the publication for credit and financial professionals in … · 2016-03-14 · aicm october 2015...
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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 23, No 1 October 2015
ConferenceConference2015 National2015 National
Find out the latest on:
HumanResourcesCreditManagementTechnologyTrainingnews
2015AnnuAl
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CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
NSW Division: Young Credit Professional Award Dinner and getting to know your Councillors.
Qld Division: Brian Kay and Murray Walter accepting the Marion Hintz Meritorious Service Award 2015 from Brian Kay.
SA Division: Michael Seychell with YCP SA Winner Tate O’Connor from NCML Limited.
42
45
48
Vic/Tas Divisioin: YCPA – President Lou Caldararo with Keynote Speaker Narelle Fraser.
WA Division: YCP finalsists.
51
54EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO:The Editor, Level 1, 619 Pacific HighwaySt Leonards NSW 2065 or Email: [email protected]
DIRECTORS
Australian President – G.L. Morris MICM CCE
Australian VP, Legal Affairs – J.A. Neate MICM
Professional Development – S.D. Mitchinson LICM
YCPA & CCE – G.C. Young MICM CCE
Member Services – J.G. Hurst FICM CCE
Finance – G. Odlum MICM CCE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
N. Pilavidis MICM CCE
Level 1, 619 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065
Tel: (02) 9906 4563, Fax: (02) 9906 5686
Email: [email protected]
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Nick Pilavidis | Email: [email protected]
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Colin Magee NSW
Stacey Woodward Qld
Gail Crowder SA
Warren Meyers WA
Donna 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
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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, 2015.
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Message From the President 2
CEO Report – Year in Review and Year Ahead 4
Human Resources?Peak Performance 6By Linda Murray
How to get the most out of networking 7By Cynthia Thomas
Credit ManagementMarked improvement in the way Australian 8 companies are managing credit and payment termsBy Chris Little
Veda National Credit Managers’ Survey 2015 11By Moses Samaha
Benchmarking – a critically important enabler 12 of improving performanceBy Michael Hartman
Can cash flow finance help credit managers 14 get paid on time…By Ian Smallman
Communicating the old fashioned way 16By Frank Vredenbregt
ATO toughening up 18By Adam Lysle
Don’t get burnt by the Phoenix 20By Robyn Erskine and Adrian Hunter
Economic update from Dun & Bradstreet 22By Darin Milner
LegalNo short cuts on standards of evidence 25By Wojtek Randla
Statutory Demands: Beware of grabbing the 28tiger by the tailBy Bill Andrews
ASSOCIATION MEDIA
For Advertising Opportunities
in Credit Management In Australia
CALL Tony PaulPhone:
0401 917 799
Email: [email protected]
Volume 23, Number 1 – October 2015
Bill Andrews
28Linda Murray Michael Hartman
6 12
TechnologyLeveraging the future to improve credit and 30collections – are you a leader or a laggard?By Steve Mitchinson
Digital B2B payments 34By Richard Miller
The evolution of banking in Australia 36By Amaran Navaratnam
AICM Can we Help? 38
AICM Training news 392015 and 2016 face to face training calendar
Recent graduates and testimonial
What is your learning style?
Around the States
New South Wales 42
Queensland 45
South Australia 48
Victoria/Tasmania 51
Western Australia/Northern Territory 54
New Members 57
aic
mFrom the President
2 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Welcome to our only hard copy
magazine of the year. Something
we have timed to coincide with our
National Conference in Sydney and
something we will issue each year at this time. If you
are reading this at the conference then congratulations
to you as you are part of the largest gathering of credit
professionals in Australia. If not then you are missing a
great opportunity to grow your knowledge, keep abreast
of legal changes and network with your peers. Mark your
diary now for next year’s annual conference on the Gold
Coast from 12th – 14th October 2016.
Some will see a hard copy magazine as a regressive
step but we hope many will treasure our annual bumper
print edition and make full use of the many articles and
reports it contains. It is a handy reference point for your
desk or coffee table.
Back on the technological front we held our first
webinar in September when we partnered with Dun &
Bradstreet to deliver an Economic Update. It was delivered
by Dr Stephen Koukoulas, or as he is perhaps better known
‘The Kouk’.
The Kouk covered China and US markets, expected
sales, retail sales, residential housing pricing and
approvals, wages, employment and the labour market.
Importantly he talked about credit growth, interest rates,
non performing assets, business start ups and failures,
cash flow and payment times. The latter has dropped to
it’s lowest level in more than a decade. If your collection
rates are not improving perhaps you should get yourself
along to an AICM training course, toolbox or other
function to sharpen your knowledge and keep up with
the rest of us. We had over 400 registrations for the
webinar and I am sure every single one of us were totally
enthralled by The Kouk.
We are working to bring you further webinars on a
range of Credit Management topics and hope to make
this D&B Economic Update a regular quarterly feature.
While webinars are an efficient way to access updates
and information, face to face Professional Development
sessions will remain the AICMs focus as there are a wealth
of benefits that can’t be replicated online.
In confirmation of the AICMs expertise we were
asked to be an official endorser of the 25th annual Credit
Law Conference also held in October. Peter Mills, our
Queensland President and resident sage on all things
PPSA, presented at the conference. This was a good
opportunity to spread our wings and show our support for
the advancement and improvement of credit professionals
across the country. We wish the annual Credit Law
Conferences every success and am pleased to note that
AICM members attending the conferences can save
more than $300 and obtain a 10% discount by using the
promotion code AICM10.
In an historic move, AICM has signed an agreement
with the UK’s Chartered Institute of Credit Management
(CICM) – Europe’s largest professional credit management
body – to provide its Quality Accreditation (CICMQ) to our
members.
Under the agreement, the AICM will be licenced to
use the CICM accreditation process, documentation
and intellectual property. CICMQ accreditation is formal
recognition of an organisation’s commitment to quality,
continuous improvement and best practice in all things
credit. To gain accreditation you must successfully
complete an assessment process which includes an initial
appraisal of your submitted documentation, a Discovery
Assessment and Gap Analysis report followed by the
Full Assessment and Report. Those who qualify will have
access to the same resources currently available to holders
of the UK CICM accreditation.
This agreement represents a significant addition to
the AICMs initiatives focused at improving the standard
of credit management and achieving recognition for the
role the credit function plays within businesses. We look
forward to many Australian credit operations joining
the UK companies (many of whom are FTSE top 100’s)
currently holding the accreditation and working with these
Grant Morris MICM CCE
Australian President
From the Presidentaic
m
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 3
companies and the CICM to further develop the standards
of best practice as the credit function continues to evolve.
It is pleasing to see companies entering External
Administration of all forms dropped in 2014/2015 by 9%
to be at the lowest level since the 2007/2008 financial
year. This makes 3 years in a row where the failure rate has
declined and we are now 20% below the post GFC peak.
On the personal insolvency front it was also pleasing to
see the number of Personal Insolvencies of all form fall by
4.2% to also be at the lowest level in more than 7 years.
June quarter new business start-ups were at their
highest level in many years and with falling insolvencies
this should augur well for the future.
During the year I was subpoenaed to appear as a
witness in a case where a company’s General Manager
was charged with signing false declarations supporting
payment claims to the project principle. Great to see and
we will feature more on this in the next magazine.
Our two major national Awards are running well with a
solid number of high quality candidates entering the Dun
and Bradstreet sponsored Young Credit Professional of
the Year Award and the Veda sponsored Credit Team of
the Year. Both winners will be announced at the national
conference in Sydney in October. Good luck to the finalists
who are
YCPA Division Finalists
NSW – Kimberley Hale, from Baycorp
Qld – Michael McDowell, from NCI
Vic – Patrick Barry, from Goodyear and Dunlop Tyres
SA – Tate O’Connor, from NCML
WA – David Brennan, from Kikka Capital
Credit Team of the Year Finalists
Caltex
South East Water
and congratulations to all nominees who made it a very
close contest in deed, right across the country.
Grant’s Soapbox
I haven’t broken the soapbox yet so let’s wheel it out again.
We have received a strong response to our request for
support of our proposed lobbying of the Attorney-General
and ARITA for changes to legislation and practices in
z The recovery of preferential payments and those
Liquidator recovered funds not being paid in dividends
to unsecured creditors or any class of creditor for that
matter.
z Should unsecured creditors who are genuinely at arms
length be subject to preference claims?
z The 3 year “statute of limitations” on making
preference claims is too long and should be shortened
to a year or less.
z Spurious and inflated preference claims from
Liquidators ie claiming $700K and settling for $10K.
z Fees charged by Administrators, Liquidators and
Receivers & Managers ie specifically annual increases of
5 – 10% and more.
These can never have enough support and it is not too
late to register your support by sending Nick (our CEO)
or I an email simply saying you support positive changes
in these areas. It doesn’t need to be wordy. We are happy
with a simple “good onya”. The emails/links are grant.
[email protected] and [email protected].
I hope we see you at the AICM conference in Sydney
in October and if not I hope to see you at an AICM event
soon as you support the Institute which supports you.
Grant Morris
0407 405 198
aic
mCEO Year in Review 2014/15
Credit Team of the Year – Supported by VedaIn 2015 we received applications from
companies in industries including
Utilities, Consumer Credit, Banking
and Finance, Local Government,
Insurance, Agriculture and
Manufacturing to name a few. The four
finalist teams received a $1000 team
development Grant, a new inclusion in
2015. This was used by the teams for
activities such as team bonding and
learning new skills and knowledge.
The 2014 Finalists were:
Recoveries Corporation Pty LtdReece Seek HiltiThe 2014 Credit Team of the Year was Reece!
The 2014/15 membership year has been one of great achievements for the AICM and has laid new ground to build on in 2015/16 and beyond.
Financial ResultsThrough rational control of costs and significant
effort on the part of Staff, Board Members and
Councillors the AICM achieved a very welcome better
than budget surplus. This surplus builds our net asset
position and allows for investment in a number of
projects such as the new Website that will build the
profile of Credit Management and the AICM.
Increased Partnerships In 2015 we recognised the role our sponsors and
supporters play in our Institute by recognising them
as National and Divisional Partners. Our National
Partners are Veda, Dun and Bradstreet and Austral
Mercantile. Our partners have all made significant
contributions to the AICM by providing their
expertise, connections or other assistance on top of
their financial contributions. Don’t forget to support
them at every opportunity.More information and updatesIn order to bring you more timely information
the AICM moved into the digital era bringing you
monthly newsletters and a digital magazine.
The monthly newsletter brings you timely
informative articles (such as quarterly insolvency
statistics) relevant articles and AICM related
updates. It also includes details of the upcoming
events, professional development and face to face
training sessions. The digital magazine allows for
more timely publication of information and has
allowed more articles to be included due to fewer
restrictions than print versions. The digital version
also allows for links to additional content such as
videos, websites and additional information.
National ConferenceThe 2014 National Conference, held at the Marriott
Gold Coast, was one of the largest gatherings of
Credit Professionals from around Australia for several
years. The 2015 National Conference at the Sofitel
Wentworth Sydney was, at the time of writing, well
on the road to exceed the 2014 numbers.
International AssociationsA Licencing agreement was entered
with the UK Credit Institute, Chartered
Institute of Credit Management.
This will see the AICM deliver
Quality Accreditation for Australian
operations and lift the standard of
Credit Management in Australia.
Learning Services We saw significant increases in student numbers
undertaking Certificate IV or Diploma in Credit
Management Qualifications both online and face to face.
We continued to improve the learning experience for
students in the online environment and have expanded
our face to face training sessions as a result of several
classes being fully subscribed – especially since
pricing revisions in January 2015. In-house training
was conducted at major banks and finance companies,
utilities and trade credit operations as well as in Manilla.
20% increase in Certified Credit ExecutivesThe CCE designation is
gaining some positive
momentum with a 20%
increase in members
achieving CCE status in the
2014/15 membership year.
Young Credit Professional of the Year – Supported by Dun and Bradstreet2014 saw the first ever joint winners
• Anna Golubeva – Hilti
• Rebecca Edmiston – Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
2015 saw the highest level of interest ever!
Record Member ParticipationWith new and refreshed events in every division, 2015 saw record
attendance at events across the country such as Women in Credit
Luncheon’s, Insolvency Symposiums, Trivia Nights, Pinnacle Awards,
breakfasts and dinners. Following sold out events in Sydney, the Pinnacle
Awards are being expanded from NSW to Victoria in December this
year and the Women in Credit events to Brisbane (September) and
Melbourne (November).
aic
mCEO Year Ahead 2015/16
AICM Quality Accreditation – AICMQGrowing on the strengths of our sister
institute in the UK, the Chartered Institute
of Credit Management, the AICM will
launch the AICMQ Quality Accreditation
program. The Quality Accreditation
program will be a formal quality
accreditation and help credit operations
benchmark themselves against clearly
defined best practice criteria and embark
on continuous improvement.
Membership GrowthGrowth of our membership is an important component of
lifting the profile of the Credit Profession. In 2015/16 we
are targeting membership growth. Whist this may seem
modest it should be viewed against a backdrop of many
professional bodies experiencing significant declines in
membership numbers. There are a number of activities
planned to attract Credit Professionals to the AICM
however the best initiative is our members being AICM
ambassadors and sharing their experiences with Credit
Professionals and Business Professionals.
Young Credit Professional of the Year – Supported by Dun and BradstreetThe 2015 finalists are
• NSW – Kimberley Hale, from Baycorp
• Qld – Michael McDowell, from NCI
• Vic/Tas – Patrick Barry, from Goodyear and
Dunlop Tyres
• SA – Tate O’Connor, from NCML
• WA – David Brennan, from Kikka Capital
The finalists progress to the national conference
for a further panel interview and presentation
in order to be named the 2015 Young Credit
Professional of Australia.
Credit Team of the Year – Supported by VedaThe 2015 Finalists are
Wyong CouncilSouth East WaterCaltexPeters Ice CreamFollowing the presentations and interviews
the Judging panel (after much deliberation)
selected Caltex and South East Water as the
final two. The 2015 National Credit Team of the
Year will be announced at the AICM Conference
in Sydney in October!
Brand New WebsiteThe AICM’s digital presence has undergone a gradual refresh over the last
12 months which will be finalised with a brand new website due for delivery
in October/November 2015. The new website will:
• Clearly communicate the value and role of the AICM,
• Be easier to use and navigate especially for online registrations and
payments,
• Provide more information, such as news and articles in an easy to access
format.
Above all the website will lift the profile of the AICM and the Credit
Profession.
Refreshed Divisional CouncilsAll divisional councils are refreshed and invigorated with
the addition of new councillors to an experienced core.
We welcome new Divisional Presidents Lisa Marr WA
and Peter Mills Qld. All of the councils will be making
further efforts to understand the pressures you face in
your roles and how the AICM can help.
National ConferenceThe 2015 National Conference at
the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney was,
at the time of writing, well on the
road to being the biggest and best
gathering of Credit Professionals for
many years. In 2016 the conference
will head back to the Gold Coast but
at a new venue to us and a brand
new conference centre at Seaworld
Hotel and Resort.
Looking forward the 2015/16 membership year is already shaping up to be one of further advancements.
Developing Credit Professionals at all levels
Credit ToolboxA newly designed series of ½ day toolbox sessions will be
delivered throughout 2015/16. These are designed as either
a refresher or introduction to the fundamentals of Credit
Management.
National QualificationsThe AICM remains the best place to obtain qualifications
in Credit Management. Students at all levels can work
toward completing the Certificate IV or Diploma in Credit
Management qualifications or select units that meet a
specific need.
Professional Development – now including webinarsThe regular divisional events will be supplemented by
regular webinars to increase the access to updates and
information on current topics affecting credit management.
Human Resources
6 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Stop focusing on the negativeWhen you’re pushing yourself
to greatness, one small negative
consumes your focus, like a pimple on
your first date. It is so easy to think
that this one bad event will create a
chain reaction, however that kind of
thinking can ruin all of the hard work
that got you this far in the first place.
Great leaders have taught themselves
to look at the circumstances behind
the negative event, and take lessons
from them. This simple shift of
focus changes their reactions from
panic and self-blame, to one which
is more positive and helps move
them forward. So, make a mistake,
forgive yourself and call it a learning
experience.
Visualise successRehearse key skills, practice responses
to changing circumstances, and
achieve emotional readiness. Think of
potential obstacles, and visualise how
you will overcome them. It’s the same
process the athletes use to prepare
for their events. You practice over
and over, building action pathways
in your brain, until you can perform
without thinking. So rehearse, and
picture success. See it, hear it, feel it.
Imagine yourself giving an inspiring
presentation, solving a problem,
negotiating a difficult agreement,
gaining recognition, or accomplishing
your goal. Make mental rehearsal a
daily habit.
Look after your mind – sleepJust as athletes care for their bodies,
you need to care for your mind,
and in this case, it’s sleep which
has the huge impact. Lack of sleep
affects your ability to think clearly,
slows your responses and your
thought processes, and elevates your
stress levels. In a quickly changing
environment, where your team looks
to you for leadership, you need to be
able to think on your feet and choose
the best game plan. If you’re sleep
deprived, you’ll be short on patience
and concentration, which is not a
good mix. Start building good sleep
habits and routines and you’ll notice
the difference immediately.
Just believe in yourselfMichael Jordan said “You have to
expect things of yourself before
you can do them.” Sometimes you
just have to stop analysing and start
doing. Expect high performance.
Expect success. Trust your instinct
because it works harder than you do
to keep you on the right track. You
know what to do; allow yourself to do
it. Believe in yourself enough to make
it happen.
If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits.
– Don WarD You are the one who defines your
limits as well as your goals. Don’t
doubt that you can be an exceptional
leader. Yes, it will take some work to
keep your mind in the right space
to achieve peak performance, but
a trained mind is a powerful thing.
Not only will it help you become a
peak performer, it will make it easier
to sustain your performance at that
level. u
*Linda Murray is Business Coach, Executive Coach & Mentor for high performing professional women.M: 0405 322 005 www.athenacoaching.com.au
Peak performance – is your head in the game?By Linda Murray*
Linda Murray
How often have you stood and
admired the performance of our
elite athletes, and thought about the
discipline and concentration it must
take to reach that level of success?
Now let me ask you this. How often
have you admired the performance of
our top leaders and considered what
it took to get there?
In most cases, it’s the athletes
who dominated our thoughts, yet
sustained peak performance doesn’t
happen by accident in any industry.
To be capable of peak
performance as a leader, you’ve really
got to get your head in the game
because it can be either your greatest
ally or your worst enemy. Your mind is
powerful – probably far more powerful
than you realise. The more you
practice and exercise your mind, the
more capable you are of sustaining
your peak performance.
Let’s get your mind warmed up.
Human Resources
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 7
As credit managers, sales and
networking aren’t always necessarily
front of mind and representing
yourself and your organisation at
an event can often seem daunting.
When you find yourself at the front
line however, the below practical
tips will help you make the most of
the opportunity and provide some
guidance to better promote yourself
and your organisation.
Be preparedThe key to successfully networking
and connecting with potential
suppliers and clients is being
prepared, professional and proactive.
Being a good networker takes
practice and can be challenging at
first, however preparation is key and
will go a long way to helping you deal
with any nerves and leave a positive
first impression.
Make sure:
z your business cards are current;
z your LinkedIn profile is up to date;
z you have a presentable image
representing your personal and
business brand; and
z you have an objective – know why
you are attending the event and
what you want to achieve by being
there.
If you have a sales role or similar,
which is all about connecting with
people, it’s also important you take
the time to understand your target
audience.
Put yourself out thereIndustry events often have a blend of
suppliers and vendors and are a great
opportunity to research the market
and its supporting services. To ensure
you make the most of these events,
try to visit as many trade booths as
possible. Suppliers are there because
they’re interested in your business
and you’ll get a first-hand feel for their
organisation.
As mentioned earlier, it helps
to know what your objectives are
before you enter a trade show, so
you can be on the front foot with
booth representatives and ensure
you’re getting the information you
need. They will want to know as
much about your business and
potential opportunities as possible
so they can best accommodate your
queries. It’s a good idea to exchange
contact information even if you don’t
currently require their services. There
could be a key piece of information
they give you, or would have access
to, that you may need later on when
you get back to the office; build your
network as much as possible with
subject matter experts.
Get your game on! The trade booths at industry events
are a hugely valuable part of the
conference experience for delegates
and exhibitors. It is not often all the
main suppliers in the industry are in
the one room so take this opportunity
to learn as much as possible about
the companies represented and their
insights into the general trends of the
industry. While you may not conduct
any business at the conference
understanding the key suppliers in
the industry will help you when and if
you do face a challenge they can help
with. u
*Cynthia Thomas is National Sales Manager for Austral Mercantile. Email: [email protected]
How to get the most out of networkingBy Cynthia Thomas*
“Being a good networker takes practice and can be challenging at first, however preparation is key and will go a long way to helping you deal with any nerves and leave a positive first impression.”
Cynthia Thomas
Credit Management
8 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
While there has been an overall
deterioration in the payment
experience of corporations in the Asia
Pacific region, Australian companies
have been adopting a more prudent
and disciplined approach in the credit
and payment terms they are offering
their customers according to the
latest Survey of Corporate Payment
Trends in Asia Pacific conducted by
Coface, one of the world’s leading
international credit insurance.
The report, which surveyed 2,695
companies in eight Asia Pacific
countries, states two years ago 92.9%
of Australian companies offered credit
terms to their customers. Interestingly,
this figure has now fallen to 81.9%.
In addition, there has been a 12.6%
drop in the number of companies
experiencing overdue payments
from their customers to 74% of those
surveyed.
Of those Australian companies
that provided credit terms to their
customers, 82.6% of them offer
average credit terms of 30 days
and 16.4% offer between 60 and 90
days. No company offered average
credit terms of 120 day and just 1.03%
offered average credit terms of more
than 120 days.
Mr Chris Little, Coface Commercial
Director in Australia, said the trend of
Australian companies taking tighter
control of their credit management
was encouraging.
“Coface’s latest research indicates
Marked improvement in the way Australian companies are managing credit and payment terms: Coface researchz Coface warns Australian companies to avoid overextending themselves
in a bid to win business in Asia z In China, companies payment experiences are deterioratingz As a result, more Chinese businesses seeking improved protection and
better risk management of customers’ non-payment of invoices – a strong signal for Australian companies wishing to export to do the same
“...latest research indicates that the number of Australian companies experiencing ultra-long overdue payments of more than 120 days that account for more than 2% of turnover ... has fallen from 23% in the previous year to 17%”
By Chris Little
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 9
Awards: YCPAPresentations
Social events
that the number of Australian
companies experiencing ultra-long
overdue payments of more than 120
days that account for more than 2%
of turnover – the point as which this
would hurt a company’s liquidity – has
fallen from 23% in the previous year to
17%,” he said.
In China things have moved in
the opposite direction. Two years
ago 86.4% of Chinese companies
offered credit to customers. This has
now risen to 89.6%. Only 30.1% of the
Chinese businesses surveyed offer
30 day average credit terms with the
majority (58.3%) offering between
60 and 90 day average credit terms.
More than 7.5% of Chinese companies
surveyed provided average credit
terms of 120 or more days.
Also, 79.8% of China-based
companies surveyed said they were
dealing with overdues compared
with 77.1% two years earlier. What’s
more, 56.4% of Chinese companies
confirmed the US dollar value
of overdues had increased. This
compares with 23.4% of Australian
companies experiencing higher US
dollar values of overdues. What is
most concerning, however, for Chinese
businesses is that 30% of those that
offer credit terms said they were
experiencing ultra-long overdue
payments of more than 120 days that
account for more than 2% of turnover,
which is unsustainable.
The main reasons cited by China-
based businesses for overdue
payments was customers’ financial
difficulties and management problems
(76.2%), and fraud or lack of morality
in customers trying to delay payments
(12.2%) as well as commercial
disputes (1.7%). In Australia, 68.5%
of respondents said overdues were
a result of customers’ financial
difficulties and management problems
while just 4.0% said overdues were
due to customer fraud or lack of
morality, however 10.3% claimed it was
due to commercial disputes.
Mr Little said, “In speaking with
Coface clients in Australia that have
traditionally focused on conducting
business just in the Australian market,
I’d say 70% of those looking to
expand into offshore exporting are
now looking to Asia. As tempting as
it may seem to pursue business in the
considerably larger Asian markets,
it’s important Australian businesses
do not relax their credit management
Credit Management
10 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
controls with extended payment
terms in an attempt to be seen as
competitive to win new orders as it
could actually weaken their business
and stunt future growth,” he said.
Coface research indicates the
payment experience in China is
getting worse, with a rising ratio of
non-performing loans, which are up
97% since 2011, and a corporate sector
overleveraged by high-cost debt. As
a result, earlier this month, Coface
issued a downgrade on China, placing
an A4 rating which deems the risk of
businesses defaulting as “acceptable”.
Other countries in the region with
similar ratings include India, Indonesia
and Thailand.
Coface’s rating for Australia is A2,
which rates the risk of businesses
defaulting as “low”. Other countries
in the region with this rating include
Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and
South Korea. Countries with A1 “very
low” risk ratings are Japan, Hong
Kong and Taiwan.
Mr Little added, “Australian
businesses wishing to expand
overseas need to do more to protect
their businesses from the non-
payment of debts. The need to take
more credit protection measures
is something Australian companies
should all take note of if they are
going to conduct or extend their
businesses in China,” he said.
The Coface survey shows 31.5%
do not use any form of credit
management tool. This is up from
23.6% from the year before. In China,
the figure for the non-use of credit
management tools is similar at just
below 30%. However, with extended
credit terms and escalating overdue
levels, the figure for the non-use of
credit management tools is down
from 36.5% the year before and 41.7%
in 2012.
From a geographic standpoint,
Australia is ideally placed to export
goods and services to its regional
neighbours. In addition, with the
lower Australian dollar, free trade
agreements signed late last year with
China, Japan and South Korea and
technological improvements made in
e-tailing, as well as the rising number
of middle class citizens in China,
these companies want to seize the
opportunity to grow.
Coface’s top 10 tips for companies
wishing to expand into China and
other Asian countries includes:
z Clearly identify the entity you
are dealing with but this can
be challenging as there is
no requirement in China for
companies to lodge their financials
with a regulatory authority
z Do not rely, as many companies
do, on three trade references
conducted over the phone or via
z Instead use a credit reference
agency to gain deeper insight on
the trade history of a potential
customer
z Take out credit risk insurance
to protect you against payment
arrears or non-payment of invoices
z As part of this, use an experienced
risk underwriter to advise on
setting of credit amounts for
customers in different countries
and stick to them
z Use an on-the-ground agent to
manage the relationship with
partners as they will have a clear
view of the local market and can
pinpoint any existing or potential
issues
z If a long-term client is suddenly
delaying payment this could
signal a cashflow problem in their
business; it’s important to be in
regular communications to ensure
payment is not further delayed
z Instil discipline with credit terms
(30 or 90 days) and the level of
credit you are prepared to offer and
do not be tempted to overtrade or
offer extended credit terms
z By having a Trade Credit Risk
insurance policy, companies can
avoid letters of credit as they
impact their cashflow
z Operate within your means.
About the surveyThe survey was conducted in 4Q2014
across eight economies – Hong Kong,
Australia, India, Japan, Thailand,
Singapore, Taiwan and China – among
2,695 companies. Around 33% of the
companies were located in China, 19%
were in Hong Kong, 11% from India and
9% from Australia. They represented
half the sample size, while Thailand,
Japan and Singapore accounted for
the remaining survey respondents.
The survey respondents
represented a wide-range of company
sizes. Among the respondents, 34%
had estimated sales revenues of lower
than €5m in 2014, while 23% expected
sales revenues to be between €5m
to €10m. 27% of companies had
revenues between €10m and €100m,
while 16% had annual revenues of over
€100m. u
Media contact: Tania MUÑIZ. Ph: (02) 8235 8615, Email: [email protected]
AboutCoface:The Coface Group, a worldwide leader in credit insurance, offers companies around the globe solutions to protect them against the risk of financial default of their clients, both on the domestic market and for export. In 2014, the Group, supported by its 4,406 staff, posted a consolidated turnover of €1.441 billion. Present directly or indirectly in 99 countries, it secures transactions of 40,000 companies in more than 200 countries. Each quarter, Coface publishes its assessments of country risk for 160 countries, based on its unique knowledge of companies’ payment behaviour and on the expertise of its 350 underwriters located close to clients and their debtors. In France, Coface manages export public guarantees on behalf of the French State.
“Australian businesses wishing to expand overseas need to do more to protect their businesses from the non-payment of debts.”
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 11
improved and sentiment regarding
future economic conditions has also
become more positive. The proportion
of respondents expecting a negative
impact from the economy in the next
6-12 months (21%) recorded a decline
for the fourth consecutive year.
However, growth in the Australian
economy has remained below trend
since the survey and uncertainties
about our main trading partner, China,
have intensified in recent times.
Despite economic conditions
being viewed as somewhat easier,
credit managers continued to adopt
stricter and tighter lending criteria.
For example, 70% of credit managers
indicated they had increased or
tightened collections activity over the
past 6 months and 59% planned to do
so in the next 6 months. However, the
trend has slowed in this respect with
credit managers intending to tighten
practices at a slower pace than they
were planning a year ago. Among
the other findings, respondents
indicated a reduction in the use of
some information types such as ASIC
information, PPSR grantor search
results and credit reports in making
credit decisions. Average payment
terms had also shortened slightly
to 29.38 days, while there was a
marginal improvement in Days Sales
Outstanding performance to 43.44 in
2015.
Credit management is a function
that has historically been situated
within the Finance department.
However, the proportion of
respondents indicating that credit
management would be situated within
the Finance department fell from
65% currently to 54% in the future. In
particular, there may be a tendency
for credit management to move out of
the finance department and operate
either as part of the management
function more generally, or as an
independently operating function.
Changing technology, particularly
digital and analytical innovations, have
influenced the credit management
process over the years. Yet, human
judgement has historically been
an important aspect of credit
management. Looking ahead,
there was a slight skew towards
partial agreement that the credit
management process would become
more automated in the future, but
many respondents held differing
opinions. It is also interesting to note
that a very large proportion (85%)
stated that offshoring of credit
management would not occur in the
future.
Only around one third (32%)
of respondents stated that they
currently give advice about which
markets to approach to sales or
management. Yet, this is expected
to change markedly in the future.
In the future, just over half (51%) of
credit managers expected to provide
this advice to sales or management.
Perhaps not surprisingly given this
changing role of credit managers,
the greatest challenge for the credit
manager of the future as nominated
by credit managers was the challenge
to position credit management as
a strategic partner. Around 45% of
respondents nominated this as the
biggest challenge, but 23% nominated
that ensuring their organisation
actually uses credit information was
the biggest challenge. u
*Moses Samaha is General Manager, Commercial & Property Solutions for Veda. www.veda.com.au
Veda National Credit Manager’s Survey 2015By Moses Samaha*
Moses Samaha
Over the last few years, Veda’s credit
risk management team has conducted
an annual survey of Australian credit
managers. These surveys have been
providing valuable insights into the
evolution of credit risk management
practices in Australia.
This year’s survey concluded in
October 2015, with a total of 240
credit managers from a variety of
firms of different size and industry
participating. In addition, this year’s
survey had a special focus on the
outlook for credit management in
the future over the period to 2020.
The results of the 2015 survey
were analysed by Deloitte Access
Economics.
The timing of the 2015 survey
coincided with a more upbeat Federal
Budget and one of the themes that
emerged was that credit managers
have also become more upbeat
about broader economic conditions.
Economic conditions are seen to have
Credit Management
12 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
and relevance of metrics, and often
accuracy.
The ideal approach to
understanding relative/competitive
performance is benchmarking –
or more specifically in this case a
continuous programme of gathering
and sharing specifically comparable
and relevant data covering the end
to end credit lifecycle (on a strictly
anonymised basis) by design.
Unlike Ad Hoc Reports or
Publically Reported Series Data,
benchmarking is interactive.…and
whilst that means it involves input on
your behalf the outputs are assured
to be comparable and much more
relevant hence far more actionable for
benefit.
AICM is looking to make such information available for AICM members offering Trade CreditAICM have teamed up with the
Benchmarking Division of RFi Group,
a global business intelligence provider
specialising in Financial Services and
are looking for expressions of interest
Benchmarking– a critically important enabler of improving performance
By Michael Hartman*
Michael Hartman
We all have competitors…and
we hear frequently: “The level
of competition seems to be
ever increasing”. And surprising
as it may seem, some of these
competitors might be doing
some things better than you are.
So how important is it then to know
how your performance stacks up
against others?
Think how many times the
questions has been asked –
“Where are we sitting?” or
“How are we tracking versus
the competition?”
In racing it is vital to know who
is in front of you, who is next
to you and who is behind you
… and what they are doing….it’s
the same in business.
Typically all that is available today to
assist in answering these questions are
ad hoc reports – which are limited in
terms of accuracy, frequency and cost,
and Publicly Reported Series Data
– which is limited in terms of range
Measurements provide context,
helping focus on what matters
….enabling us to manage better, as
we all have heard: “You manage what
you measure”.
We set targets and plan activities
– develop ‘budgets’, track actual
performance against them and re-plan
based on variances – all with the aim
of more effectively and consistently
achieving our objectives.
But is it enough to know only
how your business or department is
travelling in absolute terms?
Unless your business is one of
the extremely rare structural
monopolies – no.
Product and Process Improvement
Three Major Benefits of Benchmarking
Benefits of Benchmarking
z Benchmarking helps identify the gaps between the organisation that is undertaking the benchmarking assessment and best practice.
z Undertaking benchmarking can lead to improvements being incorporated into processes and systems delivering gains in efficiency and effectiveness.
z Benchmarking can help align improvement activity with strategic goals and objectives.
Cost Reduction
Competitive Strategy
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 13
from AICM members to pilot a trade
credit specific benchmarking program.
The RFi Group benchmarking
team have been operating a number
of Risk and Collections Managers’
Roundtables in both Australia
and New Zealand since 2002 –
benchmarking portfolio, collections
and repayment performance for loan
books across Mortgages, Credit Cards,
Personal Loans, Auto Finance, SME
and Commercial Lending. Subscribers
to their benchmarking programmes
include all major and second tier
banks, plus a number of Mutuals and
Finance Houses.
Now you can gain the same
benefits they have from this type of
activity.
What would be involved for the Trade Credit benchmarking Pilot?Firstly it’s important to stress that
participation in the Pilot comes with
no obligation to continue with the
programme should it prove to be a
success and becomes ongoing (which
history suggest will be the case).
There would be no cost for
participation in the Pilot (aside from
administrative and IT costs related to
activities described below). Assuming
the Pilot is successful the service will
be offered on an annual subscription
basis anticipated at this stage to be in
the vicinity of $3,500.
In terms of Timing:
— Kick off within the month
subject to getting sufficient
interest.
— The intention is to run the pilot
and present results back to
participants within a couple of
months with a summary of the
exercise to be presented back
to the wider membership.
Input required from Pilot
participants:
— Attendance at/on a kick off
meeting or conference call
(date tba)
— A small amount of paperwork
– a two way non-disclosure
agreement (NDA); and
— Gathering the required data,
relating to your organisation
type and your trade credit
activities and performance –
information that you are likely
to have ‘readily’ available.
What Pilot participants will receive in
return:
z Output reports – showing you
clearly where you stand relative to
the other participants…though the
other participants’ performance
will not be individually identifiable.
z A facilitated review – either face to
face as a group or via a conference
call where we’ll review what the
reports say, and discuss what they
mean.
What is envisaged if the Pilot is
successful:
z Ongoing quarterly reports –
(most likely containing monthly
data) – the same type as in the
Pilot and potentially expanded
based on what can be done with
the data that is captured.
z Facilitated reviews – either face
to face as a group or via a
conference call.
NOTE: These will be optional
and at additional cost to the
subscription.
Recommendation (Figure 1):
Having participated in a number
of benchmarking forums, I know
first-hand the value of this type
of information. In fact, each time
I have explained this to the various
executive groups and Boards that I
have reported to, they have all insisted
benchmarking be included as a
regular part of their reporting.
One fact that may help you make a
decision:
Since starting the Risk and Collections
Managers’ Roundtables back in 2002,
not a single participating organisation
has ever left …. zero attrition over 13
years!
We are looking for at least 10 to
start (and will accommodate a few
more).
6 members have already said they
wish to participate…and a number
of others seeking Executive/Board
approval to get involved.
If you are interested please contact
either Nick Pilavidis, CEO of AICM at
[email protected] or myself, Michael
Hartman at [email protected] u
*Michael Hartman is one of the Principal Consultants at Inflexion Point Consulting. Email: [email protected], www.inflexionpoint.com.au
Lower
BEST-IN-CLASS PERFORMANCE CURVE
AVERAGE PERFORMANCE CURVE
AFTER BENCHMARKING
STARTING POINT: BEFORE
BENCHMARKING
COST PER CALL
QU
AL
ITY
of
SE
RV
ICE
Higher
Higher
Figure 1: The Benefits of Benchmarking
Credit Management
14 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
As we all know, cash flow is one of
the most important features of the
health of any business, but how many
people are aware just how far the
cash flow chain stretches?
While many may see it as a two
way street between them and the
clients due to pay invoices, as credit
managers know it’s a much more
involved process. Depending on how
extensive a company’s supply chain
is, cash and invoices will flow on to
a number of businesses. If there’s a
blockage at one point and a company
is paid late, this then influences how
they pay their creditors and starts the
domino effect of non-payment up the
chain.
While the variables that determine
when an invoice will be paid are many,
there’s a solution that can benefit
most members of the supply chain –
cash flow finance. In particular, credit
managers can benefit if their slower
paying clients take up these services.
By encouraging their clients to
consider this option, they can increase
the likelihood of getting paid regularly,
as the people that owe them money
have access to finance based on their
invoices.
Are businesses getting the most out of cash flow finance?For some businesses and most credit
managers, understanding the benefits
of debtor finance will be nothing new,
but many SME’s in Australia aren’t
even aware that the product exists,
whereas in the UK it’s very much a
mainstream banking product. Put
simply, cash flow finance takes the
guess work out of getting paid, so
late-paying clients can’t disrupt your
own DSO’s.
According to the Debtor
and Invoice Finance Association
(DIFA), using cash flow finance
(invoice discounting or factoring)
is a business strategy that is
maintaining its popularity with
companies throughout Australia.
The organisation released figures
revealing that there are about 4500
companies who use it around the
country.
There’s a significant amount
of turnover tied up in the invoice
factoring sector as well, with the
industry peaking notably this time
last year – food for thought heading
into this year’s silly season! DIFA
revealed that quarterly turnover for
the industry usually sat at around
the $15 billion mark, rising to well
over $17 billion for the December
quarter. This is a notable increase
on the numbers seen just five years
ago, as more businesses warm to
the benefits of invoice factoring.
Can cash flow finance help credit managers get paid on time… and why we should be raising a glass to it at the AICM National Conference?
By Ian Smallman*
Ian Smallman MICM
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 15
What do credit managers need to know about cash flow finance?To ensure their clients are aware of
this finance option, credit managers
should be aware of how invoice
discounting, or factoring, works
and how to benefit from it. In many
cases, credit managers are paid late
because their clients are chasing their
own late-paying debtors, reinforcing
the idea detailed above. Every late
invoice has a flow on effect – unless
that debtor is supported by cash flow
finance. On top of this, as we all know,
late payments can strain business
relationships.
One of the other key benefits
inherent in using a cash flow finance
solution is the time savings from
not having to chase clients. This
adds to the stress for businesses
that are trying to secure payments
from clients so they can settle their
own outstanding debts. They’re
chasing money while being chased
themselves, whereas if credit
managers can sell their clients on the
advantages of having a cash flow
finance provider, it can potentially
save both parties a lot of time and
stress.
The benefits of invoice factoring goes beyond cash flowWhile it’s great receiving the cash
owed to your business on time, the
advantages for cash flow finance
goes beyond just the money in the
bank, as cash flow finance providers
can incorporate credit insurance into
the facility. If your customers are
using cash flow finance, and debtor
insurance is built in, it protects them
against their own unexpected bad
debts.
Why raise a glass to cash flow finance at the AICM National Conference?Cash flow finance is used in a broad
range of business sectors including
labour hire, manufacturing, wholesale
trade, transport and storage,
agriculture and mining, business
services and construction. However
one industry that is benefitting from it
right now is the expanding boutique
craft beer, cider, wine & spirits
market, as Australians are looking
for more premium quality products
and producers have responded. The
extended payment terms of the highly
concentrated major liquor retailers
in Australia and the requirement for
prompt payment of excise duty leads
to considerable cash flow problems
for brewers, wine growers and liquor
importers and many of them are
turning to cash flow finance to assist
their growth.
Why does the education process need to start with credit managers?Credit managers are the most
knowledgeable people in an
organisation when it comes to
determining business risk. One of their
key jobs is to detect the likelihood of
clients paying late or defaulting and
how that could affect their company.
Because of this, they typically won’t
be aware of all options to ensure their
clients can pay their bills. In most
cases, cash flow finance will create
a more stable relationship between
them and their clients, as both parties
will have an easier time receiving the
money owed to them by debtors. u
*Ian Smallman is National Sales Manager for Earlypay. Earlypay is part of the CML Group, an ASX listed provider of payroll finance and employment services.www.earlypay.com.au
Credit Management
16 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
An article in the AICM Magazine
I read several years ago sticks in
my mind. It was a reprint of an
article by a retired British Credit
Manager. He passed a comment
“the job of a credit manager is to
remove all obstacles to payment”.
Whilst I endorse his comment, I
believe it goes further than that.
Our responsibilities include getting
payment while at the same time
maintaining good customer relations,
and maintaining the cash flow of the
business. I am not going to launch
into a treatise on credit management,
but highlight the undisputed most
valuable tool we can use to do that –
the humble telephone.
To dinosaurs like me, it is the
telephone (or phone). To others
it may be the mobile, the cell, the
i-phone, the smart phone. Call it
what you will, it can’t be beaten.
Unfortunately, the telephone
appears at times to be a dying
resource. E-mails, Facebook,
Linked-in etc are taking over. I can
recall in my earlier years working
in a bank where we had secret
code books and telex machines
for communicating with overseas
banks. Modern technologies have
definitely made life easier, but they
should not replace the basics. I have
even seen staff e-mail the person
sitting at the next desk. What?
By Frank Vredenbregt*
Frank Vredenbregt LICM CCE
Communicating – the old fashioned way
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 17
Get real! You have a mouth. Other
people have ears. Use them.
Some people say I am old
fashioned. Maybe I am, but I do keep
up with technology. I never used to
be able to figure out how to use the
video, now I can’t figure out how to
use streaming. I can use a computer,
I am competent with EXCEL and
WORD, but I would never call myself
“tech-savy”, and facebook is beyond
me. How many times do you sit in a
restaurant, and see all people at one
table engrossed in their mobiles? I can
see a use for it, but we appear to be
losing the basic art of communication
by talking.
I once had to set up a facebook
account to look at some methodology
published by a Government
Department. I now get a constant
barrage of requests from people I may
or may not know wanting to be my
‘friend’. I also get a constant stream
of requests to join linked-in and other
such forums. Sorry, no offence, but I
have trouble in my average working
day keeping up with the e-mails I
receive. Why don’t people just pick
up the phone and say “hey Frank, can
you do this for me?” or “what do you
think of this?” or just “g’day.” They
would get a quicker response, my
day would be easier, and our rapport
would build.
By talking to customers, you
can build a rapport which can even
skyrocket into genuine friendship. An
e-mail can be ignored or deleted. To
ignore a phone call is more difficult.
By building rapport with a
customer, you can get to the stage
when they will ring you if they have a
problem. It makes your job so much
easier. You can even build lasting
friendships, be they strictly business
or personal. Some are mutual, some
are one way, some you want, some
you don’t. But friendships help
build that communication ability to
soaring levels. I once made a ‘friend
for life’ (more one way than mutual)
by helping a customer manage his
cash flow and save his business.
Some years later he invited me for
a weekend with him at a brothel
his wife owned. The invitation WAS
declined, but it shows the level
of rapport that can be built by
communication.
I do not allow my staff to use
message bank. If a phone in the
department rings during office hours,
it must be answered. If the person
on whose desk the phone sits is not
there, someone else must pick it up
and deal with the immediate problem,
not just take a message. Generally,
we, as credit managers, do not ring a
customer unless there is a problem.
Conversely, a customer does not
ring us unless there is a problem. If
a customer has a problem he wants
it dealt with now, not later when you
can find the time to call him back.
This is called basic customer service.
If you are communicating with
your customers, half your battle
is won. At the start of this article I
quoted “the job of a credit manager is
to remove all obstacles to payment”.
Building on this, I say “if a customer
has not paid, why has he not paid?
What can I do so he can pay?” It
may be that cash is a bit tight and he
needs a couple of days. It is so much
easier if the customer rings you and
says “I am not in a position to pay you
this month. I need a couple of days,
but will definitely have my payment
to you by the second”. Yes, you will
have an overdue account, but you
would have had it anyway, but it is
an account you don’t have to follow
up. This scenario occurs as a result
of communication. Communication
by phone. Talking to your customers,
building rapport, not sending them an
email, or a text message when they
are overdue.
Tips when using collecting by telephone:1. Answer it when it rings.
2. Never argue with a customer.
3. A customer is always right. It is
part of the art of being a credit
manager to convince him that you
are more right than he is.
4. If a customer gets abusive to you
personally, don’t get upset. Tell
him that you will hang up if he
continues.
5. If a customer abuses your system,
put up with it. He is entitled to his
opinion. Take note and analyse
your systems.
6. Diarise arrangements and follow
up immediately if commitments
not kept.
As a footnote, I do accept that in
some consumer situations, contact
by text is needed and used, generally
used to high volume and small dollar
amounts, but I seriously doubt it is
as effective as a debtor answering a
phone call from a credit officer. u
*Frank Vredenbregt LICM (CCE), FIPA is Group Credit Manager for Automotive Holdings Group Limited.
By talking to customers, you can build a rapport which can even skyrocket into genuine friendship. An e-mail can be ignored or deleted.
Credit Management
18 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
It has been widely reported and in
the main accepted that the Australian
Taxation Office (“ATO”) aren’t
actually the best when collecting
their debts. Many talk about
‘threshholds’ and ‘agreements’ when
speaking about their interaction with
the ATO but in reality, when the ATO
forces the hand, it generally ends
up collecting 5% of the debt owed.
When the ATO is owed over $35
Billion dollars and has a net debt
growth of around 10% per annum, this
is a big issue and it won’t go away
very quietly.
The ATO has re-established
their stance of collection in the
last six months with their suite of
options including garnishee notices,
payment arrangements, director
penalty notices and winding up
applications. That said, is it really
making a difference? You see, 64% of
all insolvent debt is made up by small
business and 60% of all small business
have turnover less than $500,000
according to a report by the Inspector
General of Taxation, Mr Ali Noroozi.
One of the recommendations
put forward by Mr Noroozi was
that the ATO take security by way
of mortgages or bank guarantees
and that the internal process for
the ATO is better refined. Also, an
increased utilisation of external debt
collection agents to collect debt
owed to the ATO was a key point.
Other than these, the majority of the
recommendations were benign with
the exception of moving the debt
collection team into the compliance
section (audit) of the ATO.
What does it mean for members
of the AICM? Well there are a number
of factors I believe our membership
should take into consideration:
a) Director Guarantees;
b) Company Tax Debt; and
c) Garnishee rights.
Let’s deal with each of these quite
specifically:
Director GuaranteesThe Inspector General of Taxation
has recently reported to the
Commissioner of Taxation that the
powers that the ATO have to gain
security for debts owed to the ATO
should be more regularly utilised.
When AICM members seek Director’s
Guarantees, the question needs to
be asked about the debt owed to the
ATO and maybe even requesting a
copy of the latest running account
balance from the ATO. One naturally
assumes that a guarantee is actually
worth something but when the
ATO infiltrates the security mix and
potentially dilutes any equity that a
creditor is relying upon, a guarantee
may well not be all it seems.
Therefore, not only at the time
credit is provided but at regular
intervals, AICM members should seek
updated information from debtors
as to their financial position and
determine the dilution if any of any
equity that directors have at that time.
Perhaps reconsider terms whereby
a bi-annual review on the debtors
financial position is conducted by your
external accountant or insolvency
expert.
Company Tax DebtThe ATO is not commercial in its
collections and the principle issue
here is that the ATO is increasing its
debt by 10% on average for the last
three years; which when extrapolated
out would mean that as at 30 June
2015, the total debt owed to the ATO
ATO toughening upBy Adam Lysle*
Adam Lysle
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 19
would be in the vicinity of $40B with
almost half of this being written off by
the ATO.
So, what does this mean for
business? It means that now more
than ever, businesses need to make
sure that if they have a debt owing
to the ATO that they need to be
proactive in their approach to
managing this debt. Putting it in the
too hard basket just doesn’t work and
potentially places the businesses and
its directors at further risk.
The principal thing to remember
here is that there is clearly a desire
to effectively transfer the debt owed
to the ATO by a company and lift
the corporate veil by way of seeking
security from a company’s directors.
This will only place pressure on
debtors to extinguish claims by the
ATO in priority to other creditors or
in the alternative dilute their personal
equity position as outlined earlier.
Early advice is key.
Garnishee RightsThe ATO has been quite aggressive
with garnishee notices over the
last six months. So much so that
anecdotally we have been alerted to
the ATO seeking to garnishee debts
owed to factoring and debtor finance
entities and attempt to ‘jump ahead’
using terms like ‘statutory charge’
and other acute legal arguments.
AICM members should remember
that the ATO have a suite of
information available to them
and can intercept debts owed to
AICM members which could be
uncomfortable for cashflow and
any other collection strategies. The
important factor to take into account
here is to use the ‘be ahead of the
game rule’. Information is the key
and knowing what is going on in the
debtors business should provide the
most comfort.
SummaryWhat AICM members should do is
seek good sound advice from their
lawyer or external accountant at
the very least. This advice should
be sought long before the situation
gets out of hand. Whilst the ATO
are getting their shop in order, the
warning should now be heeded that
the ATO is in the gym muscling up
for their next phase of collection
strategies. The risk for AICM members
is that the ATO has a wealth of
resources to muscle up and have
many statutes on their side. The
reward for AICM members that
choose to stay ahead of the game is
to minimise any exposures that could
come about because of an aggressive
collection process instituted by a
goliath organisation that really should
have dealt with the debt owed to it
long before now. u
*Adam Lysle is Senior Manager at Veritas Advisory.www.veritasadvisory.com.au
The ATO has re-established their stance of collection in the last six months with their suite of options including garnishee notices, payment arrangements, director penalty notices and winding up applications.
Connect with the right people for trade credit solutions.
• 30 years experience • National coverage • Innovative solutions
• Superior service • Long-term partnerships• NCINet online access
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 all this can benefit you and your clients, visit www.nci.com.au, email [email protected] or telephone 1300 654 500 (Aust) and 0800 442 556 (NZ).
National Credit Insurance (Brokers) Pty LtdABN 68 008 090 702 AFS Licence No 233817 Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Perth Auckland | Wellington | Singapore
Credit Management
20 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Many creditors are often left
frustrated by what seems at
times a lack of prosecution of the
perpetrators of Phoenix activity, but
is that about to change?
Raids undertakenIn June of this year more than 100
ATO Officers as part of a joint ATO,
Federal and State police operation
into fraudulent phoenix activity
took part in unannounced raids into
more than a dozen Sydney law firms,
accounting practices and liquidators
offices.
It is alleged the network of Sydney
professionals may be helping to set up
phoenix businesses where tax revenue
of more than $40m was at risk.
The ATO is particularly concerned
where third parties (e.g. Registered
Liquidators) that are meant to be
independent and transparent may be
assisting directors in this process.
It is estimated phoenix activity
costs the Australian economy up
to $3.2 billion each year. Creditors
caught out by directors engaging
in illegal phoenix activity suffer the
most, losing almost $2 billion in
unpaid debts and the non-supply of
purchased goods and services so
increased attention on exposing illegal
phoenix activity is long overdue.
Inter-Agency Phoenix Forum & Phoenix TaskforceThe increased attention is not just the
focus of the ATO. A number of federal
agencies are paying more than just
‘lip-service’ to this troublesome area
and are joining together in a whole
of government approach to curtail
phoenix behaviour.
Recently we have seen the
creation of the Inter-Agency
Phoenix Forum which is made up of
representatives from:
z Australian Crime Commission
z Australian Federal Police
z ASIC
z Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace
Relations
z Fair Work Building & Construction
z Fair Work Ombudsman
z State Revenue Office
z ATO
z Australian Business Register
The members of the forum are
looking to work cohesively and
share data between departments to
enable resources to be focused on
those engaged in phoenix activity.
Previously the ability to share
information across government
agencies was limited and in some
cases not legally possible.
In addition, earlier this year the
ATO established its Phoenix Taskforce.
The Taskforce is teaming with the new
Serious Financial Crime Taskforce to
share intelligence and information
between partner agencies to facilitate
the identification, management and
monitoring of suspected criminal
behaviour.
But when is a Phoenix not a Phoenix?Illegal phoenix activity involves a
transfer of assets from an indebted
company to a new company for no or
inadequate consideration. Often the
new company will have essentially
the same directors and be involved
in similar activities. By doing this the
parties set out to deliberately avoid
paying creditors, tax obligations or
employee entitlements.
Don’t get burnt by the PhoenixBy Robyn Erskine and Adrian Hunter*
Adrian Hunter
Robyn Erskine
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 21
Unfortunately the term phoenix
is a term that has many definitions
including legal phoenix, illegal phoenix
and fraudulent phoenix.
A legal phoenix occurs where
the assets of a company are sold for
fair value to another company prior
to the appointment of a Liquidator.
Providing fair value has been paid
there is little that a Liquidator can do
to overturn the sale. Understandably
even in these situations creditors and
at times the Liquidators appointed
are unhappy about this outcome. You
will note the information now on the
ASIC website tries to focus creditors
away from the more general term of
phoenix and focuses more on illegal
phoenix activity.
Fraudulent ‘phoenix’ activity is a
term that is preferred by the ATO and
in their view occurs where a company
deliberately liquidates to avoid paying
in the main taxes and employee
entitlements.
Businesses reborn through the
phoenix process often exhibit a
number of similar traits. Typically
these are:
z The directors of the new entity are
family members of the director of
the former company or are close
associates, such as managers, of
the former business.
z A similar or identical trading name
is used by the new entity which
often has a company name similar
to that which it replaced (e.g.
NewCo (Aust) Pty Ltd).
z The same business premises and
telephone number (particularly
mobile number) are used by the
new entity.
z A number of employees of the
former business are likely to have
been transferred over to the new
entity.
None of the above however
automatically mean that illegal or
fraudulent behaviour has occurred.
Often the only party that is prepared
to buy the assets of the distressed
business is the director. Likewise
often the only way the director knows
how to earn a living is by continuing
to work in the same industry doing
the same work as the company in
liquidation did previously.
However where physical assets or
intangible assets such as intellectual
property or goodwill have been
transferred to a new company for
inadequate consideration or there
is a history of systematic rolling of
companies into liquidation that is
great cause for concern and definitely
an indication of illegal phoenix
activity.
What damage does Illegal Phoenix activity do?Whilst the ATO is sometimes the only
creditor “left behind” in the old entity
once the phoenix commences, there
are other hidden costs that are not
easily recognisable. These can include:
z by not paying their fair share of tax
the company is able to seriously
(and unfairly) undercut it’s
competition which in turns causes
viable companies to fail;
z workers are pressured to take
leave whilst the business is
transferred from the old entity to
the new;
z workers can have their
employment status changed from
permanent to casual;
z workers are underpaid or paid
irregularly;
z superannuation payments are not
made;
z warranties or guarantees provided
for workmanship by the old entity
become unenforceable/worthless;
z company owners or directors
enjoy an extravagant lifestyle at
the cost of creditors who don’t get
paid.
How can it affect me?The ATO doesn’t stand alone in
the queue of unpaid entities. Trade
creditors too, are often victims
of illegal phoenix activity as they
can often be viewed as part of the
baggage to be left behind as the
director aligns the newly birthed
company with new suppliers who
are unware of the company’s trading
history.
What can I do?Be vigilant. Sometimes creditors or
suppliers to the business are unaware
of the change from the original
company to a new company but
may receive an apparent innocuous
request to change the invoicing entity
from the former to the new trading
entity.
By working as a united community,
credit professionals can help to
impede the spread of illegal phoenix
activity by being tough on debtors
who leave them behind or by making
it difficult for the new entity to get
supply.
z Ensure you do adequate
background checks on new credit
applications to help stop these
newly born phoenix companies
from getting supply.
z Refuse to supply companies that
are associated with directors who
have a history of multiple failures.
z Make it known to your fellow credit
professionals what you are seeing
so that they too can be proactive
in taking a stand against these
operators.
z Seek to wind-up entities that
you suspect of being illegally
phoenixed so that ASIC may take
banning action against directors
with a history of corporate failures.
If your debtors are in financial
difficulties it is important they seek
specialist insolvency advice from
someone you know and trust.
Through a structured workout or
a bone-fide insolvency appointment,
solutions can be found that will enable
you to ideally collect on your debt or
help to halt illegal phoenix activity. u
*Both Robyn Erskine and Adrian Hunter present regularly to discussion groups on this topic and are Official Liquidators within the practice of Brooke Bird – Restructuring, Turnaround and Insolvency Specialists. Ph: (03) 9882 6666 E: [email protected]
Credit Management
22 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Bradstreet Quarterly Economic
Update with Stephen Koukoulas.
We were proud to host this event
in conjunction with the AICM’s
Nick Pilavidis as part of their
National Partners Webinar Series.
This first event was incredibly
timely given it was delivered two
days after the monthly RBA Board
meeting and interest rate decision,
and immediately following a week
of particular volatility on global
markets. Further, recently released
research by Dun & Bradstreet added
a richness to the event’s content
and insight that was unique to credit
managers.
Stephen Koukoulas, Economic
Advisor to Dun & Bradstreet,
discussed a broad range of research
and economic indicators affecting
Australian businesses. On a global
level, he canvassed the slowing
Chinese growth and production
Economic update from Dun & BradstreetBy Darin Milner*
Darin Milner
First, a potential Grexit avoided. Next,
a Chinese stock market crash with a
Chinese government that intervenes
one minute and withdraws the next.
Now, persistent volatility on global
equity and commodity markets, mass
migration into Europe, and subdued
growth in all advanced global
economies.
And another day, another new
Prime Minister for Australia!
We are indeed in unprecedented
and inherently uncertain times.
But what does this mean for credit
managers, Australian businesses and
the credit industry?
Together with the AICM, Dun &
Bradstreet identified an opportunity
to host a unique event to update
and educate AICM members and
our customers on specifically this
question.
On Thursday September 3rd,
we delivered the inaugural Dun &
Credit Management
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 23
indicators that are so critical
for Australian given China is our
largest trading partner. While
China is undoubtedly slowing
– the elephant in the room
remains exactly how far it will
slow.
Over in the United States,
the picture is brighter with
their economic recovery clearly
gaining traction. As the world’s
incumbent economic powerhouse,
the sustained GDP, consumption
and employment growth they are
experiencing will have significant
and positive repercussions for the
global economy.
Closer to home, the outlook is
one of cautious positivity. Dun &
Bradstreet’s Business Expectations
Index, which has a strong track
record as an accurate leading
indicator of domestic business
Actionable insights. Now.Accurate business risk predictions. Gold standard data intelligence.
Combining our peerless data coverage and advanced business intelligence analytics,
Dun & Bradstreet offers the most accurate and predictive risk management solutions anywhere in the world.
13 23 33 portfolioinsight.dnb.com.au
Credit Management
24 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
sentiment, is tracking at historic
highs.
In similarly positive news,
business sales, profit and
employment/hiring expectations
are all strong in this historically
low interest rate and inflation
environment. For the credit industry
specifically, Stephen canvassed
further good signs with bad debt
levels and average payment times
staying remarkably low, all while we
are seeing a broad-based upturn in
credit growth.
Concerns for the domestic
economy include unemployment
edging higher, multi-speed
economies persisting across
our states (growth in NSW and
Victoria while the other states
struggle), and sluggish business
investment.
Looking ahead, Dun &
Bradstreet is predicting economic
growth to remain subdued in the
near term while picking up in 2016,
with unemployment to remain in
the 6-6.5% band. We see interest
rates on hold for the long term,
with the RBA content to sit and
wait for fresh news from the larger
global economies. Finally, we
predict the Australian Dollar to
remain under persistent pressure in
the 60-70 US cent range, but could
bounce if the domestic growth
outlook improves.
And with 2016 an election year
under a new Prime Minister seeking
to quickly make his mark, we may see
significant policy changes that could
impact the economy.
Feedback from this webinar has
been consistently excellent, such that
we are delighted to announce that
we will continue to partner with the
AICM to host this ongoing economic
webinar series on a quarterly basis
going forward.
We invite all AICM members
to join us for the next Quarterly
Economic Update webinar in early
December which will be an event
not to be missed. Look out for your
invitation email to be sent to you in
November. u
*Darin Milner is Director, Risk Management Solutions, Dun & Bradstreet Australia and New Zealand.
We are indeed in unprecedented and inherently uncertain times. But what does this mean for credit managers, Australian businesses and the credit industry?
Legal
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 25
In the recent decision of Sandra
McGuiness v ACM Group Limited
[2015] VSC 216, Riordan J of
the Supreme Court of Victoria,
ordered that the final order of
the Magistrates’ Court in matter
number D11054960 (‘Magistrates’
Court Proceedings’) made on
7 March 2014 be set aside and
the claim be dismissed1. The
Magistrates’ Court Proceedings
were brought by the respondent
against the appellant for
nonpayment of a credit card debt.
On appeal, Riordan J was required
to deal with issues relating to matters
such as:
1. whether the finding of the
appellant applying for a credit card
was open on the evidence;
2. the admissibility of secondary
evidence of the contents of a
credit card contract;
3. the adequacy of proof of
applicable terms of a credit card,
including proof of interest and
other charges; and
4. whether the Magistrate ensured
a fair trial for a self-represented
litigant.
On a broader level, the decision
can be seen as the courts reluctance
to simply accept secondary evidence,
and/or infer evidence, on one or
more aspects of a plaintiff’s claim,
particularly when the evidence is not
overly strong at first instance.
BackgroundIn November 1993, the National
Australia Bank (‘NAB’) issued a NAB
Gold Rewards Visa Card (‘Credit
Card’), account number 4557 0168
3700 5714 (‘Account’), in the name
of the appellant. The appellant used
the Credit Card from time to time
between 1993 and December 2007.
In or about late December 2007,
NAB issued a statement addressed
to the appellant for a Credit Card
for the period 24 November 2007 to
24 December 2007. The statement
identified the unpaid balance at
$28,408.25.
No short cuts on standards of evidenceSANDRA MCGUINNESS v ACM GROUP LIMITED (ACN 127 181 097) [2015] VSC 216
By Wojtek Randla*
Wojtek Randla
Snapshot
z A recent case in the Supreme Court of Victoria, on appeal from the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria,
considered the respondent’s standard of evidence in proceedings for the recovery of credit card debt.
z Riordan J set aside the judgment of the Magistrate and dismissed the respondent’s claim identifying
several weaknesses in the respondent’s evidence relating to assignment of the credit card debt, terms
and conditions of the credit card, and the application of the interest rate and penalty charges.
z In absence of the document itself, a party may produce evidence of the contents of the credit card
contract by adducing it from a witness pursuant to section 48(4) of the Evidence Act.
Legal
26 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
On or about 19 March 2008, the NAB assigned the
debt due under the Credit Card to Accounts Control
Management Services Pty Ltd, which in April 2013 then
assigned the debt to the respondent.
By a complaint filed in the Magistrates’ Court
Proceedings on 15 April 2013, the respondent claimed
from the appellant the amount of $28,408.25 plus interest
and late fees of $42,419.88, being a total of $70,828.13. On
7 March 2014 the Magistrate entered judgment in favor
of the respondent for the sum of $70,828.13 plus costs of
$12,107.00 (‘Judgment’).
Grounds for appealBy an Amended Notice of Appeal dated 15 May 2015, the
appellant sought to have the Judgment set aside and the
respondent’s claim dismissed.
In summary the appellant’s grounds for appeal were
inter alia:
1. that in making her decision [the Magistrate] failed to
take into account that the respondent had the burden
of proving that:
a. by application in March 1993, the appellant
personally requested to enter into an agreement
with the NAB for the Credit Card (also
hereinafter referred to as the ‘Credit Card
contract’ otherwise described as the ‘Loan
Facility’ in the decision);
b. the respondent had actually given notice to the
appellant of the ‘Conditions of use for credit cards’
in operation in March 1993;
c. the NAB could unilaterally assign any of its rights
under the Credit Card contract to any third person
such as the respondent; and
d. the respondent could charge penalties and/or
interest on $28,408.25 in accordance with the terms
of the Loan Facility terms as at the date of the initial
assignment on 19 March 2008;
2. in making the said decision, the Magistrate took into
account the following irrelevant considerations:
a. that an application for an increased limit (identified
as the 2001 Variation Application) was evidence of
an application for an increased limit of the Credit
Card; and
b. an aide-mémoire prepared by the respondent that
purported to calculate the sum of $70,828.13 of
which $42,419.88 was said to be for interest and/
or penalties, as evidence of the actual damages
recoverable from the appellant;
3. there was no direct evidence substantiating several
aspects of the respondent’s claims including inter alia:
a. NAB’s right to assign the Credit Card contract to any
third party;
b. that the first assignee [Accounts Control
Management Services Pty Ltd]:
i. had itself any rights under the Credit Card
‘contract’ to recover interest and/or penalties
from the appellant; and
ii. could assign any rights to recover interest and/or
penalties from the appellant to any third person
such as the Respondent;
c. that the appellant had personally requested the
Credit Card contract; and
d. that the Appellant had notice, constructive or
otherwise, of the ‘Conditions of use for credit cards’
or any subsequent variation of such terms and
conditions.
DecisionBy judgment dated 10 June 2015, Riordan J found in favor
of the appellant and made an order setting aside Judgment
and dismissing the respondent’s claim. Riordan J handed
down a 37 page decision in which he cited the following
reasons for his decision:
1. the Magistrate erred in finding that the 2001 Variation
Application was ‘applicable to’ the Credit Card in so far
as:
a. there was no evidence from any witness that the
2001 Variation Application related to the Loan
Facility; and
b. it was not put to any witness or to the court on
behalf of the respondent that the 2001 Variation
Application did relate to the Credit Card;
2. the Magistrate erred in admitting evidence of Mr Zhao
[a Senior Associate employed by the NAB], about
the appellant applying for the Credit Card, in so far
as he:
a. did not have nor could not produce the appellant’s
application for Credit Card or any supporting
documents;
b. was not familiar with the making of records relating
to the Credit Card seeing that he had only been an
employee of the NAB for the last 6 years; and
c. the respondent failed to adduce evidence2 from
Mr Zhao as to the contents of the documents relating
to the Credit Card in question which were unavailable
(principally the application and ‘Conditions of use for
credit cards’ in operation in March 19933);
3. it was not open for the court to infer that the appellant
enter into an agreement with the NAB for the Credit
Card based on the documentary evidence and the
evidence of Mr Zhao;
4. the Magistrate erred in finding that the terms of the
Credit Card were proved seeing that:
a. Exhibit B described as “Conditions of use for credit
cards published by the National Australia Bank
effective from 01/12/93 for the period until 31/10/96”
(‘Conditions’) could not have been applicable to the
Credit Card that was issued 11 March 1993; and
Legal
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 27
b. in cross-examination Mr Zhao could not confirm why
the Conditions would apply to the Credit Contract;
5. the Magistrate erred in finding that the respondent was
entitled to interest and “late payment fees” under the
Credit Card contract seeing that:
a. the respondent could not produce NAB’s Schedule
to the Conditions;
b. the respondent did not produce any evidence as to
the interest rate or rates or any evidence of late fees;
c. the court should not infer the interest rates from
the evidence of Mr Vieira, the National Manager of
Operations for the respondent on the basis that Mr
Vieira:
i. was not an employee of the NAB; and
ii. did not disclose the basis of the calculation.
Further observations in the decisionRiordan J also made three interesting observations in his
decision which should resonate strongly with banks and
debt management companies seeking the auspices of the
judiciary in similar type proceedings:
1. firstly, that the court will not hesitate to insist on
‘best evidence-rule’4 in assessing secondary evidence
tendered by a party;
2. secondly, he was surprised that a bank would not have
retained documents past the statutory implied period of
seven years seeing that the bank has “facility to retain
mortgages and other contractual documents for longer
periods of time”5 and that it “would destroy documents
which evidence the terms of a continuing trading
relationship without even retaining a copy”6; and
3. thirdly, the presumption of regularity should not be
applied in circumstances where a party is claiming
interest on an account particularly when “a very
favourable inference is sought to be drawn by reason
of the respondent’s failure to produce”7 evidence of the
said interest rate.
What does this mean for creditors generally?The decision reinforces the courts position on proceedings
premised mainly on inference. In a market which over the
last 20 years has seen a proliferation of regulation and self-
represented litigants, trade creditors need to be smarter
about how they record commercial transactions.
This decision should prompt trade creditors to review
their own debt recovery practices to ensure that any
recovery proceedings they intend to take are not plagued
by the same issues the respondent suffered in these
proceedings. To achieve a more robust practice trade
creditors can start by:
1. reviewing their document management process to
ensure that original documents are imaged, stored,
and can be accessed quickly for referencing – often
disputes can be settled promptly by taking the debtor
through the particulars of your claim and producing the
evidence in support of those particulars;
2. ensure that any witness chosen to give evidence has
the practical knowledge to comfortably depose as to
the practices and procedure engaged by the company
in commercial transaction (this employee should be at
mid-senior level and have specific competencies and
training relating to your credit procedures);
3. If the company is an assignee of a debt, ensure that it
can clearly demonstrate:
a. the assignor’s right to assign the debt;
b. the terms of the assignment (normally contained in
a deed or agreement); and
c. that the debtor has received written notice of the
assignment;
4. Particularise interest calculations, especially in
circumstances where the plaintiff intends to charge a
contractual default rate as opposed to a statutory or
prescribed rate. u
*Wojtek Randla is a Legal Practitioner Director & Litigation Manager for Baycorp – Australia. Phone: (02) 9806 2598, www.baycorp.com
FOOTNOTES:
1 S CI 2014 01340
2 Under the auspices of s. 48(4) of the Evidence Act, a party may adduce evidence of the contents of a document in question that is not available to the party, or the existence and contents of which are not in issue in the proceeding, by (a) tendering a document that is a copy of, or an extract from or summary of, the document in question, or (b) adducing from a witness evidence of the contents of the document in question
3 The ‘unavailability of the documents and things’ is defined by clause 5 of Part 2 of the Dictionary to the Evidence Act
4 At paragraph 16
5 At paragraph 27
6 ibid
7 At paragraph 40
This decision should prompt trade creditors
to review their own debt recovery practices to
ensure that any recovery proceedings they intend to take are not plagued by the same issues the respondent suffered in
these proceedings.
Legal
28 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
(Act) allows a creditor to serve on a
debtor a ‘statutory demand’ to pay
a debt within 21 days, or risk the
creditor applying to the appropriate
court for orders that the debtor be
‘wound up in insolvency’.
The statutory demand has served
for many years as a quick, cheap and
effective way of recovering a debt,
provided it is in the correct form
and is properly served on the debtor
company. And there are two further
provisos:
z The first is that there should be
no genuine dispute about the
existence or amount of the debt.
In fact, the Act requires that, unless
the claimed debt is a judgment
debt, a creditor must accompany
the demand with an affidavit
declaring that the creditor knows
of no genuine dispute regarding
the debt.
z The second further proviso is that
there should be no ‘other reason’
that the demand ought to be set
aside by the court.
The Act permits an alleged debtor
to approach an appropriate court for
orders setting aside the demand, with
costs, if any of the above provisos is
breached.
A case to considerIn a case decided in May this year, In
the matter of AAP Investments (Aust)
Pty Limited (AAP), a creditor learned
to its cost in the Supreme Court
of New South Wales that issuing a
statutory demand without attention
to the two further provisos was rather
like grabbing a tiger by the tail and
not letting go when it had the chance.
In that case, AAP had received a
bill of costs in November 2014 from
its solicitors (B&C) regarding complex
legal matters for which B&C had been
retained. The Legal Profession Act
2004 (NSW) provided machinery
for AAP to seek an independent
assessment of its bill, and AAP
(through another lawyer) informed
B&C of that intention towards the end
of November 2014.
In fact, AAP had not commenced
the assessment procedure by the
onset of Christmas 2014 and B&C
proceeded, between Christmas and
the New Year, to issue proceedings
in the District Court of New South
Wales to recover its claim as a debt.
AAP failed to file a defence in time
and a default judgment was entered in
favour of B&C in early February 2015.
Immediately afterwards, B&C
obtained a garnishee order directed
to AAP’s bank for payment of the
judgment debt, and AAP commenced
injunction proceedings to restrain that
action. At about the same time, AAP’s
lawyer was writing to B&C, pressing
APP’s claim for assessment.
It was in this disputatious context
that B&C issued and served its
Statutory Demands: Beware of grabbing the t iger by the tailBy Bill Andrews*
“The statutory demand has served for many years as a quick, cheap and effective way of recovering a debt, provided it is in the correct form...”
Bill Andrews
Legal
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 29
statutory demand, based on the
unpaid judgment debt. Because the
debt was a judgment debt, there was
no requirement under the Act for
B&C to serve any affidavit stating that
B&C believed there was no genuine
dispute.
Within days, AAP applied to the
District Court to set aside B&C’s
default judgment so that it could
defend B&C’s claim, and AAP’s lawyer
wrote to B&C asking that the demand
be withdrawn. B&C declined to take
that action and AAP then applied
to the Supreme Court, within the
permitted 21 days, for the demand to
be set aside.
Before the matter came before
the Supreme Court, the District Court
set aside the judgment on which the
demand depended. Nonetheless,
B&C chose to defend its position
on the basis that there could not be
a genuine dispute about the bill of
costs because of the clear terms of
the costs agreement and the detailed
nature of the bill.
The Court gave no credit to that
argument. The demand was based
on the District Court judgment, now
gone, and not on the claim underlying
the judgment. Once the judgment
was set aside, there was no scope for
considering the underlying claim in
order to decide whether or not there
was a genuine dispute.
But ultimately, the Court found
that there was no need to decide
whether there was a genuine dispute.
It was sufficient to rely on the “some
other reason” proviso to set aside
the demand. Demands based on
judgment debts have commonly been
set aside under that proviso because
of pending appeals.
In the AAP case, the Court found
that the matter was even clearer
because, as at the time the matter
was being decided, the judgment in
question had already been set aside.
In those circumstances the failure
to pay the judgment debt could not
reasonably give rise to a presumption
of insolvency. The Court duly ordered
that the demand must be set aside
even though there had been a
judgment in place at the time the
demand was issued.
Costs consequencesThe Court then turned attention to the
costs consequences of that outcome.
In the usual course, ‘costs follow the
event’: that is, the successful party
is entitled to its costs either on ‘the
ordinary basis’, or on the ‘indemnity
basis’.
In this case, B&C argued that, since
it was entitled to issue a demand on
the basis of an existing judgment
debt, then it should have the benefit
of costs up to the date that the
default judgment was set aside, and
that the parties should pay their own
costs thereafter.
However, the Court took the view
that B&C should have known that it
was inherent in any default judgment
that it may be set aside, and that
was a risk a creditor had to take into
account in issuing a statutory demand.
Furthermore, it should have been
clear to a creditor in the position of
B&C that, once the default judgment
had been set aside, the demand based
upon it was likely also to be set aside.
Accordingly, the Court decided
that B&C should pay AAP’s costs up
to the date the default judgment was
set aside on the ordinary basis, but
after that date on the indemnity basis.
ConclusionThe lessons to be learned from this
case are clear: a creditor should issue
a statutory demand only when it is
objectively apparent that there is no
dispute at all about the existence or
amount of an alleged debt, and that
reliance on a default judgment, when
the creditor knows that the claim
nevertheless remains disputed, is
unwise. u
This article is intended as a source of information only. No reader should act on any matter without first obtaining professional advice.
*Bill Andrews is Senior Associate for Bartier Perry.
For more information please contact:David Creais, Executive Lawyer, Bartier PerryT: 02 8281 7823, E: [email protected]
Software and Technology
30 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
understand what their current and
future circumstances and needs are.
At the same time Business to
Business (B2B) leaders have been
pursuing similar efficiency and
performance gains to those achieved
in the B2C environment, albeit at a
slower rate.
Much of this transformation
is reliant on accessing digital
advancements, however, when
assessing technology solutions and
the collections process, it is often
difficult to know where to begin
and where to stop because the
possibilities are virtually endless.
Many enterprises are under
significant pressure to both
reduce operational costs and
improve performance, yet many
commercial enterprises continue
to handle the collections and risk
management processes using
mail/email, spreadsheets, and
paper. This process often requires
access to multiple systems and
interactions between departments.
Manual investigation involving
multiple groups may be required
if a customer contests a decision,
charge or invoice.
Receivables management’s three
most expensive inputs are often
referred to as the three P’s – people,
paper, phones all of which can be
significantly improved by embracing
the future.
Whilst credit scoring has been
an essential risk management tool
for decades in the credit field,
particularly in the B2C market, the
range of data sources both internal
and external that continues to
emerge can take this to a much
higher level. So why is it that
enterprises are not investing in
the rapidly increasing range of
opportunities presented?
On the receivables management
side, there are even greater
opportunities that offer substantial
opportunities to develop behavioural
analytics to drive more effective
collection programs.
Much of the functionality
deployed to take Call Centres
(cost-cutting initiative) to Contact
Centres (strategic customer
management initiative) is ideally
suited to driving greater efficiency
and effectiveness across the credit
life cycle, yet many enterprises are
laggards in terms of adoption.
Having been immersed in this
space for nearly 20 years I take these
capabilities for granted, and so in
recent times as we see an increase
in enterprises seeking support in
the more effective management of
their credit functions it is essential
that all credit leaders understand
and preferably pursue many of these
opportunities.
Recent research by the Aberdeen
Group has highlighted the substantial
difference in performance in both
accounts payable and accounts
receivable between enterprises
Leveraging the future to improve credit and collections – are you a leader or a laggard?By Steve Mitchinson*
Steve Mitchinson LICM
The evolution of customer
management has been dramatic in
recent years, yet overall the area of
receivables management has proven
to be a laggard in terms of adopting
and implementing more efficient and
effective solutions.
Customer attitudes are evolving
at a rapid rate and rising customer
expectations create new credit and
collections challenges.
For a generation the Business to
Customer (B2C) segment has been
going through massive transformation
acknowledging the rapidly changing
expectations of customers. Some may
argue that this is now evolving to the
era of Business to Me (B2Me) – one
that recognises that customers expect
you to know who they are, what their
value is to your organisation and to
Software and Technology
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 31
that are embracing technology and
efficiency advances and those that
are not.
We believe that one of the reasons
for this low take-up in some sectors is
indeed a lack of understanding of the
capabilities available, the true cost to
implement and benefits achievable.
It would be quite easy to fill this
magazine with a description of all
the opportunities that are available,
however in the contexts of this article
I have highlighted below what we
believe to be the top 10 opportunities
for the credit industry to embrace
in order to deliver more effective
outcomes more efficiently.
The opportunities are:
1. Behaviouralanalytics to drive
effective collection cycles and
programs. A scientific modelling
approach pulling together everything
we know about the debtor allows
us to profile far more than just the
risk rating of debtors. Being able to
use your organisation’s customer
and collections database to create
Customer Segmentation and develop
customer response segmentation
can be a powerful advantage. We
all know different customers will
respond differently to contact
channels but we don’t always apply
this knowledge in a scientific way.
Once a debtor has been profiled, a
campaign can be implemented to
manage them based on much more
holistic criteria. This simple 4 box
matrix extracted from Collections,
A Best Practice Guide by Serco is
a simplified example – see diagram
below.
We know different customers
have a different propensity to churn
and so we typically have different
customer retention strategies.
So why, when we know different
customers have a different propensity
to pay do we mostly use the same
rules and methods despite these
differences. Behavioural scoring will
enable a more proactive approach to
collections and ensure that we apply
the most effective approach to each
customer.
Once the propensity models
have been built for each customer
(or customer segment) they can be
treated differently. This includes the
timing of the collections activity, the
channel used and the severity of the
approach. For example alternative
campaigns with different steps and
methods might be:
z Campaign 1
(high propensity to pay)
z Campaign 2
(medium propensity to pay)
z Campaign 3
(low propensity to pay)
A more advanced approach to
campaign management may be seen
in Table 1 (see over page).
It is also important to match any
segment analysis with operational
performance and cost in order to
further evolve the capability and
effectiveness of outcomes.
2. Automatedand/orInteractive
Messaging – The use of interactive
messaging that is often automated
and enabled by deployment of the
opportunity above allows customer
behaviour triggers to trigger
messages, and customer responses,
to the SMS to initiate the next phase
in the collection cycle. Similarly
speech based IVRs can allow debtors
to interact, perhaps whilst saving
face, and can include the option to
be connected to a collections officer
as part of the transaction. It can
also enable ”right officer” routing
– while retaining efficient work
practices, the collections team should
use right officer routing to find a
balance between transactional and
relationship collections. In deploying
the methodology you can:
z Route a previously called debtor
back to the same Collections
Officer
z Ensure a more difficult collections
call is sent to a suitably
experienced Collections Officer
z Not miss wasted opportunities
when the nominated officer is not
available
3. Automationofpaymentoptions
andpaymentarrangements –
Something that was embraced
wholeheartedly by the B2C market
place 15 years ago is only now
gaining substantial traction in the
commercial market place. Given the
rapid transformation of the market
place to a dominance of SME’s this is
INTENTION
Reminder ServiceUse of TXT/SMS
No Action
CollectionsCampaign
Development
HardshipDebt Sale/
Mercantile Agency/No Action
Will Pay
Can Pay
Won’t Pay
Can’t Pay
AB
ILIT
Y
$$
$
$
Software and Technology
32 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
becoming critically important as many
SME’s behave just like consumers,
particularly in the service sector.
4.Voiceorcallrecording – Has
developed into contact centres under
the guise of “training and coaching
purposes” it is much more than that.
With the right terms and conditions
in place, the use of voice recording
of conversations between debtors
and creditors for proof can avoid the
lengthy paper trails and can have
a very positive effect on collection
cycles and outcomes and indeed the
initial credit granting process.
5.Speechanalytics(inrealtime) is
one of the most exciting technology
advances in the area of customer
management in recent years. Being
able to analyse customer calls in real
time is an incredibly powerful tool
not only for achieving more positive
outcomes during the call but also
for driving improved effectiveness
of team members and ensuring
that all interactions are delivered in
accordance with accepted standards.
Results being achieved already
by the early adopters in customer
service and sales channels are quite
staggering and there is no reason
why the same can’t be achieved in
the credit area. To have customer
conversations in a digital format
can also play a vital role in further
enabling the opportunities presented
by detailed data analytics to improve
collection effectiveness.
6.Enhancedreportingforworkplace
performanceandresults.This
includes the development of
more effective KPI’s and reporting
frameworks using the broader range
of data that is now available to the
Credit Department. The reporting of
credit performance is still dominated
by lag indicators.
The term lagging indicator refers
to measurements that reflect what
customers have already experienced
or what the business has achieved –
they are a bit like rear vision mirrors.
By contrast, a leading indicator
reflects what you are doing in
advance of customers experiencing it.
They are a bit like the GPS giving your
directions along the journey. Lagging
indicators are important big-picture
measures of achievement, but they are
not prescriptive, and therefore they
are not actionable. Leading indicators
are internal operational measures that
empower teams by letting them see
a direct connection between their
work and its outcomes (which are the
lagging indicators).
In much the same way as
customer management KPI’s have
evolved from operational metrics
to outcome metrics, in recent times
there is a strong argument that
traditional measures within the
credit environment also need to be
reconsidered and supplemented by
such measures as:
z Right Party Contact (RPC) RPC/
File Dialler Management
z Promise to Pay (PTP) or call
Efficiency PTP/RPC Officer/Team
Leader
z PTP Effectiveness (Kept Rate)
Payments/PTP Officer/Team
Leader
z AHT Total Activity Time/Calls
Officer/Team Leader
z Quality As per the Quality
Scorecard by Officer/Team Leader
z Collection Efficiency – $ Collected/
$ Available by Officer/Team Leader
z DSO Velocity Index
With advanced analytics: you
know... so you can calculate – see
Table 2.
7.Realtimeperformance
dashboards. Again we need, in this
high-speed world, to be tracking and
responding to performance in real
time not after the event where all
too often the opportunity has been
missed. Every one of us operates in a
far more competitive world than we
Model Result Technique
P (contact, no contact, the message) The likelihood that an attempt will turn into a
contact by time of day and day of week, given the
customer’s contact history
Data analysis, predictive
model
P (promises given contact) Probability that a contact will result in a promise Data analysis, predictive
model
P (payment given promise) The likelihood that a promise will result in payment
received
Data analysis, predictive
model
P (payment given NO promise The likelihood that payment will come in without
contact given the time that has elapsed since the
last cycle
Data analysis, predictive
model, simulation model
Distribution of customer rolling to a better/
worse condition given payment
Expected next cycle risk segment of the delinquent
customer given a payment received
Data analysis, statistical
model
Distribution and customer rolling to a
better/worse condition given no payment
Expected next cycle risk segment of the delinquent
customer given NO payment received
Data analysis, statistical
models
Table 1
Source – Interactive intelligence Collection Trends Webinar
Software and Technology
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 33
did years ago. Products and services
are less differentiated and so the
efficiency with which we undertake
our administrative activities is having
an increasing impact on the overall
performance of the enterprise. Being
aware of performance as it happens is
a key to improvement.
8.Softwareasaservice. For many
years the cost of replacing incumbent
systems has been used as an excuse
not to embrace digital opportunities.
Not only has a typical cost to
modernise reduced dramatically,
but the increasing emphasis on and
opportunity to move, expenditure
from capital expenditure to operating
expenditure makes the use of software
as a service a compelling opportunity
in many circumstances. It also helps
alleviate the risk of getting it wrong.
9.CRMintegration/desktop
optimisation. Many enterprises still try
and collect using legacy billing systems
– the old green screen of death! In
today’s connected world you simply
can’t expect a new (and likely young)
collections officer to tab between
billing systems and type specific
commands during a collections call.
Many legacy systems are cumbersome
and lack the intuitive GUI interfaces
that are present in just about every
other aspect of their dailylife. In these
legacy systems, agents are often
required to make notes in multiple
places, and handle times can be long.
There is abundant research showing
a link between staff tenure and the
technology used to perform the job
so if you want to keep the best and
the brightest you need to invest. The
agent must be in the right state of
mind and be able to focus on the
conversation when they speak with
customers. Asked to use a poor quality
or inflexible interface, agents often get
irritated, and the customer is likely to
sense their irritation, and a poor quality
interaction or outcome may result.
Integration of data from many sources
is necessary to provide the holistic and
real-time view of account information
that credit and collection officers
require to do their jobs effectively. All
too often staff are required to interact
with multiple systems and screens in
order to facilitate transactions with
the customer. The ability to provide a
simpler intuitive interface for staff is
proven in a number of industries and
environments to dramatically improve
productivity and efficiency. Indeed
there are software development
companies found on the sole premise
of providing an improved user interface
for some of the world’s largest core
systems.
10.Automatedand/orpredictive
outbounddialling. Outbound calling
is acknowledged as typically the most
effective collection method, but it is
also one of the most expensive due
to the manual effort and inefficiency.
Once the domain of those annoying,
anonymous dinner time callers we
all experience after a hard day at
the office, automation of outbound
dialling integrated with core billing
and customer management systems
is one of the greatest efficiency
opportunities available to the credit
community. As we all know one of
the great challenges of outbound
dialling is the strike rates, and in the
consumer world using manual dialling
methods it is not unusual for a strike
rate of one in five call attempts.
Effective dialler management uses
historical dialling information to
better target current debtors and
uses past dialler information at a
debtor level to determine when that
debtor should be called (assuming it
was a successful contact) and avoids
the time wasted when encountering
answering-machines and voice mail
systems. This can drastically improve
officer utilisation, reduce unnecessary
telephony costs and typically
accelerate cash flow.
In summary, today’s broad range
of technologies enable receivables
departments to:
z Increase receipts from collections
activity
z Be more responsive when there
are complaints
z Prevent or reduce the risk of
important actions falling through
the cracks
z Better assess the marginal
economics of a collections
campaign before the campaign
begins
z Improve the quality and timing of
decision-making
z Improve employee enablement
and engagement
z Lower operating costs u
*Steve Mitchinson is a Director – AICM and Director of BBB Advisory.Visit www.bbbadvisory.com.au
Table 2
You know… …so you can calculate
Contact history, probability of
contact, left message, non contact
Number of contacts you expect if you
prescribe a series of contacts
The number of contacts you expect The number of promises you would expect
The number of promises you expect The number of payments you would
receive
The number of payments received,
balance, payment due, and the
probability of a payment without a
contact
The marginal payment amount associated
with making a calling attempt to that
customer
The expected payment amount Expected risk profile for the next cycle
Marginal account role rates
Marginal dollar role rates
Marginal delinquency by bucket
Expected risk score for next cycle and
expected role rates for next cycle
Change in charge-off exposure due to an
attempt
Collections expense The cost of an attempt
Software and Technology
34 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
buyers to depend on digital and card
payments as their primary payment
instruments.
Although digital payments provide
considerable benefits to Australian
organisations many have yet to make
the switch to realise the potential.
This was the finding from a Deloitte
survey of 150 medium and large
organisations (67% in Australia and
33% in New Zealand) to ascertain key
B2B payments metrics and trends.
ResultsThe results published in the Deloitte
report, ‘B2B Payments: 2015 Australia
and New Zealand Research’ indicate
that digital account-based payment
mechanisms are typically considered
better, faster and cheaper by
organisations that use them.
This is driven by business process
benefits such as improved cash flow,
less administration and reduced
time chasing payment or reconciling
invoices. As well as the speed
improvements due to digitisation or
reduced approval steps and the cost
savings including lower transaction
and total process costs.
The research also found that
organisations are increasingly driving
towards electronic means of payment
as well as experimenting with different
tools and providers to add value
through data analysis and cash flow
visibility.
The ability to leverage data moves
the accounts receivable function from
a tactical administrative processing
role to acting as a partner to the
financial managers in the company.
This shift drives efficiencies in multiple
areas including inventory planning and
stock supply management, production
capacity planning and the optimum
use of working capital facilities from
banking partners.
By using digital solutions that are
focused on working capital benefits
such as single use accounts, virtual
accounts and payment platforms,
the gap between physical purchasing
cards and trade finance products
gets bridged.
An important feature of the B2B
Payments study was the inclusion of
the supplier and accounts receivable
perspectives as past research has
tended to focus on buyers and
accounts payable. Among other
insights the research identified that
suppliers share many of the same
benefits from using cards as buyers.
CollaborationBanks, payment technology
companies and fintechs are
increasingly working together to bring
digital solutions to market to improve
the whole process of making or
receiving payments.
New technologies, often brought
to market initially by innovative
Digital B2B payments help rid businesses of red tape but some still struggle to cut out paper– Deloitte report
By Richard Miller*
Richard Miller
Commercial organisations of all sizes
are under continued pressure to
improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Both accounts payable and accounts
receivable functions are critical to
efficiently managing these cash
flows which are the lifeblood of the
business.
This is especially true for business-
to-business (B2B) payments which
represent the majority of commercial
expenditure. Suppliers seeking a
condensed accounts receivable
cycle as well as improved and more
predictable cash flow are providing
a growing acceptance base for
Software and Technology
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 35
fintech companies, are beginning to
change the way payments are being
made and received.
Businesses and government
organisations are increasingly looking
to such digital solutions to improve
productivity and reduce the time
between invoicing and receiving
payment.
When it comes to being paid 73%
of the survey respondents rated faster
payment as an important benefit of
accepting digital payments, with 49%
saying that cards reduced the cost of
doing business.
There was a ‘but’ …However suppliers also share the
same misconceptions about cards and
buyer preferences which can hamper
adoption.
Suppliers that accept card-based
payments highlighted a number of
important benefits, with more than
half citing:
z working capital improvements
through faster payment
z cost savings through reduced
processing effort
z administrative simplification
resulting from improved
reconciliation.
In addition to these benefits 45%
of suppliers reported an increase in
sales volume once they introduced
card acceptance for B2B payments.
Less tangible but in some cases
even more important was the
improved customer relationships
that could develop through better
integration with buyers’ processes.
Digitising payment processes can
provide benefits to both suppliers and
buyers but it does require both sides
to work together.
While the working capital benefit
of card-based transactions has a
positive impact on buyers’ cash flow,
the speed of card transactions can
have a more direct and significant
impact on suppliers.
Seventy three per cent of the
surveyed group cited improved
cash flow as an important benefit
of accepting cards for payments.
With payments authorised in real-
time, and typically settled in less than
two business days suppliers have
observed better control over their
receivables with tangible benefits for
the business.
Almost half of the respondents
in the Deloitte survey reported a
decrease in overall business costs
as a result of accepting card-based
payments. Electronic payment
mechanisms like cards also tend
to reduce manual intervention and
reconciliation effort. Together with
better data and analytical insights
this can significantly improve the
operational performance which can in
turn offset the merchant service fee
paid to the acquiring bank.
There was also a perception that
buyers ‘do not want to pay by card,’
which suggests a ‘disconnect’ with
the perspectives reported by buying
organisations in the study. In fact,
buyers using card solutions wanted
to further increase their use, including
being willing to absorb some of the
cost of acceptance, in return for
faster payment such as that through
discount.
…the ‘but’ is being addressedSuppliers also often viewed cards
as a consumer-focused mechanism,
indicating that the amounts being
transacted were not appropriate for
cards. In response to growing demand
for large transactions Visa has raised
limits, making card-based B2B
transactions up to US$10M in value
now possible.
Another concern was the
merchant service fee associated with
a card transaction. This was often
regarded in isolation, not accounting
for the overall process cost and
potential for reducing operating costs,
such as staff, postage, stationery and
banking fees. Nor did it consider the
potential upside of accepting cards on
the top line.
There are a number of challenges
in implementing and optimising
digital payment programs, including
the effort involved and initial cost,
which can be exacerbated by a limited
understanding of benefits.
Like any process and
organisational change implementing
a digital payment program requires
a well-managed effort to succeed.
The study interviews indicated that
opportunities exist to improve both
the initial implementation of such
programs as well as the need to
optimise their on-going operation.
To assist organisations manage this
Deloitte developed a manual of best
practices to implement and manage
card-based payment solutions.
However there is still considerable
opportunity to improve take-up with
almost half of survey respondents
(47%) not using the available solutions
and 100% still having paper processes
to support cheque payments.
According to Visa, a key
technology partner for banks across
the region and sponsor of the Deloitte
report, the future is about digitising
processes and creating an integrated
view across a portfolio of mechanisms
often through innovative tools
developed by fintechs. u
*Richard Miller is Payments Director for Deloitte. For further information on the report or optimising B2B payments, contact Richard at: [email protected]
A survey respondent said: ‘Digital B2B payments are great
for cash flow and great for us: less paperwork, less mistakes in the
process, better reporting.’
Software and Technology
36 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
For most Young Credit Professionals
of Australia (YCPA) our first
banking experience started with a
Commonwealth Bank Dollarmite
savings account, we were excited
about the moneybox rather than
the saving aspect. As we matured
into adolescents so did the banking
experience.
In years to come we will all have
a story to tell our children of when
we had to wait in line at the branch
for 20 minutes patiently watching
the flip clock. The reaction will be
priceless given what their first banking
experience will be.
Technology and innovation was
revolutionary in the late 2000’s
driving us to the ‘Mobile Commerce’
generation with the ability to pay bills,
do our internet banking and open new
accounts simply with the use of our
mobile. Something we definitely could
not do on a Nokia 5110.
Since 2009 we have all felt the
strong presence of digital marketing
and online shopping. What did the
banks do to cater for our online
shopping obsession? They admitted
the ATM card for plastic surgery! We
now refer to it as a ‘Debit Card’ with
its new appearance, rewards programs
and greater security with the ‘Europay
MasterCard Visa’ (EMV) chip making
online purchasing easier using our
own money.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics
have reported in 2009 that online
retail sales totalled $24 billion with
the most popular purchases being
travel and accommodation. In recent
years with apps such as Groupon,
daily deals, RedBalloon and other sites
there is no need to be stalking for a
car park during Christmas week, as we
can shop online.
As our debit and credit cards
evolve so do the payment methods.
Over the last 5 years PayPass and
PayWave have made us wave
goodbye to signing for retail
purchases. In years to come I am
sure we will soon be farewelling the
PIN. Our cards will always revisit the
surgeon for a ‘nip and tuck’ to keep
up with customers evolving needs in a
card with added benefits and tighter
security.
We have all experienced the gut
wrenching feeling of leaving our wallet
or purse at home and only realising
half way to work. In 2015 Westpac
and Commonwealth bank successfully
launched its ‘Cardless Cash’ service
enabling us to use our mobile banking
app to withdraw money. If you leave
both your phone and wallet at home
then I hope the apple from the recent
fruit box delivery is still on your
desk as it seems this will be your
replacement lunch.
In the last 6 years our banks
have flexed their ‘CANSTAR’
achievements through their
innovation, products and services
as rated by consumers. Some banks
have invested over $500 million
on innovation, behavioural science,
analytics, digital software and social
media platforms just to know us
better. Smart move.
Banks have tailored credit
products and services to meet
customer needs and wants. For
example, our banks have increased
their airline affiliations getting us
closer to the departure gates in
style by converting retail expenses
The evolution of banking in AustraliaBy Amaran Navaratnam*
“In years to come we will all have a story to tell our children of when we had to wait in line at the branch for 20 minutes patiently watching the flip clock.”
Amaran Navaratnam
Software and Technology
October2015•CREDITMANAGEMENTINAUSTRALIA 37
into frequent flier miles with added
benefits such as lounge access and
travel insurance. Flying like a YCPA
should!
Cricket fanatic or not we were
all captured by the Commonwealth
Bank advertisements on Facebook.
Did they win me over? Yes. The
advertisements flooded my newsfeed
and I began reading cricket club
stories then finding myself calculating
my borrowing power. This is a perfect
example of our banks innovative
marketing strategies through the use
of social media.
The evolution of banking in
Australia has been exciting but has
it created a cause and effect for
consumers leaving us now financially
over committed?
Sure, we can be faster than John
Wayne to draw out our credit card
when we see interest free deals online
but can we repay this within the
interest free period?
Putting aside the increase of cost
of living in Australia, household debts
have soared in recent years. The
most worrying fact is that in 1990 the
average household debt represented
less than six months of annual income.
That has now tripled to 18 months of
annual income.
The Australian Financial Security
Authority of Australia reported in
September 2014 that 3000 debt
agreements were lodged within the
demographic age of 18-24. I think it’s
time for schools to begin educating
students on credit consequences and
safety sooner than later, don’t you?
They are the future of the Australian
economy.
Who is to blame for all this debt?
It is us, the consumers. Australian
consumers in recent years have
focused on satisfying more of the
wants in life as opposed to the needs.
Moving forward to 2020,
Australian consumers will need to act
smart when it comes to credit. It is
easy to fall into the trap of effective
marketing strategies but we as
consumers need to exercise careful
judgement, rather than instinct. The
greater the household debt increases
in Australia the stronger the scent of
a financial crisis gets.
Is the lead up to 2020 in
banking going to be evolutionary or
revolutionary? Truth be told, it will
be both. The banking sector will face
greater challenges on how to win a
greater customer base as they will
continue to flex their innovations
in response to the evolving
forces of customer expectations,
regulatory requirements, technology,
demographics and shifting economics.
How we as consumers contribute and
handle the changes will determine the
future of our economy. u
*AmaranNavaratnamisBusinessDevelopmentManagerAssistantatRecoveriescorp.www.recoveriescorp.com.au
“...we were excited about the moneybox rather than the saving aspect.”
aicm Can We Help?
38 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Trade references
Question
I was at a meeting of creditors the other day when the
resolution to be considered by creditors was amended.
The Chairman was not sure what he could do with all
the special proxies, as they were casting a vote on
a resolution which had changed. Were they invalid,
once the resolution had changed, no matter how big or
small the change? Were the special proxies still valid
to the extent only that the amended resolution was
not adverse to their position compared to the original
resolution?
Answer
Meetings of creditors are important in the insolvency
process because they allow creditors a say in decisions
that often need to be made. Creditors can vote by proxy
if they are unable to attend, by way of a general or a
specific proxy.
The nature of a specific proxy grants special power to
the holder to vote in a pre-determined manner. Certainly
they should not be used where there is a material
difference from the original resolution. The Chairperson,
usually the insolvency practitioner, has the power to
make determinations regarding the use of proxies and
may adjourn a meeting for the purpose of investigating
a person’s entitlement to vote at the meeting. Any party
aggrieved by the outcome of a meeting of creditors has
the power to apply to the court regarding the validity of
resolutions.
It is important to note that if a resolution is put to a
meeting of creditors which has not been included in the
specific proxy, the holder of the specific proxy is entitled
to vote as if the proxy was a general proxy.
Chapter 24 of the ARITA Code of Professional Practice
gives guidance on the conduct of creditors meetings,
including proxies: 24.5.
Question
My company provides goods and services to other
businesses ie all of my customers, be they a sole trader,
partnership or company have provided me with their
ABN and my goods are generally for business purposes.
On which of my customers may I provide a
commercial trade reference and to whom?
What are my obligations if I provide a commercial
trade reference to another supplier of a customer ie:
z must I keep a copy of the reference, and if so for how
long?
z must I divulge to the customer the fact I have
provided a trade reference?
z must I produce a copy of the reference if so
demanded by the customer?
What are the obligations on the requesting party ie:
z must he keep a copy of the reference?
z with whom may he share the information eg internally,
externally?
z must he produce a copy of the reference if so
demanded by the customer>
Answer
We will source an answer from some experts and provide
their responses in the December issue
AICM receives questions from Credit Managers that it puts to a panel of lawyers, insolvency experts and credit professionals 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.
All articles contain general information only. They are not legal advice. You should seek your own legal advice if faced with a similar situation.
Legal
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 39
aicm Training News
MELBOURNE
17th & 18th November – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
19th November – Manage the credit relationship (C,D)
14th December – Process customer complaints and Conduct customer engagement (E,4)
10th February – Implement risk management strategies (C,4)
11th & 12th February – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
21st & 22nd March – Legal Compliance (C,D and 4)
14th April – Personal Insolvency (C,D)
13th April – Manage overdue accounts (C,4)
18th May – Corporate Insolvency (C,D)
19th & 20th May – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
21st & 22nd June – Developing
your credit policy and procedures (C,D)
BRISBANE
10th & 11th November – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
12th November – Manage the credit relationship (C,D)
7th December – Process customer complaints and Conduct customer engagement (E,4)
8th & 9th February – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
24th February – Implement risk management strategies (C,4)
25th & 26th February – Legal Compliance (C,D and 4)
7th April – Personal Insolvency (C,D)
8th April – Manage overdue accounts (C,4)
9th May – Corporate Insolvency (C,D)
10th & 11th May – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
8th & 9th June – Developing your
credit policy and procedures (C,D)
SYDNEY
23rd November – Manage the credit relationship (C,D)
24th & 25th November – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
11th December – Process customer complaints and Conduct customer engagement (E,4)
18th & 19th February – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
10th March – Manage risk and Policies and procedures (C,D)
11th March – Implement risk management strategies (C,4)
17th & 18th March – Legal Compliance (C,D and 4)
21st April – Personal Insolvency (C,D)
22nd April – Manage overdue accounts (C,4)
23rd May – Corporate Insolvency (C,D)
24th & 25th May – Manage factoring and invoice discounting arrangements (E,D)
27th & 28th June – Developing your credit policy and procedures (C,D)
TABLE OF EXPLANATION:
C= Core Unit
E = Elective Unit
D = Diploma
4 = Certificate IV
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
You do not have to be a current AICM
student undertaking a full qualification
to attend any AICM face to face
training. You may wish to undertake
a program for your Professional
Development or enhance and update
your current skills and knowledge.
Should you wish to receive a
nationally recognised Statement of
Attainment, you will be required to
undertake the online assessment
at completion of the face to face
training.
Please register your interest early, as
there is a minimum requirement of
8 students to conduct face to face
training.
2015 – 2016 Face to Face Training Calendar
Recent Graduates:Mark BeauchampsCheryl BairdCallum AndrewsRahill MemonLong TruongEllen HarradenLauren MartinRian PaskKarianne MenezesSteve WhiteCarlo RazonJason HopkinsAneesha HassanZoey SuthersWendy Johnson
Organisations that have undertaken in-house training:
St George BankBank of MelbourneWestpacBunzl Food Processor SuppliesBaiada AustraliaWerner Co Australia (Manila Division)
TestimonialOne of the benefits of belonging to AICM is that professional development is at our fingertips (just pick up the phone and talk to Debby or Nick).Consequently In an effort to ensure our offshore team was more effective and to ensure compliance, AICM came to Manilla.
The subject matter was very relevant to the team’s day to day operations and was presented in a manner that reflected our process and procedures.
My team gave the feedback that they have had a fun time which made the days enjoyable and learnt things that will help them perform the tasks required for their positions.Gloria Johnson | National Credit Manager/Supervisor Aust & NZ
Werner Co Australia Pty Ltd.
40 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
Question 1:
When you study for a test, would you rather
A. Read notes, read headings in a book and look at
diagrams and illustrations?
B. Have someone ask you questions, or repeat facts
silently to yourself?
C. Write things out, make diagrams?
Question 2:
Which of these do you do when you listen to music?
A. Daydream (see things that go with the music)
B. Hum along
C. Move with the music; tap your foot, etc.
Question 3:
When you work at solving a problem do you
A. Make a list, organise the steps and check them off as
they are completed?
B. Make a few phone calls and talk to friends and experts?
C. Make a model of the problem or walk through all of the
steps in your mind?
Question 4:
When you read for fun, do you prefer?
A. A travel book with lots of pictures in it
B. A mystery book with a lot of conversation in it
C. A book where you answer questions and solve problems
What is your learning style?There are THREE basic types of learning
styles. These are Visual, Auditory and
Kinaesthetic.
To learn we depend on our senses to process
information around us. Most people tend to
use one of their senses more than the others.
The following questionnaire has been
designed to help you identify your staff
learning styles. This can be used as a tool
when creating training plans for customised
organisational training as one style does not
meet all participants’ learning needs.
The questionnaire will help you identify which
of these learning styles you and your staff rely
upon the most.
Read the questions and select the answer
that most closely fits your answer.
Do not think about the question too much;
just go with your first choice.
aicm Training News
Question 5:
To learn how something works, would you rather
A. Watch a movie about it?
B. Listen to someone explain how it works?
C. Take something apart, and try and figure out how it
works by yourself?
Question 6:
You have just entered a science museum, what would
you do first?
A. Look around and find a map showing the locations of
various exhibitions
B. Talk to the museum guide and ask about exhibits
C. Go into the first exhibit that looks interesting, and read
directions later
Question 7:
What kind of restaurant would you rather not go to?
A. One that is too bright
B. One that is too loud with chatter or music
C. One with uncomfortable chairs
Question 8:
Would you rather go to
A. An art class?
B. A music class?
C. An exercise class?
Legal
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 41
aicm Training News
December 2014 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 41
Question 9:
Which are you most likely to do when you are happy?
A. Smile
B. Shout with joy
C. Jump for joy
Question 10:
If you were at a party, what would you be most likely to
remember the next day?
A. The faces of the people, but not the names
B. The names but not the faces
C. The things you did and said while you were there
Question 11:
When you see the word “DOG”, what do you
do first?
A. Think of a picture of a particular dog in your mind
B. Say the word “dog” to yourself silently
C. Sense the feeling of being with a dog
Question 12:
When you tell a story, would you rather
A. Write it?
B. Tell the story out loud?
C. Act it out?
Question 13:
What is the most distracting for you when you are
trying to concentrate?
A. Visual distraction
B. Noise
C. Other sensations, like worry, stress or hunger
Question 14:
What are you most likely to do when you are angry?
A. Scowl
B. Shout
C. Slam doors or throw things around
Question 15:
If you are unsure how to spell something, which of
these are you most likely to do?
A. Write it out to see if it looks correct
B. Sound it out
C. Look it up in a dictionary or use spellcheck on the
computer
Question 16:
What are you most likely to do when standing in a
long line?
A. Look at advertising
B. Talk to the person next to you
C. Tap your foot or move around in some way
If you scored mostly A’s you may have a visual learning
style. You learn by seeing and looking.
z Take numerous detailed notes
z Tend to sit in the front
z Are usually neat and clean
z Often close your eyes to visualise or remember
something
z Find something to watch if you are bored
z Like to see what you are learning
z Benefit from illustrations and presentations that use
colour
z Prefer stimuli to be isolated from auditory and
kinaesthetic distraction
z Find passive surroundings ideal
If you scored mostly B’s you may have an auditory
learning style. You learn by hearing and listening.
z You prefer to sit where you can hear but sometimes do
not pay attention to what is happening in the front of
the room
z Hum and talk to yourself or others when bored
z Acquire knowledge by reading aloud
z Remember by verbalising the lesson to yourself
z May not coordinate colours or clothing, however, they
are able to explain why you are wearing what you are
and why
If you scored mostly C’s you may have a kinesthetic
learning style. You learn by touching and doing.
z You need to be active and take frequent breaks
z Speak with your hands and with gestures
z Remember what has been done but have difficulty
recalling what was said and seen
z Rely on what you can directly experience or perform
z Activities such as cooking, construction and art help
you perceive and learn
z Sit near a door or someplace else where you can easily
get up and move around
z Are often uncomfortable in classrooms where you lack
opportunities for hands on experience
z Often communicate by touching and appreciate
physically expressed encouragement, such as a pat on
the back.
The purpose of the quiz:
z To help identify your learning style and the learning
style of your staff.
z To understand the difference between auditory, visual
and kinesthetic learners
z To learn about different learning styles, to ensure that
when you are delivering staff training you meet the
needs of all learners.
42 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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President’s Report“And the winner is SYDNEY”...welcome to all the delegates to this
year’s conference, we hope you have a great time in our fantastic
city and enjoy the great program that has been put together for
this years conference.
My council will be around to assist at the conference and
look out for us in our nicely coloured AICM shirts sponsored by
Byron Thomas Recruitment. Please take the time to come and
speak to us about anything AICM or Credit related.
You will notice our council has some new members and would
like to welcome aboard Andrew Smith, Adam Clark, David Hunt
and Anna Golubeva. Great to have you on board and looking
forward to working with you all.
These new councillors combined with more experienced
councillors are all passionate about the AICM and helping to
make it bigger and better than ever.
We had a brilliant YCP gala event that saw Kimberly Hale of
Baycorp take out this year’s title, we will be cheering very loudly
for you at the Nationals “champ”, great job. I would also like to
congratulate all the finalists. A report of the event is below.
We are already busy working away at next years calendar so
if you have anything you would like to see on there feel free to
contact me or any of the councillors.
Have a great conference to all those in attendance and look
forward to saying g’day.
– Col Magee MICM CCE
Young Credit Professional Awards DinnerOn the 16th of July 2015 the NSW division held the annual Young
Credit Professional Awards Dinner and I’m pleased to report that
the evening went very well with more than 100 in attendance.
The event was held at the Kirribilli Club which overlooks the
Harbour Bridge and City of Sydney.
Firstly, we would like to congratulate the 5 Young Credit
Professional Finalists below:
– Carlo Razon – Coates Hire
– Christopher Lagana – Ricoh Australia
– Cristian Nobili – USG Boral
– James Cameron – CSR Limited
– Kimberley Hale – Baycorp
This year’s competition was as fierce as any I can remember
and a special congratulations to Kimberley Hale, the winner of
the NSW Young Credit Professional Award.
Kimberly exhibits all the traits necessary to be a great
ambassador for the AICM and will challenge for the national
title in October.
Thanks to all the national partners who support the AICM,
and a special thanks to D&B for their ongoing sponsorship of
the Young Credit Professional Award.
There was a great speaker on the evening called Stephen
Bock. Stephen Bock was the 61st Australian Summiteer, which
we learned on the evening is to describe someone who has
reached the summit of Mt Everest.
Stephen was able to transport the room to the summit with
him and I can remember feeling tightness in my chest thinking
about the lack of oxygen at such a great altitude.
Hollywood tends to portray Everest as glamorous however
in reality it’s a gruelling marathon which takes on average
80 days from base camp to the summit and back. If this is
something you may be interested in please feel free to
contact Stephen on 0417 344 445 or email him at
Stephen Bock attended our event to raise money
for the tragedy that happened in Nepal. This is a cause
that he is very passionate about – if you would like to
donate or learn more about this please go to
http://www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au/
NSW CouncilGrant Morris MICM CCE - NSW Councillor and National President
Grant has been the National Credit Manager at Coates Hire
for the last 6 years. He leads a team of 35 and his business
provides a wide range of rental equipment to the building,
construction, engineering, mining, manufacturing and event
industries. He is passionate about the AICM’s CCE programme
and 8 of his team have sat the exam, completed the
assignment and attained their CCE. He enjoys travel especially
where it involves following the Swans around the country or
visiting his son and daughter in London.
Gregg Odlum MICM CCE – NSW Councillor and AICM Board member
Gregg is currently the ANZ Shared Services Manager at Ecolab,
leading the credit, payables, contracts and customer service
functions at Ecolab, a global leader in helping the world deliver
Clean Water, Safe Food and Abundant Energy. Ecolab is a
corporate AICM member and the 13 members of the credit
team are actively engaged in events and training conducted
by the AICM. In his spare time (hardly any now he is a new dad)
Gregg enjoys water skiing and shares his passion in this sport
through various youth organisations.
Colin Magee MICM CCE – NSW President
Colin has been in Credit for over 25 years and is currently
the Service Delivery Manager at Downer Group. He has just
attained his CCE, which has made him and his family very
proud. He loves his mighty Dragons and officially has the
youngest member of the red v in his 9-week old son Aaron.
His six year old daughter Elysha has been a red v member for
6 years! He loves spending time with his wife Roberta (Bert) and
young family and enjoys getting down the coast to get some
sun, surf and relaxation when possible.
Sue Day MICM CCE – NSW Councillor – Membership Portfolio
Sue has been the National Credit Manager at Manassen Foods
Group for over 15 years. Manassen Foods Australia are a
leading FMCG company. She leads a team of dedicated credit
professionals who are as passionate about credit as she is.
Sue has completed both the AICM Financial Diploma and the
CCE program. She highly recommends the AICM nationally
recognised education programs and says they certainly do
offer great development paths for credit professionals whether
they are starting out or experienced credit professionals.
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 43
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Getting to know:Patrick Coghlan
Patrick has been with CreditorWatch since day
1 as one of 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.
How did you get involved in the credit industry and in what
capacity have you been a credit professional?
I fell into the industry as one of the founding employees of
CreditorWatch, a credit reporting bureau. We have created
an alternative option to the other credit reporting bureaus,
providing access to unique data and more competitive rates.
How long have you been involved with the AICM – on Council
and other?
I have been involved with the AICM for about 5 years now as a
supplier/exhibitor. For the past 12 months I have sat on the NSW
AICM Council, tasked with the Membership Portfolio.
Why did you get involved on Council?
The AICM is an integral part of the credit industry and I wanted to
assist in growing its membership base and ensuring it maintained
its relevancy. A lot of work goes on in the background and
it shouldn’t just fall on the shoulders of a few people.
What part of the world do you come from?
Sydney, Australia.
What is your favourite movie quote?
“Don’t forget the cannoli!”– from the Godfather.
What sport/team do you barrack for?
Sydney Swans and Manchester United.
What would you say has been your biggest success in your
career?
Turning CreditorWatch from a simple idea into a successful
business that has two big companies on the back foot.
David (Dave) Hunt
National Credit Manager at FUJIFILM
Australia Pty Ltd, AICM NSW Council
Member – Membership Portfolio
How did you get involved in the credit
industry and in what capacity have you been
a credit professional?
I started to do some book keeping for some friends operating
small businesses to supplement my studies (Diploma in Business
and a Diploma in Management) but found whilst doing this the
biggest problem they were having was getting paid. This didn’t
seem right to me, they were working very hard but yet couldn’t
afford to pay their creditors on time because they were not being
paid themselves. So I started chasing up their money and found
while doing this that there were a number of other businesses in
the same predicament. I set up my own collection company over
20 years ago and, as the say, the rest is history.
How long have you been involved with the AICM?
Over 5 years
Why did you get involved on Council?
I enjoy getting involved. I want to make a difference and give
something back.
What part of the world do you come from?
Kia Ora, born in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.
What is your favourite movie quote?
“Let the wild rumpus start”. Where the wild things are.
What sport/team do you barrack for?
The All Blacks because I like to support a winning team.
What would you say has been your biggest success in your
career?
Pretty comfortable currently enjoying a senior role in a large
corporate with almost complete autonomy. Just been elected
as Treasurer with the Australian Credit Forum, Board member
at Sydney Junior Rugby Union and really looking forward to
getting involved with the AICM NSW Council.
Andrew Smith
CEO and Founder of Australian Recoveries
& Mercantile Agents, AICM Portfolio –
Membership and Events
How did you get involved in the credit
industry and in what capacity have you been
a credit professional?
When I arrived back in Australia after 2 years living in London
working in what most young guys would describe as their
dream job which entailed promoting the sponsors for major
sporting teams such as Ferrari, Manchester United, The English
Cricket Team and The Wallabies. I had a massive reality check,
as I was 23, back living with mum and dad in Newcastle
with little idea of what I wanted to do with myself. Luckily our
neighbour at the time was a lovely lady called Anne Hatton
who just so happened to be the CEO of a large recruitment
company called TMP. Anne told me I was good with people and
should get into sales so she pulled some strings and got me an
interview with D&B and the rest is history.
How long have you been involved with the AICM – on Council
and other?
I started at D&B as a BDM back in 2003 and as a long time
sponsor of the AICM and the YCP award, I quickly recognised
the benefits of networking within the AICM events to further my
understanding of the Credit Industry and develop my contacts
and long term friendships. After a 4 year sabbatical at Experian,
I returned to D&B for a second time (Some would say I’m a slow
learner) to take up the position of NSW Sales Manager and as
part of D&B’s sponsorship, I was given the opportunity to be a
judge for the NSW YCP in 2009/2010. I’m proud to say I was a
big supporter of Gregg Odlum who won the NSW Award and
backed it up with the National Title, that was despite the fact he
wore a 3-piece suit and had the shiniest shoes I had ever seen
in my life. Since leaving D&B almost 5 years ago, and starting
my own business, I have become joint naming day sponsor
for the NSW AICM Golf Day since its return to the AICM NSW
calendar 2 years ago. I am also the self professed head of the
AICM mafia which has a number of other members who shall
not be named at this stage, who are all as passionate about the
AICM as I am.
44 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2015.
ProfessionalPartner
OfficialDivisionSupportingSponsors
Our National, Divisional and Professional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your
Institute and your Industry please consider them when you require assistance.
NationalPartners
DivisionalPartners
Why did you get involved on Council?
It was time I started giving back to an organisation that has
played such a critical role in my success within the industry.
Without the experience and networks I have developed
through the AICM I would not be where I am now. In addition
the AICM has gone through a significant transformation over
the past few years with Nick as CEO and Grant as President
and I’m excited to be part of the next phase of growth.
What part of the world do you come from?
I was born in Newcastle, but my mother is from England and I
was lucky enough to get a British Passport which allows me to
travel through Europe and work without a visa.
What is your favourite movie quote?
My favourite movie is Braveheart and I can quote many of the
lines in that movie, however another favourite is the Shawshank
Redemption and the quote I remember best is “Get busy living
or get bust dying” which sums up my attitude to life.
What sport/team do you barrack for?
Being a Novocastrian, I have always been a tragic Newcastle
Knights fan, from the time I attended their very first game with
my grandfather in 1988, I always wanted to pull on the red and
blue jersey which I eventually did when I signed a contract to
play in their under 19’s Jersey Flegg team back in 1999. There
are only two players who warrant a mention from that team,
one because he went on to be a dual international playing for
Australian in both league and union (Timana Tahu) and the
other (Clint Newton) who went out with Jennifer Hawkins at the
time and ended up dumping her to focus on football. Do not
remind me that the Knights finished with the wooden spoon in
2015.
What would you say has been your biggest success in
your career?
There have been some highlights in my relatively short career
such as touring through Europe with the Wallabies in 2001 as
their media liaison officer or helping to bring the Professional
Darts Corporation to Australia. But I would have to say starting
my 3rd company, self funding it and going into partnership with
one of my best friends, Shane Ashton, would have to go down
as my biggest success thus far.
Sue Day MICM CCE
NSW Councillor, Membership Portfolio
How did you get involved in the credit
industry and in what capacity have you
been a credit professional?
After I completed my Business Administration
Diploma I started work as a junior
administration clerk (many moons ago). Starting at the bottom
per se, I put what I learned into practice, from filing through
to answering the phone and to taking orders. I really liked
speaking to the customers and over time built up a great
relationship with many of them so, as my role within the
business grew, I would help my boss out and call my favourite
customers for their account payments – this started my career
in credit management. To this day, I still enjoy talking to and
getting to know my customers.
How long have you been involved with the AICM?
I have been a member of the AICM for around ten years.
I’ve been on the council around 3 years and look after the
membership portfolio.
Why did you get involved on Council?
I really believe in the value that this organisation has within the
credit profession. I’m also a strong believer in continual training
and development of your own career as well as developing my
team members. It just felt right to be a part of such an iconic
organisation.
What part of the world do you come from?
I grew up in Perth WA. It was almost 20years ago that my
company brought me to Sydney to Manage the Sydney office.
Sydney is now my hometown.
What is your favourite movie quote?
Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s – “No matter where
you run, you just end up running into yourself.”
What sport/team do you barrack for?
AFL – I’m a Carlton fan
NRL – I’m a Broncos fan
What would you say has been your biggest success in
your career?
Over the years I’ve been able to achieve many milestones.
I really do like seeing my team members achieve success.
For many years, I have had the opportunity to work with
many talented people, I do get an enormous sense of pride,
especially when I see someone I have worked with develop
skills and confidence to move into a more senior role within the
credit profession.
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President’s ReportFirst of all I wish to thank Brian Kay for his encouragement,
mentoring and enthusiasm as our immediate past president.
Brian has made it all look “easy”, whilst being a shining
example of what a fantastic organisation AICM is and will
continue to be.
As you will notice our team of Qld councillors has
increased as members take up engagement and drive your
organisation. AICM is “owned” by all of its members and will
continue to be an organisation creating opportunities for all
members to engage and participate in the future shape of
their industry.
We are making member engagement our state priority this
year. Borrowing from the fantastic work done in NSW, portfolios
will be actioned by not just one person. All members will be
able to assist in a small way, or as much as they wish, by simply
contacting the councillors and saying they would like to lend a
hand.
Some of the things members are already able to engage in,
or by, include Facebook and LinkedIn (contact Stacey “FBF”
Woodward from Hastings Deering), fantastic events such as the
“Women In Credit (WINC) Function” (contact Julie McNamara at
Patane Lawyers), and Members’ Services (contact Mel Grob at
Ranstad). Other means of engagement will be announced with
the next AICM Qld calendar.
If members or their employers would like to help in any
way, a list of councillors’ contacts and their portfolios will be
circulated shortly.
In July, Qld hosted the Dun & Bradstreet 2015 Qld AICM
Young Credit Professional Dinner, with NCI’s Michael McDowell
(and likely winner of the national YCP award) announced as our
state’s winning candidate. Murray Walter (of Dun & Bradstreet)
was also awarded our annual Marion Hintz Meritorious Services
Award 2015 for his commitment and assistance over the years,
not just in 2015. Thank you again, Murray.
August saw a fantastic group turn up for our 2015
WinCollect Annual Qld AICM Golf Day at the Wynnum Golf
Club which runs along Wynnum Road. The weather was a
little dodgy and some wayward shots meant Wynnum Road
drivers may have noticed unseasonal “hail” damage to their
cars, however it was an excellent day. Thank you again to our
continuing key sponsor, WinCollect, as well as our other event
and state supporters, without whom such events would not be
possible.
We are all looking forward to an excellent conference in
Sydney 2015, and to catching up with all our fellow members to
share our experiences in the credit profession in this last year.
– Peter Mills MICM, President
YCPA Event: Stacey Woodward, Melinda Grob, Jessica Beikoff and Roger Masamvu.
YCPA Event: Gemma Poore, Jessica Beikoff, Murray Walter, Michael McDowell and Renee Dobson.
Brian Kay and Murray Murray Walter accepting the Marion Hintz Meritorious Service Award 2015 from Brian Kay.
46 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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Roger Masamvu MICM – Qld Councillor, Vice President/Treasurer
Roger’s face would be a familiar one, as
previous winner of the Qld YCP award back
in 2013 Roger joined council and was recently
appointed Vice President. He currently holds
the role of Credit Manager for JBS Australia.
In his spare time Roger enjoys spending time outdoors in the
company of friends.
Julie McNamara FICM CCE – Qld Councillor, Events
Julie has been looking after the 2015 events
for Qld and if the YCP event this year was
anything to go by, she’s doing a fantastic
job. She has spent the past year at Patane
Lawyers as the National Credit Consultant &
Business Development Manager. Previous to
that she had spent 7 years with Hyne Timber. Julie’s number
one passion is her family. She loves challenging not only herself
but her husband to keep fit and healthy.
Peter Mills, MICM, LLB – Qld Councillor, President, Partners
Peter has been a member of AICM for over
10 years. He is also a member of the Qld
Law Society’s Banking & Financial Services
Committee and a Working Group Member of
the United Kingdom’s Secured Transactions
Law Reform Project. Peter is a Special Counsel
with Thomson Geer Lawyers, and a recognised expert on the
Personal Property Securities Act and its interaction with other
laws.
Peter lived and worked overseas as a lawyer, sailed
competitively in PNG and was a trained firecrew in the QFS. He
enjoys family trips (especially skiing, golf and NZ wine tours). In
2010 Peter received the AICM National award recognising him
for “outstanding contribution to the development of the body of
knowledge in relation to the Personal Property Securities law
reform in the credit industry”. He was also recognised in 2013
with the inaugural AICM Qld Marion Hintz award.
Greg Young MICM CCE – Qld Director
Greg holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the
University of Queensland (1979), a Bachelor of
Laws Degree from the Queensland Institute
of Technology (now QUT) (1985) and was
admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court
of Queensland (1984) and the High Court of
Australia (1986). He has been a Justice of the
Peace since 1982.
Greg is a past President of the Queensland Branch of the
Australian Institute of Credit Management and currently the
Queensland Branch Director to the National Board as well
as a Past President of the Rotary Club of Wishart and the
Australia-Africa Business Council. He has been a specialist
in Commercial Litigation for in excess of 25 years and is an
experienced speaker on topics including debt recovery, credit
control and insolvency litigation. He is also an accomplished
author and has had articles published in various journals and
magazines.
Greg is a Partner in Forbes Dowling Lawyers based in
Brisbane. Forbes Dowling is a National Commercial Litigation
and Debt Recovery law firm.
Introducing Qld’s 2015 YCPA winner
Michael McDowellMichael is currently a Sales Executive with NCI, not only taking
out this year’s Qld YCP award, also excelling within NCI by
taking out Sales Person
of the Year in June. In
his spare time Michael
enjoys fishing, bike
riding and is an avid
sports fan, his team
being the Sydney
Swans in the AFL. A
little known fact about
Michael is that in 2007
he spent a summer in
England playing cricket.
We all wish Michael the
best of luck at this year’s
conference (not that
he’ll need it!)
Murray Walter (left) and Michael McDowell.
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The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2015.
DivisionalPartners
Our National and Divisional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit
Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your Institute and your Industry
please consider them when you require assistance.
NationalPartners
Golf Day
Golf Day
Golf Day
Qld YCP finalistsAlthough not winning this year’s Qld YCP these ladies were
fantastic competition, each handling themselves brilliantly
throughout the judging process. We hope to see them in the
years to come at AICM events and conference.
2015 Qld Golf Day ReportWynnum Golf Course played host to this years Wincollect AICM
Golf Day. The course and greens were in fantastic condition
after being hosed off by the warm Queensland rain. The
teams of 4 rolled out cart by cart for the shotgun start ambrose
competition. The weather was a little hit and miss which only
added to the tight finish that resulted in the difference between
first and second place being 0.5 of a point.
The first place getters were the Dun & Bradstreet team with
a score of 52.375 (Murray Walter, Tim Lord, Micheal Blonk and
Peter Waugh) followed very closely by the Forbes Dowling
team (D Myrteza, P Manttan, M Elliot and S Dawson) with a
score of 52.875. Third place went to the Veda team who had
to import Charlie Tims from Victoria. Tim Lord and Carla Sierlis
took out the longest drive and the following took out nearest to
pins – Peter Manttan, Mark Browning and Micheal Blonk.
Thanks go to Wincollect for their major sponsorship, to Greg
Young in absentia and to our hole sponsors and other prize
suppliers – D&B, Forbes Dowling, Veda, Randstad, Results
Legal, Creditorwatch, Thomson Geer Lawyers and the AICM.
A great day was had by all and thanks goes to the Wynnum
Golf Course for their excellent hospitality and set up. See you
all next year.
Renee Dobson Jessica Beikoff Gemma Poore
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President’s ReportWith EOFY well behind us we are getting closer to the ‘silly
season’. SA councillors will now be focussing on their final
networking event for the year. We are also going to rev up the
calendar of events for 2016, so everyone stay tuned!
Credit Focus events have continued to coast along with the
latest presenters being James Neate and Alan Scott – both of
which have many years’ experience and know how to grab their
audience’s attention!
We still have one of our very popular educational events
to go which is the full day Credit Symposium. A modern and
central venue is being considered with the date to be around
mid to late November. This is a must for all credit professionals
as it is guaranteed to have a high calibre of speakers and
provides an ideal opportunity to compare notes with your
peers.
Our annual Award’s Dinner was a great night. The guest
speaker, Mr David Griggs, gave all attendees a little something
to take home and consider when looking at self-improvement
particularly with regards to professionalism and poise. Michael
Seychell, State Manager Dun & Bradstreet, was kept busy
giving the audience a background on their involvement in the
YCP awards and introducing the finalists. Josh Richards gave
out the new member’s certificates and years of service pins.
Michael then returned to announce our YCP winner for 2015,
Tate O’Connor, from NCML. Tate gave a very encouraging and
humble thank you speech showing his natural ability to think on
his feet. All the best at National’s Tate.
Since our AGM we are pleased to say we have a few
new faces on council. We look forward to our continued
brain storming and invigorating meetings. Council is always
looking for new venues and a different format for our
functions and any feedback is appreciated to move in a
positive direction.
Over the months ahead we will be looking at areas to
increase the interaction with our Sponsors. We value their
support and will be encouraging them to meet and work with
us to ensure they receive the optimum exposure and benefits
of being involved with the AICM.
Bring on summer! Adelaide has had a bitterly cold and wet
winter. Let’s make the most of the warm months ahead with
some outdoor events.
– Gail Crowder MICM, SA Division President
Credit Focus, 17 October 2015
Processes – Risk Analysing Customers Presenter Trevor Goodwin from NCI (National Credit Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd).
Trevor covered in his presentation all the “needs to know” of
Risk Analysing. I must say even though we were only small
YCP Finalists for SA with Michael Seychell, State Manager Dun & Bradstreet.
Year of service pin recipients – Stephen Prescott, James Devonish, John Antoniadis, AJ Jaramillo, Nick Cooper and Rod Sims.
YCP Award – Michael Seychell State Manager Dun & Bradstreet with YCP SA Winner Tate O’Connor from NCML Limited.
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 49
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in numbers we certainly made up for it with involvement and
questions throughout the presentation.
Topics discussed were Risk Assessment, Warning Signs,
Identifying, Monitoring and Communicating just to name a
few but there were many more areas that we touched on
throughout the morning session.
Trevor reminded us all of the 5 “C’s” of Credit. Character,
Capacity, Capital, Collateral and Conditions. This should be a
strong base to start when opening a trade account or analysing
your customers. Who are you dealing with?
There were some great questions and experiences
discussed and everyone seemed to go away with lots of
“food for thought”. Trevor presented this topic very well and
was easily understood by all in attendance. I emailed the
presentation notes and received positive feedback on how
well this Credit Focus session was received.
– Anne Wilkins FICM CCE, Credit Focus Portfolio
James Neate of Lynch Meyer – Credit Focus presenter for August.
SA new members certificate presentation.
Annual Awards NightOur Annual Awards dinner for the Young Credit Professional
of the year, sponsored by Dun & Bradstreet, was held on
Wednesday 20th August at The Highway. We had 80 people
attend the event showing their enthusiasm for networking
and socialising amongst their peers. It turned out to be a most
enjoyable evening, The Highway was a lovely venue, perfect size
for our numbers, and had excellent service and quality meals.
The guest speaker for the evening was Mr David Griggs,
who is a professional development speaker. David gave a brief
presentation focussing on some tips on “How to best present
ourselves at public speaking engagements”. Kevin Hollister,
from Kemps Credit Solutions, provided the introduction and
vote of thanks.
State Manager D&B, Michael Seychell, introduced the
finalists for the YCP State Award; Emma- Jade Eaton from
National Credit Management, Glen Wingate from National
Credit Management, Irene Baird from Bendigo and Adelaide
Bank, Jade Clayton-Cuch from Mercantile CPA, Shivaan
Christensen from National Credit Management, Tate O’Connor
from National Credit Management, Yulia Petrenko from Worrells
Solvency & Forensic Accountants and Wayne Howard from
National Credit Management. Later in the evening Michael
announced Tate O’Connor as the winner of the SA YCP Award
for 2015. Good luck in the nationals Tate!
During the evening, Josh Richards the SA Division’s
membership chair, presented AICM Membership certificates
Alan Scott of BRI Ferrier – Credit Focus presenter for September.
Events Calendar12 November
Credit Focus – PPSR and retention of title implicationsSpeaker: TBASubject: Protecting your security interest
Venue: educATion deVeloPmenT cenTre, HindmArSH
4 December
Network evening and Christmas break up
50 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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to a range of new members. Josh also announced the “Years
of Service Memberships” and presented pins to each, ranging
from 5 to 30 years.
To conclude this enjoyable evening State President, Gail
Crowder, thanked everyone for attending and D&B for their
ongoing sponsorship of the YCP Award.
We look forward to seeing everyone next year!
The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2015.
DivisionalPartners
Our National and Divisional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit
Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your Institute and your Industry
please consider them when you require assistance.
NationalPartners
SA Credit Focus.
Throw money at the bottle winner Sean with Sarah, Gail and Claire.
SA Credit Focus: Lyn McKell (left) with Merna Spain.
SA Quiz: Throw money at the bottle – Rebecca and Daniela.
SA Quiz: Lynch meyer table.
SA Quiz: Quiz Night winning table – Hunt & Hunt.
Quiz NightThe SA Division’s Quiz night was held on Friday 26 June
at the Unley Community Hall. It was a fun and entertaining
night and the hall was the perfect size for our group of 60
people. The quizmaster for the evening was the experienced
Chris Rebbeck who entertained attendees with an array of
interesting questions. Games held on the evening included
“Heads and Tails” and “Throw the Money” at a bottle of
Chivas Regal.
After a keenly fought contest Hunt & Hunt Lawyers came
out winners on the evening for the second year in a row.
Congratulations to the winning team!
Through the kind generosity of sponsors we were able to
raffle a number of great prizes on the night. An auction of an
R&M Williams voucher was also conducted on the night, with
the winning bid by Neil Ricketts.
We thank the following sponsors for their donations:
R&M Williams
Bickfords Australia/Vok Beverages
Veda Advantage
Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants
Banner 10
National Credit Insurance (Brokers)
Samuel Smith & Son
Pernod Ricard Winermakers
Hills Industries
Coopers Brewery
Toro Australia
Hunt & Hun Lawyers
Kemps Credit Solutions
Lynch Meyer Lawyers
Festival City Wines & Spirits
– Trevor Goodwin FICM CCE, Functions
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July Network Event – Rebecca Fahey (Smith Leonard Fahey Lawyers) presents on Litigation.
August Network Breakfast – Jason McCutcheon presents on Being a Good Leader.
August Network Breakfast – Members and Guests focussed on the Presenation.July Network Event – Active participation on the part of
members and Guests at the July Network Event.
President’s ReportI would like to welcome on board Neil Smith to the council.
Neil will be looking after the Pinnacle Awards. Stay tuned more
on this in the very near future. I would also like to thank all the
other councillors who choose to re nominate and remain on the
Vic/Tas Council I thank you for your ongoing support. The Vic/Tas
council is committed to bringing our members a diverse range of
events from the credit network forums through to social events
such as the always popular Golf Day and Trivia Nights.
We have had another fantastic participation in the
Vic/Tas Young Credit professional Awards with more than
22 enquiries and 14 applications submitted. All entrants set
a very high standard with their application and right through
the whole interview process. I would personally like to thank
each and every applicant for their time and effort getting this
far. I would like to congratulate Patrick Barry from Good Year &
Dunlop Tyres as this year’s Vic/Tas YCPA winner. Patrick will be
representing Vic/Tas at the National Young Credit Professional
Awards in Sydney at the National Credit Conference. Also
congratulations to Kimberly Milton from Thorn Group NCML for
winning the Tony Mamone Award.
I extend a warm invitation to all our members to participate
where possible in upcoming events or seminars. If there is a
topic or seminar you would like included in next year’s Vic/Tas
calendar of events please get in contact with us via our email
address [email protected].
Look forward in seeing you at our next event.
– Lou Caldararo FICM CCE
June Network Event: To litigate or not to litigate? That is the Question!
Rebecca Fahey of Smith Leonard Fahey Lawyers delivered an
excellent presentation on making that all important decision
as to whether to litigate or not. Rebecca has over 15 years’
experience in the industry and covered the importance and
relevance of litigation and tips or tactics that can be used in
order to bring a speedy resolution with a favourable outcome.
She also covered some very important steps that can be taken
prior to proceedings to minimise your risk and help protect
your business from future episodes of litigation. The event
was well attended with approximately twenty in attendance
and the feedback from members and guests was that it was
an informative and enjoyable presentation. Many thanks to
Rebecca for donating her time and expertise.
– Donna Smith MICM
July Network Event – Members and Guests keenly focussed on the presentation.
52 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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YCPA – President Lou Caldararo with Keynote Speaker Narelle Fraser.
Victoria/Tasmania
August Networking Breakfast– What Makes a Good Leader?
A quality group of members and guests attended our August
Network Night, where Jason McCutcheon from Biscom
Training, recipient of the Swinburne University of Technology
Industry Engagement Award in 2010 and runner up for Teacher
of the Year at Box Hill TAFE in 2010 and 2012, delivered an
excellent presentation on “Being a Good Leader within the
Credit Industry”.
A quality group of members and guests showed great
interest as Jason discussed how managing people well can be
the difference between a successful or unsuccessful business.
It was a great presentation for aspiring leaders as not everyone
can lead people well. Fundamentally being is a great leader is
about being able to engage your team and inspire their respect.
Not only are these great skills to have as a leader but great
skills to have as a collector. Any education that you can gain
in this area will be invaluable for your future no matter what
industry. Watch out for upcoming educational events.
– Donna Smith MICM
YCP Awards DinnerWe seem to outdo ourselves year after year. Another group of
quality entrants in this years’ Young Credit Professional (YCP)
of the Year Awards. There were 14 applicants who stepped
up and entered in the prestigious YCP Awards for 2015. The
entrants were Laura Sheehan (Ansvar Insurance), Daphne
Zevgaras (Reece), Joshua Rutland (Bendigo & Adelaide Bank),
Stacey Feaver (Austral Mercantile), Megan Kernick (Reece),
Kimberley Milton (Thorn Group NCML) who took out second
place (the Tony Mammone Award for runner up) and Patrick
Barry (GoodYear & Dunlop Tyres) who is Vic/Tas Division winner
for 2015!
Congratulations to Patrick and Kimberley and to all the
participants for getting involved and taking part. Being part
of the YCP Awards is an excellent way to strengthen your
relationship with your employers, gain valuable self-esteem,
confidence and recognition in your workplace, and become
more involved in the AICM, where you can network and meet
other likeminded credit professionals.
Patrick will represent Vic/Tas Division in this year’s National
YCP Award Finals to be held at the National Conference in
Sydney this year.
Again our congratulations and thanks go out to all the
participants for making the commitment to themselves, their
employers and the AICM in participating this year and a big
thank you to the panel of judges, without their valuable input
we would not be able to hold this event.
A very charismatic Narelle Fraser was our Keynote Speaker
this year. Narelle was a member of Victoria Police for 27 years,
the last 15 as a Detective specialising in sex offence and child
abuse investigations. She worked in areas such as the Rape
& Sexual Crimes Squads, Missing Persons Unit & Homicide
Squad. Narelle transferred to the country in 2005 where her
Detective training skillset was dramatically tested. Investigating
sex offences & child abuse she expected, but dealing with
cranky livestock & native ‘wild’ animals was a whole new world
to a female cop with a secret fear of animals. Life as a ‘country
cop’ tested every level of Narelle’s experience & expertise!
Narelle recanted stories from her time as a police officer; some
funny, some sad and some shocking as promised. One of the
main challenges facing our Police men and women is stress
YPCA – Robyn Erskine (Brooke Bird) Members and Guests.
YCPA – VIC/TAS Divison YCP Award Winner Partick Barry (GoodYear & Dunlop Tyres) and Runner Up Kimberley Milton (Thorn Group NCML).
October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 53
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YPCA – Laura Sheehan (Ansvar Insurance) and guests.
Victoria/Tasmania
The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2015.
DivisionalPartners
Our National, Divisional and Professional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your
Institute and your Industry please consider them when you require assistance.
NationalPartners
ProfessionalPartners
management, and Narelle certainly conveyed that message in
her presentation. It is not often we take stock of what our Police
members endure as part of their day-to-day roles.
Special thanks go to our National Sponsor Dun & Bradstreet
for their continued support of the AICM and for again
sponsoring this annual event.
A huge thank you goes to Louis Tzakopoulos and the YCP
sub-committee for their tireless work in receiving applications,
interviewing candidates and getting the word out there to
young people in credit. You are the future of credit so get
involved!
YCPA – Members and Guests from Bendigo Bank.
YCPA – President Lou Caldararo, Darin Milner (Dun & Bradstreet) and Louie Tzakopoulos (Wurth Aust) with the VIC/TAS Division YCPA Entrants.
We would also like to thank the members on the committee
who organised the event and the Intercontinental Hotel for their
wonderful 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 2016 YCP
Awards please contact YCPA committee chair Louie
Tzakopoulos: [email protected]
– Donna Smith MICM
Inspirational quote of the Vic/Tas Division“Keep on learning, because knowledge is something that no
one can take away from you.”
– Jessie J.
Caption
20th November
Women in Credit Business LuncheonSave the date!! more details coming soon. Your chance to hear fabulous female speakers and network with women in the credit industry.
4th December
VIC/TAS Division Christmas Partycocktail party at Krimpers
20 Guildford ln, melBourne Vic 3000
Events Calendar
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WA YCP finalsists.
Western Australia/Northern Territory
President’s ReportThe AGM is always a time to reflect on the year’s achievements,
successes and failures. Without all three we would not have a
complete picture. The WA Council has a great mixture of youth
and experience. This year has shown that such a team can do
just about anything.
Quality has been our drive in 2015. The Breakfast
Club Series has delivered information on Bankruptcy
Fundamentals, Mining and Mining Services as well as a
PPSR Workshop. We have been able to cover relevant and
important topics to the WA Members. We look forward to
continue this next year. Still to come is the Ladies High Tea
and Christmas on the Bay.
In July our members gathered for the YCP Awards Gala
Dinner. We had many great candidates but as they say, there
can only be one winner. David Brennan is a worthy winner
and when you meet him you will see why. He is very much
a gentleman and a scholar, with a broad cross section of
experience in credit and in life. We are very proud to have
him represent Western Australia at the National Conference in
October.
My initial reason for joining Council was to extend myself,
both as an individual and as a credit professional. Initially
involved with functions, I booked, planned and hosted my first
event within 8 weeks of arriving on Council. Developing the
functions portfolio seemed to fit with me but stepping into the
President’s role would take some real chutzpah, willingness to
learn and lots of growth.
I understand each day in the chair will provide a new
challenge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I am looking
forward to building on what we have and bringing a fresh
approach on how we do things. I encourage all members to
contact me direct with any questions or suggestions.
– Lisa Marr MICM
WA CouncilSteve Mitchinson LICM – WA National Director
Steve joined the AICM back in 1978 and has spent many
years both in WA council and national Board, serving as
National President between 1994 and 1997. After many years
in a variety of credit and customer management roles, Steve
started his own business improvement consultancy in 2007
and has a number of Australia’s most recognised brands as
clients. Steve is a devoted Fremantle Dockers supporter and
spends his time away from work paddling surf skis and is an
active supporter and fundraiser for the Cure Brain Cancer
Foundation.
Byron Savage MICM – WA Councillor and Treasurer
Byron has a long career as an accountant, primarily in
insolvency practice (gaining registration as a Liquidator),
in Australia and extended periods in the UK. He later re-
focussed his energies to become a credit manager for some
large ASX entities. A more recent change has Byron now
direct the Finance activities in the Shared Service office for
the WA Department of Health to include its billing and credit
control. Being on the Council for 6 years he is enjoying the
roll of looking after the dollars for the Institute’s long-term
financial security. When not taking in the armchair sport of
AFL spectating, he escapes the family and responsibilities for
mountain biking… as he attempts to regain his youth.
Speaker Mark Englebert.
Guests at the Gala Dinner.
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Tamera Russell MICM – WA Councillor
Tamera has a credit career spanning 10 years and she has
worked in a variety of industries including Automotive Part
Supply, Freight, Labour Hire, Scaffolding and Industrial Services,
Telematics, Machinery and now Retail. As a member of WA
Council her goal is to increase the interest of the younger credit
professionals with the AICM, firstly with event attendance and
secondly with membership. Outside of work Tamera was a
successful Roller Figure Skater competing for Australia. Now
she spends some of her free time coaching up and coming
skaters at her local roller rink. The rest of her free time is taken
up with watching movies/TV shows, travelling and keeping
active.
David Brennan – 2015 WA YCP
David joined the credit industry in 2012
with a goal to change the way that credit
was assessed and issued through the
use of technology, loan assessment
algorithms and machine learning. Starting
from a totally blank piece of paper he
created a consumer lending assessment
Lisa Marr WA President.
Guests at the Gala Dinner.
Guests at the Gala Dinner.
process and business which has since meaningfully changed
the efficiency of the industry.
Subsequently David and his team have partnered with
some of the UK and Silicon Valley’s best investors, technology
suppliers and companies to bring Kikka Capital to the
Australian market, an SME lending platform offering business
owners lines of credit up to 100k and assessed online in 7
minutes.
When not working David is an avid fitness enthusiast,
enjoys traveling, watching movies or anything competitive
and generally enjoys learning about how technology
can disrupt traditional industries. It is through this love of
technology and its implementation to the credit market that
David hopes to bring younger, more technology focused
views to the AICM.
Warren Myers MICM – WA Councillor
Warren is a Recruitment and Credit
Services Consultant specialising in credit
recruitment and assisting companies
with credit services to manage the
debtor’s ledger. His Credit experience
includes corporate debt recovery to
credit recruitment and credit services
assisting companies to improve and maintain cash flow. His
passion is helping people achieve their goals, ocean surfing
and swimming.
Speaker Ian Francis.
56 CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA • October 2015
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SWestern Australia/Northern Territory
The Australian Institute of Credit Management welcomes our Partners for 2015.
DivisionalPartners
Our National and Divisional Partners support and work with the AICM to promote the Institute’s activities, represent the Credit
Industry and develop the careers of all Credit Professionals. As these organisations support your Institute and your Industry
please consider them when you require assistance.
NationalPartners
Great guests, great food – at the Gala Dinner.
YCP Gala DinnerLights! Camera! Action!
This year the WA Division sought to step away from tradition
with the Dun & Bradstreet Sponsored YCP Award night. The
event was moved from city central to the Perth riverside. The
PCEC was the venue for this years YCP presentation. The blue
and silver colors of the AICM decked the tables and brought
to life the chatter at each table. The new Sponsor banners
highlighted the continued support we have in WA and across
Australia for the work we do.
The candidates covered a cross section of credit areas here
in WA to include state utilities and new technology for credit
management. We are continually encouraged by the calibre of
credit professional that nominates for this prestigious award.
The future looks bright here in WA and I’m sure there is more
talent to come.
We look forward to unearthing these individuals as the year
progresses. If you have a team member that works hard and
understands their role in credit, then we would love to hear
from you.
– Lisa Mar MICM
August 2015We were very privileged to have our National President visit
during August. Nick Pilavidis hosted a small “Round Table” in
Subiaco and attended the Breakfast Club Series. It was great
to meet Nick and especially nice to have him here for my first
event as President.
20 November
AICM Breakfast Club, Time: 7.15 am
Venue: mATildA BAY nedlAndS
10 December
XMAS on the Bay Venue: SouTH of PerTH YAcHT cluB, freSHwATer BAY
Events Calendar
The WA Breakfast Club has slowly grown in stature for 2015.
Each presentation has been well subscribed and the topic
well researched. Mark Englebert’s presentation on Mining and
Mining Services on the 12th August 2015 was no different. With
the Mining Industry going through many changes we, as credit
professionals, need to keep up with trends and look further into
clients habits than we normally would. If you require a copy of
the presentation notes please let me know.
– Lisa Mar MICM
September 2015Will be a quieter month for us here is the West. However, we
will be getting a little louder toward the end of September with
the Social Soiree – High Tea.
Steve Mitchinson and Kevin Allen.
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October 2015 • CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA 57
New Members
QueenslandAmber Hanson Construction Materials Pty Ltd
Anderson-Goodwin
Ben Blake Transpacific Industries Pty Ltd
Charmayne Cullum ……
Deborah Douglass Rocla Pipeline Products
Megan Dunbar Dun & Bradstreet Australia Pty Ltd
Nicholas Feyer Seaway Agencies
Angela Flanagan Coventry Group Ltd
Kirsty Gray Stoddart Group
Jessica Harris Signet Pty Ltd
Ross Leggett Ruralco Holdings Limited
Loan Nguyen Stoddart Group Pty Ltd
Shaun Rose Rose Litigation Lawyers
Sharlene Roycroft Signet Pty Ltd
Maria Teodosio Stoddart Group
Maria Tisdell …….
Elizabeth Tofa Hanson Construction Materials Pty Ltd
Kerryann Turner Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Jenny Ung Rodgers Reidy Chartered Accountants
Nathan Wilkinson National Collection Services
Roman Wyrich Coventry Group Ltd
New South WalesFarhad Aram Ruralco Holdings Limited
Robin Carter Byron Thomas Recruitment
Geraldine Catig Ruralco Holdings Limited
Anne Fahey Skilled Group Limited
Claudia Harley Rocla Quarry Products
Eva He BOC Ltd
Natalie Joseph MSA (Aust) Pty Ltd
Caroline Karaki Shield Mercantile Pty Ltd
David Moss Vodafone Hutchison Australia
Cheryl-Anne Murray Rocla Pty Ltd
Yessyria Panggabean Employsure Pty Ltd
Michael Quinn Australian Receivables Limited
Morris Sclippa Ruralco Holdings Limited
Leigh Shipton SR Law
Arthur Siannos Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Rinu Thomas Ruralco Holdings Limited
CORPORATE MEMBER
Right2Drive Pty Ltd
Victoria/TasmaniaLynda Allen Lander & Rogers Lawyers
Ersilia Barbone White Cleland Lawyers
Nancy Costa National Credit Management Limited
Loren Crawford Seek Ltd
Brett Cresswell Skilled Group Ltd
Debra Enright GWA Group Limited
Meghan Gruber Adidas Australia Pty Ltd
Clayton Gunderson Rodwells & Co
Annette Hand Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Teresa Harut Seek Ltd
Malcolm Howell Jirsch Sutherland
Jennifer Iese Seek Ltd
Brian Maher Adidas Australia Pty Ltd
Malani Mason Reece Pty Ltd
Adrienne Mills Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory
Kimberley Milton National Credit Management Limited
Anjali Munjal Australia Post
Kerry Nicholl Thomas Warburton Pty Ltd
Tony Pilimon Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Anthony Pilimon Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Jaydene Pirake Seek Ltd
Kelly Poulton Adidas Australia Pty Ltd
Priya Ramani Australia Post
Sohail Raza Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Anthony Rivas Australian Receivables Limited
Karen Russell Total Eden Pty Ltd
Michelle Saavedra Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres (Aust) P/L
Zdenka Sare Peerless Holdings Pty Ltd
Eunice Sissing National Credit Management Limited
Elizabeth Stonehouse GWA Group Limited
Kalpana Teckchandani Thomas Warburton Pty Ltd
Glenn Thomas Australia Post
Tania Walsh Seek Ltd
Kristin Witt Decision Intellect Pty Ltd
South AustraliaMichael Bayly National Credit Management Limited
Dominic Cantone Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Emma Clapp National Credit Insurance (Brokers) Pty Ltd
James Cooper Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Neil Fennell Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Jaden Harrip Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Zaena John CCC Financial Solutions Group
Antonios Kovios National Credit Management Limited
Rocco Lionello CCC Financial Solutions Group
Scott McGrice Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Matthew Paulsen Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Yulia Petrenko Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Leigh Prior Pitcher Partners
George Vahaviolos CCC Financial Solutions Group
Monika Vucenovic Kemps Credit Solutions
Montgomery Wolf Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Rebecca Young Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants
Western AustaliaScott Chaproniere Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd
Daniel Czaplinski National Credit Insurance (Brokers) P/L
Colette Davies Rocla Pipeline Products
Johlee Fernandez National Credit Insurance (Brokers) P/L
Rosanna Maugeri ………
Benjamin McCallum iiNet Ltd
Kate McDonald Sealanes (1985) Pty Ltd
Michel Tholasse Global Construction Services Ltd
NEW MEMBERS
The Institute welcomes the following credit professionals who were recently admitted to membership in July and August 2015.
Understand complex business structuresIf you extend credit terms, you need to get the complete picture to minimise the risk of bad debt.
VedaCheck Visual makes knowing where the money flows simple by helping you to:
Uncover the people behind a business to help avoid risky dealings
See relationships between entities and uncover subsidiary companies you didn’t know existed
Search the PPSR to understand priority of interests around similar goods and when accounts receivable financing exists
Understand ownership and control structures.
It’s intuitive, and it’s easy. It’s Veda.
For more information contact Ian Hadwen on (02) 9278 7997 or visit veda.com.au/visual