place before savings on the

collections process can be unlocked

through better and more cost

effective use of technology.

Electronic bill presentment and paymentAt the simplest level, there is an

expectation that firms will have, by now,

introduced technology to streamline

their business systems, including

invoicing. This is only partly true.

“One of the challenges I’m finding,

with both small and large companies,

is that they have a combination of both

paper distribution and some electronic

distribution of invoices,” says Gabriel

Tsavaris, Corporate Sales & Strategic

Partnerships Manager at IP Payments.

And, he says, the larger the

company, the more likely it is that this

lack of consistency will exist.

The reason is often because

companies will acquire an entire

business, which then becomes a

division and it brings in its own

invoicing and payment system.

“Where distribution processes

are different, it’s quite likely that the

credit policies, dispute management

and collection methods will also be

different across multiple divisions

within the same corporate group,”

Mr Tsavaris says.

In a further revelation, IP Payments’

data, drawn from its client base of

large national businesses, reveals

that when a consistent approach was

introduced through e-billing, clients

reported large and diverse savings.

Results have shown that office costs,

such as payments receipting, matching

and reconciliation were reduced by up

to 60 per cent and almost removed

postage costs entirely (down 83

per cent on previous paper based

systems).

Similarly, a collection system that

automatically links into your ERP

is very important, as payments can

then be allocated accurately to each

account, to close off each individual

invoice with a zero error rate.

Among IP Payments’ client base,

the results have been impressive.

About three quarters (74 per cent)

have converted to an e-billing

system, which has seen the number

of cheques that need processing

more than halved (ie, a 52 per cent

reduction in cheques remitted).

More than a quarter of unallocated

direct deposits (28 per cent) are now

properly accounted for.

Most importantly, across the IP

Payments client base, adoption of

e-billing systems has resulted in a

20 per cent decline in DSOs. With the

national average for DSOs sitting at

around 45 days, according to Veda’s

National Credit Managers Survey

2013 (see: Credit Management in

Australia. March 2014, p11), this means

companies which use e-billing are

getting paid almost 3 weeks sooner

on average.

Overdue and too hard to collect“The dunning process is also another

area where we have been able to lower

costs of collection,” says Mr Tsavaris.

More so than their larger

counterparts, small and mid-tier

enterprises (SMEs) will benefit

from automation of their invoicing,

collection and dunning processes,

rather than running a call centre to

chase down money and overdue

invoices, he suggests.

Direct debits and online portalsOf course hard conversations between

collections staff and debtors can be

reduced with systems that make it

easy for the customer to pay, such

as through an online portal or by use

of online direct debits for recurring

payments, which have been shown to

be very successful.

“A very large national food

distributor that we deal with sends out

80,000 direct debit paper authorities

each month. The uptake for paper –

or manual – direct debit authorities is

1 per cent,” says Mr Tsavaris.

“We’ve found when this same

type of invitation arrives by email,

allowing the buyer to click through to


a portal and set themselves up for a

direct debit, the buyer is more likely to

follow that process through.”

“While the success rate varies from

industry to industry and depends on

customers’ purchasing patterns, we’ve

seen uptake from 10 to 15 per cent to

as high as 25 per cent,” he says.

Part payment or no paymentThe buyer is likely to dispute an

invoice if they haven’t received all

their goods or services, or if a credit

note wasn’t applied, for example.

“In a case like this, the buyer might

choose to not pay the whole invoice

just because one line item is incorrect

– we’ve seen this happen in the

construction industry in particular,”

says Mr Tsavaris.

A better way of dealing with this is

to have a system where a customer is

encouraged to pay the valid amount

that is not in dispute, allowing the

supplier to capture some of the

payment that was due, along with

an explanation as to why the missing

amount is in dispute.

Apart from improving cash flow,

there is a customer service element

to this when the seller can call back

to sort out the basis of the amount

in dispute, rather than requesting

payment and inflaming the situation.

This type of exception reporting

could also highlight gaps in supply

chain models, either your own or

those of your clients.

Paperwork doubled“While it might look like a

straightforward concept, it’s surprising

how many companies will ring up

their supplier and ask for a copy of

an invoice which has been lost or

misplaced,” says Mr Tsavaris.

Rather than asking a staff member

to search back through files, which

can be very time consuming and

disruptive for small accounts team, a

better way to manage this is to allow

customers access via an online portal,

to retrieve their own documents as

and when they need them.

Fast paybackWhen collection teams are hitting

their KPI’s and not aggravating

customers unnecessarily, improved

staff morale and job satisfaction will

follow.

As has been outlined here, stream-

lining processes by implementing a

comprehensive e-billing system should

inevitably deliver value and improved

cash flow indicators. n

*Vinay Chand is Chief Financial Officer of IP Payments.www.ippayments.com

Technology

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YCPA

Balveen Saini – 2013 National YCPA winner

Young Credit Professional Award - 12 months on

If somebody was to approach me 12 months ago and tell

me that in 12 months time I would be sitting on a council

of a highly regarded national institute, I would have told

them that they were probably speaking to the wrong

person. If that same person was to then tell me that I

would be happily employed by a reputable law firm who

value their employees and their individual contributions to

the industry. I would have told them it would be somewhat

impossible to achieve at my age. But 12 months on, this is

now my reality.

When I was approached by Nick Pilavidis, AICM CEO,

to prepare an article with respect to how the Young Credit

Professional Award (YCPA) has impacted my life, it really

got me thinking about the journey which has been thus

far. So I began to think, what is it that I want to write to

inspire and encourage young credit professionals? What is

it that people want to read in order for them to envisage

themselves in my shoes in 12 months time? And then I

realised there is not actually one specific thing, as value has

ultimately been added to all aspects of my life.

In a professional capacity, I would not have thought

so early on in my career that I would be fortunate enough

to know firsthand what is takes to network with company

executives, directors, shareholders and partners of various

law and accounting firms. The YCPA has provided me with

opportunities that have put me ahead of the game, and

in an already competitive and cut throat market place, I

feel as though it has given me a significant competitive

advantage.

The AICM provides a forum for discussion, learning and

networking, which is not an opportunity that is available

to most. Without a doubt, the past 12 months has also

been a huge learning curve, but I have been fortunate to

develop and refine my skills within credit with the help of

my mentors.

There is something to be said for the comradery

amongst the AICM and its members. I have not met one

person who has not been willing to assist me in any way,

shape or form. Despite the fact that we might all be

competitors back in our offices, everybody works together

and utalise whatever resources they have at their disposal

to help one another.

It is overwhelming to meet young professionals in the

industry who have the same motivation to succeed through

hard work and determination. I am constantly establishing

positive and long lasting professional relationships with

young people affiliated with the AICM. This common

ground gives us the confidence to break away from the

norm and differentiate ourselves in areas where we excel.

Establishing myself and my career has always been

something which I have taken very seriously. I have always

tried to approach anything in life with pride, gratitude

and respect for those who have helped me along the way.

As I reflect on how the YCPA has impacted me, I now

appreciate my opportunities clearly and with perspective.

The comforting thing about all of this is that you are in

control of how far you want the YCPA to take you. There

is no pressure, expectations or burdensome requirements

which need to be satisfied once you have receive the

award. You can completely submerge yourself in the AICM

and actively participate in all the events and functions; or

you can take a more subtle approach and commit to what

your schedule permits.

The AICM in conjunction with Dun and Bradstreet

invest a substantial amount of time and resources into

the YCP program at both a national and state level. Those

behind the scenes work tirelessly to ensure young credit

professionals from around the country are identified,

recognised and adequately rewarded for their exemplary

contributions to the industry.

Now I feel it is my turn to give back and with the help

of my colleagues and the partners of BBW Lawyers that is

exactly what we intend to do. The past few months have

been extremely constructive as we have been working

to develop ideas and topics which will hopefully spur an

interest and inject new opportunities for the AICM and its

members. We anticipate that the next 12 months will bring

about innovation, positive changes and an exciting forum

for those associated with the industry.

– Balveen Saini, Solicitor, BBW Lawyers


Learning and Development

1. Online courses are convenient.

The biggest advantage of an online

course is that your classroom and

facilitator (theoretically) are available

24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Your only excuse for missing class is

not getting online. Otherwise, every-

thing is available to you. You can get

announcements, access notes, review

assignments, discuss questions, and

chat with other students and study

any time you want. Other than assess-

ment due dates, you make your own

schedule for completing the require-

ments of the course/qualification.

2. Online courses offer flexibility.

You can study any time you want. You

can study wearing anything you want.

Online courses provide you with the

flexibility to spend time with work,

family, and friends, and enjoying any

other activities you like. You still have

to complete the work but for many

people, with continually changing work

schedules or people who make fre-

quent business trips, parents with small

children, prevents them from making it

to face to face classes, this method of

course delivery can’t be beaten.

3. Online courses bring education

right to your home.

Online students often find that their

family, friends get involved in learning

about the course. In short, everyone

in the household gets involved in

learning. Having the support of your

family and friends makes you more

likely to succeed.

4. Online courses offer more

individual attention.

Because you have a direct link

to your facilitator via the AICM

Online Environment, you can get

your questions answered quickly.

Many students aren’t comfortable

asking questions in class for fear of

feeling silly. The Internet (hopefully)

eliminates that fear (as long as you

feel comfortable with the facilitator).

Many times you think of a question

after class or while you are studying.

Rather than trying to remember to

ask it or forgetting it, you can send

an e-mail to the facilitator. Your

opportunity to learn is enhanced.

5. Online courses help you meet

interesting people.

Many of us don’t really take the time

to get to know our fellow students,

especially in face to face classes. We

might be too busy or we’re just plain

shy. An online course provides an

opportunity for students to get to

know other students that work within

the Credit Industry via the forums.

6. Online courses give you

real world skills.

When you complete a AICM online

course, you will be able to include

e-mail and web browsing as technical

skills on your resume. That gives you

a definite advantage over someone

who doesn’t have these skills.

Learning how to get information

via the Internet opens up a world of

possibilities for your personal and

professional life.

7. Online courses promote

life-long learning.

Most of the time, most of what we

learn in a course is forgotten within

a week or two of the end of classes.

Having that spark of interest and

knowing how to find information

online insures that what your learning

is always available to you. If you

become interested in a certain topic,

perhaps because of something you

see, read or hear about or perhaps

because one of your children or

friends has a question, you can

get online and look it up. You will

have developed the skills to find

information, digest it, synthesize it and

formulate an answer to any question

that comes your way.

Benefits of Online Learning


Learning and Development

8. Online courses have

financial benefits.

Although you may think that

purchasing a computer and paying

for Internet access is pretty expensive,

consider what it would cost you in train

fares and parking if you were driving to

face to face classes. Consider the costs

of missing work to make classes or not

being eligible for a promotion because

you can’t attend classes to advance

your educational level. These are very

tangible benefits of having access to

education at home.

9. Online courses teach you

to be self-disciplined.

Perhaps the greatest myth in relation

to online courses is procrastination.

Most of us, facilitators included,

put off the things we need to do

until the very last moment. When it

comes to education, the last moment

is the worst possible moment to

learn. Sometimes that lesson is

learned the hard way in the form

of poor performance on an exam

or assignment. But ultimately, you

succeed because you realise the

importance of doing things on time

or even ahead of time. That self-

realisation propels your success in

an online course. No one is there

looking over your shoulder to tell

you to go online and study. No one

is there to make you ask questions

or post responses to Trainer Marked

Activities. The motivation to study in

an online course comes from you. It’s

something we call student-centered

or active learning. The online student

takes responsibility for their course

of studies and matures into an

individual for whom learning and

accomplishment are highly valued. In

short, your success depends on you!

Online Course Information:For further information on the

AICM Online suite of courses, go to

www.aicm.com.au and then click on

the A Guide to Learning at AICM.

Alternatively email [email protected].

au, or call 02-9906 4563 for further

information.

Are you time poor, and have not had a chance to conduct in-house

training with your staff on the new changes?

Do you constantly have new employees that need to be aware of their

obligations in relation to the Australian Privacy Principles?

This short cost effective course, delivered via workbook will mitigate

risk to your organisation and employees.

Business objectives: z Facilitate best practice standards to assist employees in complying

with Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) changes.

z Improve staff behavior in relation to complying with Privacy

Principles

z Reduce the incidence of breaches

z Educate employees about the importance of adhering to privacy

policies and procedures

Learning Objectives: z An introduction to the Privacy Act

z Understand the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)

z Personal information that is covered

z Understanding ‘sensitive information’

z Special obligations for sensitive information

z Requirements when dealing with information

z Considerations for collecting personal information

z Laws relating to disclosure and use of information

z Obligations when storing personal information

z The responsibility to maintain information

z Individuals’ rights regarding access and correction

On the submission and completion of the assessment for this course,

AICM will issue a Certificate of Completion.

Pricing Structure: z AICM Members Single User = $300.00

z Non – Members Single User = $350.00

Discounted pricing structures will apply for

organisations that require multiple users to

undertake this unit. Please email debby@

aicm.com.au, or call 02-9906 4563 for further

information.

Are you currently meeting your obligations

under the Australian Privacy Principles?


The selection panel reviewed all the applications

and were very impressed by the high caliber of

the applications which were from a wide range of

businesses. They all displayed how high financial and

operational achievements can be achieved through

strong and highly engaged teams. Also how fostering

positive relationships with customers and other

divisions in their companies contributes to a high

performance team.

Whilst all teams are high performance teams,

unfortunately, only 4 Finalists could be chosen. Below

is a sumary of each teams’ application and reflections

from a few team members.

Recoveries Corporation Pty Ltd

– Commonwealth Bank of Australia Team

The team has exceeded their management and clients

expectations in results and customer service. They have

received numerous compliments from their client’s

customers.

Seek Ltd

The team have reshaped their structures and

procedures to align with the new corporate strategies

which has seen them achieve great financial results and

record levels of team engagement.

“Nominating for the AICM Credit Team of the Year

provided an excellent opportunity for our credit team

to showcase their exceptional performance outside the

company and also encourages them to strive to for even

better performance in the future.”

– Andrew Sullivan, Finance Director

“Our team is really proud to have been named as

one of 4 finalists in this year’s competition. To be

acknowledged by the AICM community for our work

and commitment is extremely rewarding. Working on

our application has not only given us an opportunity to

take a look back at some of the great results we have

achieved in the last couple of years but also validate our

new goals for FY15 .”

– Mat Longin, Credit Services Team Leader

Hilti (Aust). Pty Ltd

The team at Hilti pride themselves on being able to

introduce automation initiatives while achieving great

financial results and being able to encourage team

members development and growth.

Reece Pty Ltd

The team at Reece has restructured to harness the skills

of their team members and have utilised this to create

a more dynamic team which drove results to improve

dramatically as well as customer satisfaction and

improved relationships with the branch network.

“The National Credit Team of the Year has been

a tremendous opportunity for the team to come

together, challenge themselves and talk about all

they have achieved, review how they achieved it and

then assess what they can look to achieve next. The

team has been thoroughly engaged in the process

and learnt a lot about themselves and each other.

The process has provided me with an opportunity

to see the team work under different circumstances

and pressures and provided terrific opportunities for

development”.

– Rhys Buzza, Manager Customer Accounts

Myself and the Team have absolutely loved taking part

in the Credit team of the Year; it has been a fantastic

opportunity for our team to showcase and promote

our team on all its achievements. It’s a been a great

exercise for our team to get together and really reflect

on everything we do and the impact the credit team

has made on the success of the Business.

– Rikki-lee Ellis, team member & 2014 YCPA finalist

Credit Team of the Year


2014 National Credit Team of the Year

Applications for the 2014 Credit Team of the Year supported by Veda closed on 31 August 2014, we received 8 fantastic applications and I congratulate all the applicants undertaking the application process.






Interview with 2013 Credit Team

of the Year

The 2013 Credit Team of the

Year was PFD Food Services Pty

Ltd. I recently spoke to Pam and

Sandra from the Team about their

experience.

Pam Barton, Group Account

Services Manager, was thrilled

that her teams efforts enabled

them to be announced as the

2013 Credit Team of the Year

with the main highlights being

the endorsement and recognition

provided by their CEO as part

of the application process and

the recognition from the broader

company after returning home

from the National Conference with

the trophy.

Like most Credit Managers Pam

is very proud of the achievements

of her team. This award allowed the

broader company to recognise this

as well as providing some external

recognition.

Pam puts their success down to

encouraging a culture of involvement

and co-operation as well as focusing

on achieving great results. The team

now feels an even tighter bond

as a result of the whole process

which will be needed as they face

the coming challenges of a new

collections system and striving for

continuous improvement.

The prizes as part of the award

have enabled additional team

members to attend the 2014

conference, network nights and

training that otherwise would not

have been possible.

Sandra Izzard, Collections Team

Leader Southern Division, was also

thrilled to be part of the Credit Team

of the Year. Sandra quickly changed

her opinion of the award from

another task on a growing to do list

to a very rewarding team building

opportunity. This was before even

being announced as a finalist.

Sandra reflected on how the

process has brought the team

closer together and left them with

a remarkable sense of achievement

and sense of pride. Sandra attributes

the team’s attitude and drive to

achieve a common goal as the key

part of why they are number one.

Sandra strongly encourages

other teams to enter as the little

extra effort required is repaid

several times over by bringing to

light what the team does well and

helps them identify areas for further

improvement.

Personally the Credit Team

of the Year has helped Sandra to

develop her presentation skills to a

point where she will be taking part

in the teams presentation at the

National Conference. n

– Nick Pilavidis, CEO AICM

2013 Credit Team of the Year winner: PFD Foods Credit Team (L to R): Tracey Rogan, Beverley Alley, Rebecca O’Keeffe,

Greg Latham, Cindy Siesmaa, Melissa Whelan, Erin Oldfield, Renu Sharma, Margaret Borg, Beth Dahan, Andrew Hutton,

Kylie Jones, Victoria Turner, Rennie Mojic, Toula Karagiannis, Anne Pegg, Tina Riley, Denise Wilde, Sandra Izzard, Arlene

Daniels, Mary-Anne Shaw, Shirley Kogler, Jacqueline Sutton, Susann Sutton, Paul Warriner, Angela Giakoumakis, Shane Jean,

Jessica Prouse. (absent: Karen Woodrow, Varun Khanna, Pam Barton).

The PFD Collections Team Leader reflected on how the process has brought the team closer together and left them with a remarkable sense of achievement and pride.

aicm Can We Help?


Dear AICMI attend a regular credit bureau meeting where we exchange

credit information on customers who are in arrears with the

various bureau members. This information is typically the extent

of any arrears, the payment pattern of the customer, their

general trading level and the length of time they have conducted

an account. It also includes details of any recovery action.

Should I be concerned about the recent Privacy Act

amendments ie do they prohibit me from attending these

meetings and exchanging this information or may I continue?

I have heard of changes to positive reporting. If I can

continue with these meetings exactly what information can be

exchanged or what limitations are there?

By the way I operate in the building, construction and mining

industries and my customers are generally other businesses in

these industries from small sole traders to multi nationals.

– National Credit Manager Sydney MICM CCE

ResponseWe asked James Neate our Australian Vice President, our Legal

Affairs Chair and partner at respected Adelaide law firm Lynch

Meyer for his comments. He says

Bureau Meetings and Privacy

Trade bureau meetings have long been a very useful way of

learning relevant credit information, allowing industry players to

share their knowledge. Recent amendments to the Privacy Act

(the Act) mean that some formalities must be observed in the

process.

The Act regulates the management of information about

individuals, that is, natural persons. While this means that

it does not apply to companies, the legislation protects

the privacy of directors, guarantors and sole traders. If you

are dealing with sole traders or a partnership made up of

individuals, the Act will apply. When disclosing information

about an individual’s credit capacity, you need to be mindful of

some limitations and obligations.

The type of information you have described falls within the

definition of “credit eligibility information”. Credit eligibility

information includes credit information or credit provider

derived information about the individual. The bold terms have

lengthy definitions in the Act, which generally refer to identity

and credit history.

The Act contains a blanket rule that a credit provider must

not disclose credit eligibility information about an individual

(section 21G(1)). A breach of this provision carries a civil penalty

of $340,000. However, the Act also contains a list of “permitted

disclosures” about individuals between credit providers. Of

relevance to your query are the following permitted disclosures:

z The disclosure is a permitted credit provider disclosure

(pursuant to section 21J(1) of the Act) in relation to the

individual; or

z The credit provider believes on reasonable grounds that the

individual has committed a “serious credit infringement”

(defined by the Act) and discloses the information to

another credit provider that has an Australian link, or to an

enforcement body.

While the latter point is limited to the scenario where the

individual in question has a particularly poor credit history

(eg. engaged in fraud), a permitted credit provider disclosure

between credit providers may occur where:

z The disclosure is to another credit provider for a particular

purpose;

z The recipient has an Australian link; and

z The individual expressly consents to the disclosure of the

information to the recipient for that purpose.

The consent of the individual must be in writing.

So, if you are going to touch upon an individual’s credit

capacity, then the Act requires credit providers to have in place a

clearly expressed and up-to-date policy about their management

of credit information and credit eligibility information. Amongst

other things, the privacy policy must state the purposes for

which the provider discloses such information. In order to comply

with the Act, it is crucial that your privacy policy states that

you propose to disclose credit eligibility information to other

credit providers at credit bureau meetings. Further, it should be

included in the credit application that the individual provides

their consent to disclosure for this purpose.

The Act also requires that the disclosure of credit eligibility

information under section 21G must be followed by a written note

of that disclosure, eg. a note on the customer’s file. A breach of

this requirement carries a further civil penalty of $85,000.

Therefore, you can continue to attend these meetings and

disclose credit eligibility information about individuals providing

that the above criteria are met.

– James Neate, AICM - National Director, Legal Affairs

CaveatsAdministrators were appointed to a Queensland customer and

the second report to creditors recommended acceptance of

the Director’s proposal for a Deed of Company Arrangement

(DoCA) which would see funds paid to the Administrator from

future business profits from the customers’ contracting business.

The director proposed to provide a second mortgage over his

real properties to secure the contributions under the DoCA.

Prior to the appointment of administrators, we held a

personal guarantee. We were not comfortable with the terms

of the DoCA and the trade out prospects of the business. The

guarantee had been provided some time ago and did not

include a charging clause.

Prior to the second meeting of creditors, we met with the

Director and discussed the position of the company, his desire

to see us assist them trade out of their predicament and his

commitment to see we are paid in full.

AICM receives questions from Credit Managers that it puts to a panel of lawyers to answer. The brief is not only to answer the question but to look into the root cause of the problem

and contribute strategic thought.

aicm Can We Help?


I advised that we intended to vote against the DoCA as our

experience was that most of these fall over, particularly when

reliant on future revenue, we required our debt to be paid

and would not consider anything further without some form

of security. The Director offered us security over his property

and I advised that the guarantee we held did not allow the

registering of caveats. He offered to sign a new guarantee with

those provisions and did so there and then.

At the second meeting of creditors we asked the

administrators many questions concerning the likelihood of

the company meeting the substantial contributions under the

DoCA, which were to be made available for distribution to

creditors. We were far from comfortable with the answers and

as a consequence we felt we could not support the DoCA and,

noting our commitment to the director not to vote against the

DoCA, abstained from voting.

The administrators exercised their casting vote in favour

of the DoCA. Immediately following the second meeting we

lodged a caveat over the director’s property to protect our

position. This was done well before the DoCA was signed.

We are now being asked to remove the caveat on grounds

which include the caveat was lodged during the administration

period and is contrary to the terms of the DoCA.

Should we remove the caveat?

– National Credit Manager MICM CCE Sydney

AICM responseThe Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) prohibits certain conduct

by creditors while a company is in administration. The above

facts raise a number of legal questions. They are as follows.

1. Does either the lodgement of a caveat, or procuring of

the charge, amount to enforcement against a director of a

company in administration (which is precluded pursuant to

section 440J of the Act)?

2. Did the supplier act inconsistently with the terms of the

DoCA by lodging the caveat and/or procuring the charge?

3. Are there any other factors which would affect the validity of

the charge?

Section 440J of the Act

During the administration of a company a guarantee cannot be

enforced against a director under a guarantee of the company’s

liability pursuant to section 440J of the Act without permission

from the Court.

There are two relevant acts that need to be considered for

the purposes of section 440J of the Act. The first being the act

of procuring the charge, and the other being the lodgement of

the caveats.

As the charge was provided by the director voluntarily, we

consider the better view to be that the mere act of procuring

the charge does not amount to enforcement of any guarantee.

As to the lodgement of the caveats, we note as follows.

1. A caveat is a notice to the Registrar of Titles which generally

prohibits the registration of certain dealings affecting the

interest claimed by the caveator until the caveat is withdrawn.

2. There are no cases directly on the point as to whether

lodgement of a caveat amounts to enforcement of a guarantee.

In practical terms, in our opinion the better view is that

the purpose of a caveat is to preserve the supplier’s interest

pending determination of the supplier’s claim.

Did the Supplier act inconsistently with the terms

of the DoCA?

Section 444C of the Act provides that a creditor must not act

inconsistently with the terms of the DoCA after the company’s

creditors resolve in favour of the DoCA.

Relevantly, the DoCA proposal did not provide that

creditors were not entitled to lodge caveats over the director’s

properties. The act of lodgement of the caveats after the

second meeting of creditors therefore could not offend section

444C of the Act.

In this instance, as the charge was procured prior to the

resolution of creditors, section 444C of the Act does not apply.

Other Factors affecting Charge

Normally, the date of creation of the charge will determine the

priority of the charge.

In this instance, the law provides that the supplier’s charge

will have priority over the administrators’ charge because the

supplier obtained the charge and lodged its caveat prior to the

administrators obtaining a charge over the director’s property.

The court canrdetermine that the priority of security interests

be altered, particularly where the court considers that one party

has acted improperly.

The strongest argument available to the administrators

appears to be that the administrators’ security interest should

be afforded priority over the supplier because the supplier

obtained the charge in circumstances where the supplier knew,

at the time the charge was procured, that the DoCA proposal

provided for security over the same property.

In our opinion, such an argument is unlikely to succeed.

As such, the supplier’s security interest will continue to hold

higher priority.

Recommendation

Based on the limited facts available, it is our opinion that:

1. the supplier is entitled to rely on the charge; and

2. the supplier should refuse to release the caveat.

We recommend that suppliers obtain legal advice before

taking steps to enforce guarantees given by directors while the

customer is in administration.

If you wish to discuss, please contact Rhett Kipps or Karl Hill of Results Legal on 07 3234 3200.

Rhett Kipps Karl Hill


Privacy

If a supplier wishes to obtain a

copy of an individual’s credit report

from a credit reporting body (such

as VEDA, Dunn & Bradstreet or

Experian) to assess an individual’s

creditworthiness, the supplier is

legally required to join an external

dispute resolution (EDR) scheme

that is recognised by the Office

of the Australian Information

Commissioner (OAIC).

The supplier is referred to as a

‘credit provider’ under the Privacy

Act 1988, and includes a commercial

credit provider and a trade creditor

who provides credit terms of at least

seven days.

Commercial credit providers are

exempt from the EDR requirement

for 12 months, ending 12 March 2015.

Despite this temporary exemption,

the OAIC has been encouraging

all commercial credit providers to

become a member of a recognised

EDR scheme.

COSL is a recognised EDR schemeThe Credit Ombudsman Service

Limited (COSL) is recognised by

the OAIC as an EDR scheme for the

purpose of handling privacy and

credit reporting complaints under the

Privacy Act 1988.

In fact, COSL is the only recognised

EDR scheme that is accepting mem-

bership applications from commercial

credit providers and trade creditors

who are not otherwise required to

be a member of an EDR scheme.

COSL refers to these as ‘Privacy

Act participants’. Generally, these

businesses only provide credit to their

customers as an incident of its business;

credit is not their core business.

COSL’s Rules have a specific ‘carve

out’ for Privacy Act participants. This

is to ensure that they are only subject

to COSL’s jurisdiction in relation to

privacy-related complaints and not

the full scope of COSL’s jurisdiction.

A commercial credit provider

will not be treated as a Privacy Act

participant if a substantial part of its

business is the provision of credit or if

it is already required to be a member

of an EDR scheme. Such commercial

credit providers will not have the

benefit of the carve and COSL will

deal with both privacy-related and

credit-related complaints that may be

made against them.

About COSLCOSL has also been approved by the

Australian Securities and Investments

Commission (ASIC) to operate as an

EDR scheme in the financial services

industry. It has been operating

successfully since 2003.

COSL provides consumers and

small businesses with a free and

independent service for resolving

complaints against its members. COSL

is not permitted to charge consumers

a fee for hearing their complaints.

COSL is a not-for-profit public

company, funded by a combination of

membership and complaint fees levied

on its members. Membership now

exceeds 18,000 and includes credit

reporting bodies, trade creditors,

commercial credit providers, suppliers,

mortgage brokers, non-bank lenders,

financial planners, debt purchasers,

small amount lenders and others.

COSL’s processCOSL’s decision-making process is

independent of both consumers and

members. The Ombudsman and his

staff are entirely responsible for han-

dling complaints and are not permitted

to be influenced by stakeholders, such

as consumers, members, regulators or

government agencies.

Joining an EDR scheme - Privacy Act requirementObtaining in depth information about customers is crucial to quality decision making in the Credit process. The new EDR requirement of the Privacy Act means that you may not be entitled to obtain information about individuals, including Directors of companies, without being a member of an External Dispute Resolution service.

We asked Raj Venga Chief Executive Officer & Ombudsman, Credit Ombudsman Service Limited to explain this requirement and how COSL can help our members ensure they continue obtaining access to this information.

Raj Venga


Privacy

If COSL’s investigations suggest that the member has not done

anything wrong, it will not proceed to investigate the complaint.

A case manager is assigned to each

complaint as soon as it is received by

COSL. The case manager will manage

the complaint until it is closed. This

ensures that both the consumer and

the member have the benefit of a

single point of contact at all times.

Almost all complaints are resolved

by non-adjudicative means, namely

through investigation and by assisting

the parties to themselves agree on a

fair outcome.

COSL’s process is both inquisitorial

and consensus-based and focuses

on producing a mutually acceptable

outcome for the parties. Both

members and consumers are afforded

an equal opportunity to put forward

their cases. This is intended to ensure

procedural fairness and promote

effective dispute resolution.

Where the complaint cannot

be resolved by non-adjudicative

means, the Ombudsman can make

a Determination which is binding on

the member, but only if the consumer

accepts the Determination in full and

final settlement of the complaint.

The Determination will include the

Ombudsman’s reasons for making the

Determination and is published on the

COSL website (www.cosl.com.au) on a

de-identified basis.

If COSL’s investigations suggest

that the member has not done

anything wrong, it will not proceed to

investigate the complaint.

The compliance burden of

EDR membership is not onerous,

particularly if the member engages in

good faith with COSL by, for example,

being timely in its response to

requests for information. On its part,

COSL has been consistently reducing

the time it takes to resolve complaints,

mindful of the role it plays in being an

alternative to legal proceedings.

Nor is EDR membership expensive

and COSL is looking at ways in

which it can cap the cost to ensure

membership is affordable. n

For more information or to apply for membership, visit www.cosl.com.au or call 02 9273 8455.

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aicma r o u n d t h e s t a t e s


Roger Masamvu (2013 Qld YCP) with Stacey Woodward (2014 Qld YCP) and Murray Walter (D&B).

Roland Rodda receiving his 50 year certificate from President Brian Kay.

Alison Jardine of Randstad at the QLD Network Night.

queensland

President’s ReportQueensland would like to welcome Nick Pilavidis MICM CCE as

the AICM’s new Chief Executive Officer and we look forward to

working with him.

The 2014 AGM was held with almost record numbers to

see a very complete council with a breadth of youth, skill

and experience that will complement our aim of bringing the

members and sponsors good value for money.

Peter Mills was elected Qld Vice President

Greg Young remains our Qld Director

Toni Sawyer LICM CCE is assisting all councilors

Tarnya Lowe heads up membership

Lisa Clements & Julie McNamara are spearheading Events

Hannes (Media) Monaghan needs no introduction.

Roger Masamvu and Peter Ryan look after CCE and YCP

In attendance was a regular attendee and supporter

Warwick Ballantine-Jones who is the 2014 recipient of the

Marion Hintz Meritous Service Award. Warwick has filled

various council positions over the years including President

and Director. Warwick has a wisdom that few will attain, he is

approachable and he will extoll the virtues of our profession

and the AICM at every opportunity. I would like to thank

Warwick for his previous contributions and his ongoing

support. Warwick was presented his award at the 2014 Dun &

Bradstreet Queensland Young Credit Professional Dinner.

Guests at QLD Credit Network Night.

Guests at QLD Credit Network Night.

15th – 17th October

2014 AICM National ConferenceVenue: MarrioTT HoTeL – GoLD CoasT

November

2014 in Review – End of Year Celebrations

Events Calendar



Some YCP entrants: Tarryn Dunlop, Stacey Woodward, Nina Shaw, Zoey Suthers and Murray Walter – D&B.

queensland

The Australian Institute of Credit Management Queensland welcomes the following organisations as our

sponsors for 2014

The Australian Institute of Credit Management and our Sponsors benefit from a cooperative and supportive

relationship that provides high profile branding opportunities to sponsoring organisations and gives the credit industry greater recognition and the opportunity to work together to promote best practice in the credit

industry and in so doing provide professional development opportunities for credit practitioners in Australia.

YCP Entrants: Elise Halpin, Arun Vairav, Jessica Beikof,Ashley Frank and Murray Walter – D&B.

QLD past and future: Roland Rodda (50 year membership) with Stacey Woodward Qld Young Credit Professional.

Warwick Ballantine Jones receiving 2014 Marion Hintz Award for Meritous Service from President Brian Kay.

Recipients of Year Pins: Duke Myrteza, Liz Morris, Gail Lord, Warwick Ballantine Jones and Tarnya Lowe.

The Qld YCP Dinner was well patronized with close to 80

members; guests and finalists. Stacey Woodward took out

the honours for Queensland for 2014 amongst a very highly

experienced and qualified field of finalists. Stacey is a credit

officer for Boral Shared Services and a worthy candidate to

represent the sunshine state on home turf at the National

Conference in October. I look forward to meeting you then.

– Brian Kay CCE

Membership MilestonesIn this issue we celebrate the following membership milestones;

50 years – Roland Rodda, LICM, joined in 1964

30 years – Rohnda Cronan, joined in 1984

20 years – Steve Downs, joined in 1994

20 years – Duke Myrteza, joined in 1994

Congratulations to each of you.



Pascal Adolphe (D&B), Trish Cassimatis, Melissa Joiner, Grant Morris, Peter Spence (representing Anna Golubeva) & Justin Phan.

new south wales

Presidents ReportAs this is my first report to the

members, let me give you a

short introduction (on top of

the below Bio).

I have been in the Credit

/ Collections Industry for 26

years with the last 15 as a

Manager in companies such

as Custom Credit/NAB, St

George Bank, National Credit

Management, GE & for nearly

the last 4 years, GrainCorp Operations.

I love spending time with my family and friends and getting

out and playing as many sports as I can whilst I am still young.

I recently ticked off the Sydney City to Surf from my bucket list

which was something I never imagined I would ever do.

I am a passionate St George supporter, having one red eye

& one white. No matter how good or bad they are doing I will

always be cheering on the famous Red V….another bucket list

was seeing them win the 2010 Grand Final Live it was a 31 year

wait but well worth it.

Ok enough about me…..the NSW Division held our YCP Gala

dinner at Rydges Parramatta in mid July. We had a very good

crowd in attendance that witnessed Anna Golubeva beating off

a hot field to take out the NSW title. Below is a Bio of Anna &

we wish her well at the National Titles in October.

I would like to thank Tracey Sheehan for putting all the

organisation of this event together with our current National

YCP champion Balveen Saini. Also thanks must go to our

sponsors Dunn and Bradstreet and for Pascal Adolphe for

announcing the winners.

Our new NSW Director Gregg Odlum got the crowd

energised with some good debt collector stories and a nice

poem to boot. We also presented the service pins to several

long standing members

We held a couple of big events happening in September

with the relaunch of the NSW golf day at Oatlands Golf Course

on the 12 September with just on 100 players for the day as

well as dinner. We also had over 40 attend the KPMG offices for

a City Networking Night on 16 September. The topic was “Fraud

– Protecting your company” presented by Richard Rowley &

Giles Woodgate from Woodgate & Co Chartered accountants

as our speakers.

Be on the lookout for our Collection Master Class & Credit

Manager panel on the 18th November followed by our Pinnacle

awards dinner where we will be awarding the Credit Manager

of the year, Credit Supervisor of the year, Senior Credit Officer

of the year, Legal representative of the year, External Collection

House consultant of the year, Recruitment consultant of the

year & the High Five award.

I would like to pass on my thanks to all the girls at AICM

Head Office as they make our life so much easier with the

assistance they provide in everything we are trying to do for the

institute.

I Would also like to wish Terry Collins all the best in

retirement & know he will enjoy chasing that little white ball

around the greens.

A big Welcome to Nick Pilavidis as our new CEO & look

forward to working with you.

Lastly a massive thank you to my council and tireless work

they put in to making things happen for the NSW branch.

I Look forward to seeing everyone at the conference in

October.

– Colin Magee, NSW President

NSW Annual General MeetingIn August the NSW Division held it’s AGM and followed this with

the Council meeting for the election of officers for FY15.

Nick Pilavidis commenced as our new CEO on August 1 and as

such is standing down as your NSW Director.

Gregg Odlum was elected as NSW Director and this

appointment has been ratified by the Board. Gregg has been

NSW YCP Dinner guests from Coates Hire and Commercial Credit Services.



new south wales

working with Ecolab Pty Ltd for 6 years

and is currently the Financial Services

Manager co-ordinating the receivables

and payables functions. He is an avid

water skier (though currently recovering

from a knee operation) and spends most

summer weekends out on the boat.

Gregg is a CCE and a former National

Young Credit Professional of the Year

winner.In Gregg’s role as the finance director he is responsible

for reviewing financial performance and budgeting of the

institute. Gregg is able to report that the June 2014 financial

year was very positive with a close to budgeted return to

surplus thanks to the concerted efforts of the Division Councils,

Board and the National Office staff.

This financial year we are focused on achieving another

surplus to ensure we restore the financial stability required to

drive the institute forward in the coming years.

Gregg’s email address is [email protected]

Col Magee was elected as your President. Col has been

the Collections and AR Manager at GrainCorp Operations

Limited for the last 3 ½ years after previously being the NSW

Commercial Manager at National Credit Management Limited.

He is a tragic NRL Dragons fan & loves spending time with his

young family. Col also previously ran a couple of pubs in the UK

in the early 2000s for a few years.

Col’s email address is [email protected]

Arthur Tchetchenian was elected as

your Vice President. Arthur has worked in

Credit for the past 23 years and a Credit

Manager for the past 16 years.

He has worked in a number of

different industries such as the Banking

Sector, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical,

Home Entertainment and most recently

Toll Roads.

Kenneth Lawless being presented his 40 year pin by Beth Gray FICM CCE.

NSW YCP Finalist Trish Cassimatis with her colleagues from Turks Legal.

Malcolm Poslinsky being presented his 10 year pin by Beth Gray FICM CCE.

Peter Spence (Hilti (Aust.) Pty Ltd) making an acceptance speech on behalf of Anna Golubeva NSW YCP Winner.



new south wales

Arthur is a CCE and like Col a tragic St. George Dragons

supporter. He is the coach of his son’s U12 basketball team.

Arthur’s email address is [email protected]

Councillor Introduction – Patrick Coghlan,

Membership Portfolio

Patrick has been with CreditorWatch

since day 1 as one of the three

founding employees. He is

currently the Commercial Director

responsible for the sales, marketing

and overall company strategy.

He loves his sport (both watching

and participating) and recently

celebrated his 20th year as a

Sydney Swans member. His greatest sporting moment was

running with the Olympic Torch in 2000.

Introduction to NSW 2014 Young Credit Professional – Anna Golubeva

I have started in Hilti Russia in 2008 as an Assistant in Credit

& Collections department. Over these 6 years I have been

constantly developing myself that led to my promotion to Team

Leader of Credit Controllers. Apart from this role I was the main

contact point for Fleet Management (leasing) in the Finance

department.

I was always interested in international career and looked

for opportunities to gain international experience. Hilti provided

this opportunity and last year I moved to Sydney for a Credit

Controller position in Hilti Australia. It was a challenge for me

as English is my second language and I had to adapt to local

culture and changes in my life, and I was happy to accept this

opportunity. Hilti has a very strong culture and values and that

basis is the same in all Hilti Marketing Organisations around the

world therefore it was easier for me to be integrated into my

new role and company culture.

For this year in Australia I changed 3 positions in Hilti moving

from Credit Controller into Credit Administrator position being

responsible for Risk Management in Hilti and improvements of

internal processes and in July 2014 I was promoted to Credit

Manager position. I have a team of 7 and it is a diverse and

united team.

Young Credit Professional Award and recognition as a

State Finalist is one of my biggest achievements for this year

in Australia. The key factors of my success are support of

my managers and continuous training from my team over

the last year. I would also like to outline that it is not only MY

achievement, but it is a TEAM achievement: their contribution to

my development is significant and I very much appreciate it.


30 years Joe Laban, FICM CCE, joined in 1984

30 years Michael Zammit , joined in 1984

25 years Dinah Gould, joined in 1989

20 years Glenn Hellyer, joined in 1994

20 years Terry Strong, joined in 1994

20 years Suren Surendra, joined in 1994

20 years Mehmet Evin, joined in 1994


NSW YCP finalists Justin Phan, Melissa Joiner and Trish Cassimatis.

NSW YCP Dinner Guests.



new south wales

The Australian Institute of Credit Management New South Wales

welcomes the following organisations as our sponsors for 2014




Tuesday 18 November 2014

2014 Credit Symposium Part 2subject: Collections Master Class & Credit Manager PanelVenue: ryDGes HoTeL, ParraMaTTa

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Pinnacle Awards DinnerVenue: CiTy LoCaTion TBa

Events CalendarWe asked Michael Royal, a member for 20 years, for a few words on his time since joining the AICM.

I joined AICM as an active

member when based in

Sydney, serving on the

NSW Committee for a year

or so I recall.

Whilst I have retained

my membership, I have

been based in Melbourne

for the past 10 years and

have been somewhat less

active although I have

been to an event or two since I moved south.

In recent years, my roles have included turnaround

management assignments as CEO for equity providers, both

locally and overseas.

I have maintained my insolvency registration but have

successfully kept these appointments to a minimum. When I

have dug a little deeper, I find there are other solutions which

can work for all stakeholders much more effectively than

a formal appointment – unless of course there really is no

other option, which is specifically the case when legal liability

issues arise. It is fair to say that insolvency appointments are

expensive and they destroy any business value very quickly.

I am now also working on some start ups which are raising

equity funds as well as a recapitalised venture in the plumbing

supply industry – plus the odd insolvency assignment! And, I

am a regular contributor and participator to various LinkedIn

groups where I find rewarding and interesting discussions.

Pascal of Dunn and Bradstreet at NSW YCP Dinner.

Treacy Sheehan being presented her 15 year pin by Beth Gray FICM CCE.



south australia

Annual Awards NightThe Annual Awards dinner for the Young Credit Professional

of the year sponsored by Dun & Bradstreet was held on

Wednesday 20th August at the Hackney Hotel. Around

100 people attended the event which was a most enjoyable

evening, with enthusiastic networking and socialising amongst

attendees.

The guest speaker for the evening was the AICM’s new

CEO Nick Pilavidis who is looking forward to his new role and

discussed his on-going involvement with the Institute. Nick also

spoke about his previous position as National Credit Manager

at Ricoh and about his experience in entering the Young Credit

Professional Award a number of years ago and winning the

national award, and the opportunities it had opened up for him

in credit management.

State Manager- D&B, Michael Seychell introduced the

finalists for the YCP State Award; Jacqui Philips of Kemps

Group, Alice Carter of Lynch Meyer Lawyers, Rebecca

Edmiston of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Tarnya Richards

of Mercantile Collection Services/CPA. Later in the evening

Michael announced Rebecca Edmiston as the winner of the SA

YCP Award. During the evening new membership certificates

were presented to Phillip Waters, Deborah Armour, Debbie

Shoumack, Amie Tones and Racheal Knight.

A number of Year Membership pins were also presented as

follows:

z 5 years - Lyn McKell, Mike Hayes and Melanie Bird

z 10 years - Mark Pettitt, Allison Balkauskas, Debra Foster

and Noel Richardson

z 15 years - Susan Goodwin

z 20 Years - James Neate

z 30 years - Kerry Hammill and Neil Ricketts

30 Year Pin recpients Kerry Hammill and Neil Ricketts.

New Members: Amie Tones, Debbie Shoumack, Phili Waters and Racheal Knight.

Dun & Bradstreet’s Abigail Wright and Michael Seychell with YCP State Winner Rebecca Edmiston.

YCP Finalists: Alice Carter, Rebecca Edmiston, Tarnya Richards and Jacqui Phillips.



south australia

To cap off a busy and entertaining night CCE Recertification

certificates were presented to Anne Wilkins and John

Antoniadis.

To conclude the evening State President Gail Crowder

thanked everyone for attending and D&B for their sponsorship

of the YCP Award.

– Trevor Goodwin, Functions Portfolio

SA Young Credit Professional AwardThe Young Credit Professional Award, kindly sponsored by

Dun & Bradstreet, show-cased four talented professional

finalists making it a difficult selection for the judges, Michael

Seychell of Dun & Bradstreet and AICM Councillors, Trevor

Goodwin and Lyn Mckell.

Anne & Gary Wilkins celebrate 10th Wedding Anniversary.

Adrian Stewart, Nick Pilavidis and Neil Ricketts.

Kevin Hollister and Deb Foster.

Alice Carter, Rebecca Edmiston, Michael Seychell, Tarnya Richards and Jacqui Phillips.

Thursday 13 November 2014

Credit FocusVenue: eDuCaTion DeVeLoPMenT CenTre – HinDMarsH


Christmas FunctionVenue: TBa

Events Calendar



James Neate acknowledges YCP Sponsor, Dun & Bradstreet.

The finalists were Alice Carter of Lynch Meyer Lawyers,

Jacqui Philips of Kemps Group, Rebecca Edmiston of

Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Tarnya Richards of Mercantile

Collection Services/CPA. Judges were impressed by the

knowledge, attributes and confidence of the applicants and

their professional performance in the interviews.

Unfortunately there can only be one winner and in a tight

contest Rebecca Edmiston was chosen as the successful

candidate to represent South Australia at the National

Award on the Gold Coast in October. The State YCP

Award was announced and presented to Rebecca at the

Annual Awards night held at the Hackney Hotel by Michael

Seychell. Rebecca’s acceptance speech was of high quality

and delivered with confidence and showed what a strong

candidate Rebecca will be at the National YCP.

– Trevor Goodwin, YCP Portfolio

Introduction to SA Division Vice President

James Devonish MICM CCE

James Devonish is a Senior Associate

at Lynch Meyer Lawyers and has

had the responsibility for numerous

complex commercial litigation

matters, acting for and against a

number of publicly listed companies

in South Australia and interstate.

James has used his extensive

industry experience to consistently

achieve exceptional results for his

clients. James regularly acts for and

advises both Insolvency Practitioners and Creditors on various

insolvency, preference payment and PPS issues.

James is the current Vice-President of the South Australian

Division of the Australian Institute of Credit Management

(AICM). He regularly presents seminars for the AICM on various

credit management and insolvency topics. James was also the

2013 National Dux for the AICM CCE exam.

south australia


30 years Nigel Hillier, FICM CCE, joined in 1984

25 years Suzi Occonor, joined in 1989

25 years Michael Popowicz, joined in 1989


We asked Suzi O’Connor, a member for 25 years, for a few

words on her time since joining the AICM.

Suzi O’Connor – My Career in Credit

After failing to see a steady income,

I gave up on a fine arts degree and

started my working life in Sydney

in various clerical roles. Before

long I secured a position as credit

manager for Prime Computers in the

late 1980’s. Being a good collector

of overdue debt seemed to be the

only pre requisite in those days for

promotion to credit manager so here

I was in my mid-twenties, managing

a reasonably large debtor portfolio and one staff member.

Needless to say I was a little out of my depth. However being

eager and ambitious I learnt very quickly on the job and never

looked back.

In early 1989 my husband and I relocated to Melbourne for

what was meant to be a year but resulted in a 19 year love affair

with the town. I applied for a credit manager’s position with

Imagineering, a software house owned and managed by the

infamous Jodi Rich (of OneTel fame). At that time a requirement

for the position was active membership of the AICM. I didn’t

have a clue what that meant but soon discovered its meaning

and I’ve been a member ever since. My knowledge continued

to expand and I learnt that credit risk assessments and the

utilisation of tools and reports provided by credit reporting

agencies together with prudent collection activities and

customer stratification were key elements to strong cash flow

outcomes for the business.

SA Division President Gail Crowder.



south australia

The Australian Institute of Credit Management South Australia welcomes

the following organisations as our sponsors for 2014




During the early ‘90’s as a result of the “recession we

had to have”, I was retrenched three times in four years and

a Christmas card I received from one friend stated: “I hope

you have a retrenchment free, ‘93.” In fact I did and that year

marked the start of a 15 year career as Southern Region Credit

Manager within the steel industry, firstly with Smorgon Steel

and then later with OneSteel. It was a tough industry with a

high risk debtor portfolio into the millions of dollars and some

colourful, underworld customers. A career highlight was

winning an $800k court case against a director who claimed

to have rescinded his personal guarantee. Importantly, for

both professional and personal development I was supported

through that time by great friendships and network amongst

industry colleagues (you know who you are).

I also spent 12 months on the AICM Melbourne council,

responsible for the education portfolio. I soon realised during

that time that further education was necessary for career

progression and respect amongst peers; hence I attained

an Associate Diploma in Business –Credit Management in

1999 and a Master’s degree in Marketing in 2007 both from

Swinburne University.

Having had fabulous support over the years from my

husband Allan, it was my turn to support him in his career

ambitions. Consequently Allan accepted a position with the

University of Adelaide and we relocated to South Australia

six years ago. Having been a lady of leisure for the first three

months of Adelaide life (which I could get accustomed to) my

husband reminded me that we were an equal opportunity

household so back to work I went. I was very fortunate to

quickly secure a position with Pernod Ricard, the second

largest global liquor distributor, firstly as Domestic Credit

Manager and then with John Sigal’s retirement a couple of

years ago, promoted to National Credit Manager. I joked with

my ex steel colleagues that my new liquor allowance was better

than a few steel offcuts.

The ride has been difficult at times but I always managed to

pull through and meet challenges head on. Within the various

industries I have worked and through the AICM, the help

SA Director James Neate, YCP State Winner Rebecca Edmiston and CEO Nick Pilavidis.

and support of the wonderful friends and mentors that I have

been privileged to meet has been invaluable for learning and

growing in the credit industry.

We asked Nigel Hillier, a member for 30 years, for a few

words on his time since joining the AICM.

Nigel Hillier

Credit and Administration Manager, Coopers Brewery Ltd

I kicked off my career in credit as an accounts receivable officer

working for The South Australian Brewing Company in Adelaide

when after a couple of years in the role, the then Credit

Manager retired and I put my hand up for the job, which was

mine if I continued to manage the AR function and undertook

to complete the AICM 20 week advanced credit course (one

session of two hours per week) and, that I joined the AICM, so

back then, this company as an employer, was supporting the

institute.

I enjoyed the credit disciplines immensely and this

encouraged me to take a more active role for the Institute and

became a trainer, lecturing to many students over many years,

a task that gave me much enjoyment.

My career remained with SAB for 28 great years, I then

spent a short period at National Credit Insurance Brokers as

their Adverse Risk Manager until approached by Coopers

Brewery, I couldn’t resist getting back into the industry that I

love and have been there for the last 11years.

I often get asked when will you retire, my stock standard

answer is that why should I, I am having too much fun.



WA YCPA winner and finalists: Erin Pullen, Melissa Cooper, Tamera Russell (Winner), Shane Musarra, Mitchell McGovern, Pushkar Bendre.

western australia/nt

YCPA Dinner: Paul Eddie(D&B) with Warren Myers (judge).

Presidents ReportFor this edition of the magazine I have taken the opportunity

to recognise and thank those individuals who give up their

valuable time to participate as Councillors and Portfolio

Chairpersons on the WA Council. Their support and input is

immeasurable!

Your WA Council 2014/2015 is as follows:

z Colin Phillis: WA President, Membership portfolio co-chair

and State executive member.

z Raffaele Di Renzo: WA Vice President, Law and Regulations

portfolio chair and State executive member.

z Byron Savage: WA Treasury portfolio chair and State

executive member.

z Steve Mitchinson: Australian Director and Board member.

z Steve Thomas: Functions & Events portfolio co-chair.

z Lisa Marr: Functions and Events portfolio co-chair.

z Phil Kelly: Membership portfolio co-chair.

z Kristy Shrigley: Publications and Media portfolio chair.

z Rosanna Maugeri: Young Credit Professional (YCP)

portfolio chair.

z Tamera Russell: Current WA YCP award winner and

assistant on the YCP portfolio.

z Kevin Allen: Sponsorship portfolio chair.

z Mike Murphy: Professional Development and CCE portfolio

chair and photographer extraordinaire.

z Warren Myers: Resigning Chairperson Media and

Publications

z David Sinton: Resigning Chairperson Sponsorship

I am sure you will all have the opportunity to meet with the WA

Council members at upcoming events and we as Council look

forward to working for you over the years ahead.

– Colin Phillis MICM, President AICM WA

YCPA Night 2014Even though the event was held at the same venue as last year it

seemed very different and the room had an excellent friendly vibe

like old friends meeting and chatting at a café. Full credit must go

to Kristy Shrigley who was the Functions Chair who did a stellar

job with the organising and bringing on a gala dinner is not an

easy task but our Kristy excels under pressure – Thanks Kristy.

The night progressed from opening talk from MC Steve to

the Finalist having a chat to everyone on stage to head Judge

Warren giving a run down on how the Judging process goes

which was a first and words of course from President ( just a

word or two) Colin to the main sponsors WA State Manager

YCPA Dinner guests.25 Year Badge – Mike Murphy, Kevin Allen, Steve Thomas and presented by President Colin Phillis.



YCPA Dinner: Craig Brooks (judge) presenting Tamera Russell with Colin Phillis.


Craig Brooks who announced the winner. What a brilliant night

and a good time had by all at this year’s YCP WA Awards.

– Warren Myers MICM, Media and Publications

YCP Judges CornerThe YCP Gala Dinner turned out to be the best by far for some

time. It was a pleasure after interviewing the finalist to see them

conduct themselves professionally at the dinner with question

time in front of their peers and the credit industry at large.

But there can only be one winner (but nearly two – it was

close) and the winner we thought was worthy and confident

she would represent Perth to the best of her ability at the

National Young Credit Professional Awards. From the judges

three Natasha Ashton, Craig Brooks and Warren Myers we wish

Tamera Russell the very best and good luck for the Nationals.

– Warren Myers MICM, YCP Judge

YCP WA Winner 2014The start of the Journey… by Tamera Russell

If your under 30 and work in the credit industry, you need to

apply for this award. Just the experience of being a finalist is

invaluable! I’m sure like many of the other finalists; the hardest

part of the process was trying to be convinced to apply for the

award. Personally, I tried to come up with plenty of roadblocks,

but each one was knocked down by my manager and once

I eventually came around to the idea of applying, it was quite

simple. All that was required was a quick update of my resume,

and a letter from my employer endorsing my application. (I must

say that part was quite humbling, especially since my manager

included some fantastic comments about me in the letter). Best

thing about the application process is you’re not alone. Prior

year winners, Rosanna and Kristy were very kind to offer their

assistance to anyone who wanted to apply. After the applications

were submitted, interviews were booked with judging panel.

Luckily I’m a morning person, and landed the early morning

interview with Natasha Ashton, Craig Brooks and Warren Myers

at the Dunn and Bradstreet offices in West Perth. It was like a job

interview ( just with three people) and whole lot less daunting.

One month later was the Gala Dinner. It was a fantastic evening

at the Hotel Ibis function room organised by Kristy Shrigley. I was

lucky enough to have a great support team of my parents, and

some of my colleagues from WesTrac came along to enjoy the

evening. The finalists were introduced to the Gala, and MC Steve

Thomas had a little chat with us all. Everyone who knows me

(and came to the Gala Dinner) knows I love nothing more than to

YCPA Dinner: D&B table – Craig Brooks State Manager and D&B staff.

YCPA Dinner guests.YCPA Dinner guests.




talk so I was completely in my element… Steve took advantage

of this, and even tried to play match maker on the evening! After

desert it was announced that I was the winner. Needless to say

I was completely surprised. After a quick acceptance speech

(quick only because I hadn’t thought of preparing one) and what

felt like a million photos I was able to celebrate my award with

my colleagues and family.

Now the hard work begins, preparing for the National

Award… Not to mention the great opportunity to network with

so many amazing credit professionals. More on that next time!

– Tamera Russell, YCP WA Winner 2014

Seminars and Events Steve Thomas and Lisa Marr now head up the Functions Portfolio

for the forthcoming year and have plans for a great year of

networking enjoyment. Here is a snippet what is to come.

z 4th December South of Perth Yacht Club, Christmas

Function. A warm balmy evening right on the river with

views back towards Perth skyline, always a great event to

finish off the AICM year.

z February 2015 our traditional drinks BBQ/eats on South

Perth Foreshore.

z July 2015 YCP/Gala Dinner. An outstanding event this year

with a great crowd, good food and great venue. Always

gets bigger and better.

z Women in Credit, High Tea being developed now with

Special Invitations going out shortly. A Special Invitation

Only event for the ladies in credit. October 2014 event.

z Networking evening for all members. Format follows

‘Speed date’ followed by ‘Quick Chat’ of 2 speakers about

their industry (Insolvency/law etc.) in relation to credit

followed by open networking.

z Twilight Congress/mini conference in early 2015

commencing around 4pm and then into the evening with

speakers followed by dinner with after dinner speaker.

Following on from this year’s successful Meeting Of Creditors

(DOCA) Breakfast event we will take the company into liquidation.

With the same characters attending it will make an interesting and

informative breakfast while adding plenty of fun for all.

– Steve Thomas MICM, Events Chair


30 years Steve Mitchinson, LICM, joined in 1984

25 years Kevin Allen, joined in 1989

25 years Scott Fletcher, CCE, joined in 1989

20 years Sue Flynn, joined in 1994

20 years Ian Francis, joined in 1994


We asked Scott Fletcher, a member for 25 years, for a few


Scott Fletcher

When I first joined AICM I was 21

had been working at Bunnings for

3 years (straight from year 12) and

were studying at Perth TAFE College.

At the Time the course was called

a Diploma in Credit Management,

when I completed this in 1995 it had

gone through a few changes and in

the end it was a Diploma in Business

(Administration). My Role at Bunnings

was as a Trainee Credit Officer as

I was keen to study accountancy

at the time and the job offered me

the choice of studying the Credit

Management or the Accounting Diploma. In the end I did both.

On retirement of the Senior Credit Officer I took on the Role.

This was when Malcolm Pickles and Bob Ryder were heading

up the Credit Department.

From Bunnings I went to CSR to work with Bill Walter in

1994 after a few changes there I left for a role as the Credit

Manager at a Rural Merchandise company in 1997 called

IAMA which later merged with Wesfarmers Dalgety and

became Landmark. Due to the merger I ended up offered a

redundancy but stayed on during various restructures at the

time that as a result gave me the position there as one of Two

Network Credit Manager. A few years later more changes

made me look elsewhere as I had decided all the changes

were a little frustrating so moved on.

YCPA Dinner guests.YCPA Dinner guests.




The Australian Institute of Credit Management Western Australia/NT

welcomes the following organisations as our sponsors for 2014




I became the State Credit Manager for Tradelink in 2004

but lasted 10 months due to the structure they had made the

job extremely difficult and I decided was not for me and I was

offered a job at a recently formed company at the time called

Farmworks as the National Credit Manager. The company

was small and had that personal Element to it that made it

enjoyable. The Job was to establish the Credit Function from

scratch including Company Credit Policies and develop a

statement format to suit the Rural Business, Application forms

etc. Being a smaller company i was also involved in BAS

reports and was in charge of cashflow and was part of the

executive management team so the variety was enjoyable,

Friday Barbecues were a regular event so it was fun also

which I think is important. After 6 years and a lot of Growth and

again various changes that were happening at the time with

takeovers etc I made the decision to look elsewhere. I enjoyed

my time here.

I am now at MM Electrical as the Regional Credit Manager

based in Northbridge Regional Office and have been here 3

and a half years now. MM Electrical are a National Electrical

wholesaling Company. What attracted me to this role was

the Culture and the “Profit Share” arrangement they have

with all employees, which was not only geared to sales but

also debtors. Outstanding debtors impact profitability hence

a business unit to maximise Profits and therefore Profit share

for the employees needed to ensure Debtors were in order. I

thought that this was a great Model from a Credit Management

point of view having it hit their back pocket most businesses

are more sales orientated when it comes to rewards. The Role

is busy and Challenging particularly in these times and have

enjoyed my time here.

I have been married 17 years now and have 3 Children 16, 14

and 9 and am kept busy with their sport and also coaching my

9 year olds Basketball team. Life’s Good.

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Credit Toolbox TrainingVenue – CasM oFFiCe PerTH

Thursday 4 December 2014

XMAS Sundowner – Relax and NetworkVenue – TBa

Events Calendar

YCPA Dinner guests. YCPA Dinner guests.



Members from Probe Group support their entrants Sharni Thomas, Callum Cormack and Sara Khan.

Staff at Recoveries Corp support their entrants Amaran Navaratnam and Daniel Greenhoff.

victoria/tasmania

Election of OfficersIn July the Victoria Division held it’s AGM and followed this with

the Council meeting for the election of officers for FY15.

Jeff Hurst continues to be our Vic/Tas State director. Jeff’s

email address is [email protected]

Lou Caldararo was re-elected as your President.

Lou is has been the Vic/Tas President for the last 3 years and

has been on council for 6 years. Lou is currently employed with

PaperlinX Australia as the National Credit Manager for almost 18

years with a career spaning in credit for more than 30 years in

various industries such as Paper, Transport, Telecommunication

and Wholesale sectors. Lou follows the mighty Essendon

football club and with a strong passion for golf and fishing as

well. Lou’s email address is [email protected]

Charles Tims was re-elected as your Vice President

Charles is the Vic /Tas Vice President and Membership

Chairperson. Charles was co-opted on council in 2005 to assist

with the inaugural golf day and formally joined council 6 years

ago to take up the role of Membership. Charles is currently

employed at Tuftmaster Carpets as National Credit Manager

for 22 years and prior to that at AMP in various roles including

Debt Recovery in mortgage lending. Charles email address is

[email protected]

CGU support their entrant and winner (from left to right) Naz Redif, Cindy Ristovski, Sally Adams, Rex Cheng, Alison Said, Matthew Hunter.

Louie Tzakopoulos (Wurth), Seth Arora (D&B) and Joel Arnold (D&B).

Alison Said (AICM), Joel Arnold (D&B), Sara Khan (Probe Group), Sharni Thomas (Probe Group), Callum Cormack (Probe Group), Rex Cheng (CGU), Daniel Greenhoff (Recoveries Corp), Alana Andrews (Thorn Group), Rikki-Lee Ellis (Reece), Amaran Navaratnam (Recoveries Corp) & Louie Tzakopoulos (AICM).



victoria/tasmania

YCP Awards DinnerThe standard of participants this year was very high and we

are delighted that nine (9) Young Credit Professionals in the

VIC/TAS Division stepped up and entered in the prestigious

Young Credit Professional Awards for 2014. The entrants

were Rex Cheng of CGU Insurance, Tushar Joshi of NAB,

Rikki-Lee Ellis of Reece, Callum Cormack, Sara Khan and

Sharni Thomas of Probe Group, Amaran Navaratnam and

Daniel Greenhoff of Recoveries Corp, and Alana Andrews of

Thorn Group. Amaran Navaratnam was our Runner Up and

Rex Cheng of CGU Insurance taking out the winners prize

this year. Rex will represent VIC/TAS Division in this year’s

National YCP Award Finals, the winner being announced at

the Annual Conference on the Gold Coast in October. Our

congratulations and thanks go out to all the participants, and

a big thank you to the panel of judges. Our feature presenter

Stephen Koukoulas dispensed a lively and informative oration

on the national economy, the global financial crisis, developing

economic policy and the difficulties governments face

balancing the need for growth with inflation pressures on the

world stage. A very well attended event with approximately

eighty (80) members and guests. Our special thanks go to

Dun & Bradstreet for again sponsoring this annual event

and for arranging our feature presenter for the evening. We

Stephen Koukoulas former chief economist for the former federal government entertained members and guests at YCPA Dinnereng (CGU).

Members from Reece support their entrant Rikki-Lee Ellis.

Past and present: YCPA VIC/TAS Division 2012 winner Alison Said (CGU), 2013 winner Anthony Petraitis (Wurth) and 2014 winner Rex Cheng.

would also like to thank the members on the committee who

organized the event and the Intercontinental Hotel for their

hospitality. For any young person in credit please know that

participating in the YCP Awards is not only a great way to

actively involve yourself in your career development, but

by participating in the program you can also highlight your

attributes to your employers, peers and seniors in the industry

and contribute to showcasing your employer to the industry.

For further enquiries regarding entry to the 2015 YCP Awards

please contact YCPA committee chair Louie Tzakopoulos

[email protected].

July Network Night Dale Hannan from National Collection Services presented

to an intimate audience of members and guests on the

guidelines to finding the right collection agency for you,

and the pitfalls of not doing your due diligence and using

the wrong collection agency. Dale covered aspects of the

process like talking to your agency and finding out what

their collection process is, asking for a copy of their code

of conduct and code of ethics, establishing their license

status and even meeting them to ascertain if you find them

trustworthy and if you are comfortable referring your debt

collection work to them.

Proud Sponsors Dun & Bradstreet with winner Rex Chen.



victoria/tasmania

The Australian Institute of Credit Management Victoria/Tasmania welcomes

the following organisations as our sponsors for 2014




August Networking Night A great turn out our August Network Night, where Mark Wenn

of Mills Oakley Lawyers presented on Bad Debts and ways

to avoid them. It was great to see so many new faces at this

event. Mark discussed starting the collections process with a

well-developed credit application, and the virtues of following

up on the information supplied in the application through

your “Know your Customer” process. He said that developing

a credit policy and setting up procedures to follow is a key

element of good collection practice. It is well known in the

industry that the time you take to follow up a debt has a direct

correlation to the success you have in collecting it, so Mark

rightly advised members and their guests that whatever they

do to follow up their debtors in a timely manner. Members

and guests indicated that it was a relevant, informative and

well delivered presentation.


50 years Derek Breeze, joined in 1964

30 years Leigh Senese, joined in 1984

30 years Frank Stancati, joined in 1984

25 years Mark Hoare, joined in 1989

25 years Terrence Stoops, joined in 1989

20 years Lucy Morel, joined in 1994

20 years Michael Royal, joined in 1994

20 years Alan Cladingboel, joined in 1994


We asked Mark Hoare, a member for 25 years, for a few


Mark Hoare

My employment history commenced in 1973 with Golden

Fleece Petroleum and a junior clerk to my final position as 2IC

to the Credit Manager at the time I left.

One of the persons who was a mentor for me was Jeff Hurst,

current Director of the Institute and we are still friends to this day.

From 1981 to 1989 with Mattel Toys as Credit Controller then

in 1983 Credit Manager.

From 1989 to 1993 with Bunge Australia Pty Ltd as Credit

Controller.

From 1993 to 2003 with Bonlac Foods Ltd as initially

Collections Manager then in 1994 as National Credit Manager.

From 2003 to 2007 with Peerless Foods as National Credit/

Payables Manager.

From 2007 to 2010 doing contract holding postions as

Credit Manager for Visy Industries Pty Ltd and Kraft Foods .

From 2010 to 2012 with Goodyear Dunlop Tyes as Nation

Credit Manager.

From 2012 to Current with Silcar now Thiess Services as

Credit Manager.

There have been many changes during my time within our

profession. In 1973 majority of the processes were manual

resulting in the company turning over $350mil and have in

excess of 100 staff in the Credit Dept. alone to the 2000’s were a

business had a turnover of $1.5 bil and only required 8 staff due

to the advancements in Computer and software technologies.

In the 70’s to become a member of the institute you had to

go through a nomination process which limited the amount of

people and the diversity of knowledge that was available.

Events that were held each quarter were a dinner at the Kelvin

Club down a dark alley off Russell St. in the city. How things have

changed in my time. The biggest improvement to the Institute

has been opening membership to Accounts Receivable people

regardless of the position they hold enabling networking and

information gathering crucial to our profession.


Half Day Seminar – (12.30pm to 5.00pm)subject: Liquidation Case study


Network – What defines a good Leader?speaker: Murali neelamegam – Dynamic Wisdom (TBa)

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Social Network Night

Wednesday 3 December 2014

CCE Breakfast (7.15am – 9.00am)

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Christmas Cocktail Party

Events Calendar



new members

QUEENSLANDCaroline Block Boral Timber

Teresa Brown Southern Cross Austereo

Geraldine Brownson Ledger Guard Pty Ltd

Lisa Clement National Collection Services

Liam Crawley Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific P/L

Roger Masamvu JBS Australia Pty Ltd

Dean Phillips Crowe Horwath Australia

Emma Purcival Vinidex Pty Ltd

Colleen Quilter Iplex Pipelines Australia Pty Ltd

Nina Shand Metcash Food and Grocery

Jenny Tucker Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd

Jessica Tulloch Bradnam’s Windows and Doors Pty Ltd

Natalie Webber Hastings Deering (Aust) Ltd

NEW SOUTH WALESElizabeth Bailey Frucor Beverages Pty Ltd

John Bennett TurksLegal

Rebecca Brown Australian Receivables Limited

Peter Bunston Ricoh Australia Pty Ltd

Patrick Coghlan CreditorWatch

Sean Collum Ricoh Finance

Effie Dimos TurksLegal

Danielle Elliott-Jacks Trublu Hire Australia Pty Ltd

Sean Jones National Credit Management Limited

Alison Malek TurksLegal

Matthew McPhail Ricoh Finance

Kris Murphy Henry Schein Halas

Pieter Oomens TurksLegal

Samuel Peerce Ricoh Finance

Deborah Pemberton Sydney Night Patrol and Inquiry Pty Ltd

Justin Randall Metcash Trading Pty Ltd

Carlo Razon Coates Hire Operations Pty Ltd

Deborah Reynolds Ricoh Australia Pty Ltd

Mark Robberds National Credit Management Limited

Paul Sabapathy Metcash Trading Pty Ltd

Joseph Scarcella Ashurst Australia

Andy Scelly Environmental Resources

Management Australia Pty Ltd

Luke Thomas Coates Hire Operations Pty Ltd

Cecilia Tubungbanua Halifax Vogel Group Pty Ltd

Paul Van Campfort Electrolux Pty Ltd

Andra Wilkinson Metcash Trading Pty Ltd

Fay Woksam Coates Hire Operations Pty Ltd

Andrea Zindarsic Metcash Trading Pty Ltd

VICTORIA/TASMANIAMesut Atman Techtronic Industries Australia

Alex Brooks-Koochew Techtronic Industries Australia

Jennifer Byrne Hallmark Cards Australia Limited

Pri Caldera Elite Customer Solutions

Belinda Clark Decision Intellect Pty Ltd

Rachelle D’Andrea Techtronic Industries Australia

Christine Den Elzen Hallmark Cards Australia Limited

Kelly Fay Hallmark Cards Australia Limited

Julie Frangoulis Techtronic Industries Australia

Kim Greeves Techtronic Industries Australia

Sophie Grosdanis Techtronic Industries Australia

Laura Hodgkin Mars Petcare

Megan Kernick Reece Pty Ltd

Michal Klinkosz Australian Liquor Marketers Pty Ltd

Alan McKinlay National Credit Management Limited

Sharon Milburn Mars Australia Pty Ltd

Vanessa Morris Australian Liquor Marketers Pty Ltd

Tolga Niazi Reece Pty Ltd

Susan Nicolai Collection Management Services Pty Ltd

Sofie Panagiotidis Australian Receivables Limited

Robert Pistritto Metcash Ltd

Latoya Polwarth CGU Insurance

Larissa Priestley Australian Liquor Marketers Pty Ltd

Alison Prior Reece Pty Ltd

Amber Pritchard Wilson Security Pty Ltd

Martin Rossi Reece Pty Ltd

Stacy Sharp Rea Group

Kesh Singh Reece Pty Ltd

Janice Soo Techtronic Industries Australia

Donna Struthers Techtronic Industries Australia

Nina Taylor Techtronic Industries Australia Pty Ltd

John Tolani Techtronic Industries Australia Pty Ltd

Megan Waymouth Australian Liquor Marketers Pty Ltd

Di Williams Hallmark Cards Australia Limited

Rebecca Williamson Reece Pty Ltd

Megan Wilson Reece Pty Ltd

Belinda Worton Aggreko Generator Rentals Pty Ltd

Carol Young Mars Australia Pty Ltd

Daphne Zevgaras Reece Pty Ltd

SOUTH AUSTRALIADeb Armour Metcash Food and Grocery

David Burgess SA Water

Racheal Knight MSP Group Pty Ltd

Debbie Shoumack Metcash Food and Grocery

Amie Tones National Credit Management Ltd

Phil Waters Metcash Food and Grocery

WESTERN AUSTRALIAJulie Haigh Emeco International Pty Ltd

Michelle Hancock West Australian Newspapers Ltd

Anneli Harwood Coventry Group Ltd

Jane Howard Coventry Group Ltd

Luisa Jabonero Westrac Pty Ltd

Lisa Keen EDX (WA) Pty Ltd

Steve Liddle Westrac Pty Ltd

Rebecca Phenna Westrac Pty Ltd

William Simon Coventry Group Ltd

Sharon Thiart Westrac Pty Ltd

Karen Vogels AMCAP Distribution Centre

NEW MEMBERSThe Institute Welcomes the following credit professionals who were recently admitted to membership in June, July and August 2014

Award winning debtor management solution. Debtor IQ

The new benchmark in Australia’s credit management is the award winning Debtor IQ. This powerful online solution combines commercial intelligence from Australia’s largest credit bureau with your own and others’ accounts receivable data – giving you greater insights into your commercial credit customers.

Debtor IQ can help you:

Debtor IQ analyses the payment behaviour and credit risk of your customers, providing you with valuable insights which can help you manage your portfolio and reduce bad debt.

• Reduce bad debt across your commercial customer portfolio

• Improve cash flow and profitability by effectively managing your credit terms

• Reduce costs associated with debt recovery and collections

• Manage your credit risk and get a clearer picture of your customers

• Target customers who are spending more and paying faster

• Improve your customer data quality to help manage your customer information

To view a demonstration today, or to find out more about subscribing to Debtor IQ, call David Jovanov on (02) 9278 7847 or visit debtoriq.com.au

check our website · z rosanna maugeri (wa) the national ycpa for 2013 was announced at the aicm...

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