km Entrepreneur Day 2012

As the host of the event, km credit consulting gmbh invited guests to the km Entrepreneur Day at Gut Mydlinghoven near Düsseldorf on May 8, 2012. The event was initiated in order to discuss current topics relevant to the credit management industry with interested business partners.

The agenda of the km Entrepreneur Day including the following three topics:

• Bankruptcy proceedings: latest news from law and practice
• Challenges and opportunities in credit management
  – efficient processes for your business
• Credit management case study

As the guest speakers, we were able to win over Dr. Wencke Mull, Director of Risk Service at Atradius Credit Insurance NV and Dr. Christian Wolf from the Görg law offices as well as Dr. Michael Sauter, Managing Director of Guardean GmbH. Dr. Mull and Dr. Wolf spoke on the topic of “Bankruptcy proceedings: latest news from law and practice.” Dr. Sauter spoke on the subject of “Challenges and opportunities in credit management – efficient processes for your business.”

Jörg P. Kowalewski welcomes the guests to km Entrepreneur Day 2012

Success factors in credit management

Sven Coels introduces the km Benchmark Study

Sven Coels, our Senior Credit Consultant, presented our audience with the most important results from the benchmark study “Success factors in credit management.” The study was carried out by km credit consulting and internationally operating corporations.

In presenting the results, Mr. Coels generally zeroed in on the insight that, by definition, “the right” kind of credit management cannot exist. In fact, the orientation is subject to various influence factors, such as market situations and market strategies, the individual structural organization and the position of the company in the respective market, just to name a few of the parameters. The summarized empirical values created a lively discussion amongst the attendees in order to get closer to what distinguishes successful credit management in corporations at an industry and international level.

The study’s core results showed that in the participating companies different levels of development in credit management were observed. Three development steps can be recognized in detail:

• Administration (standard accounts receivable bookkeeping)
• Monitoring (regulating function)
• Planning and responsibility (credit analyst)

Especially the changes within the scope and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis have triggered a clear trend within the companies to actively approach the professionalization and, in turn, the further development of credit management activities.

Furthermore, Mr. Coels described in how far the study had highlighted the success factors in credit management from the viewpoint of the queried companies and went on to describe this. In terms of km credit consulting, the following success factors are decisive:

• Top company management should be a “sponsor” of the credit management function
• Autonomy of the credit management organization in its decision-making
• Integration into the overall sales process (interaction with sales organization)
• Efficiency of the credit management processes (effort – use)
• Development, implementation, and regular updating of credit guidelines
• Development of internal scoring systems
• Credit management software creates an overview and provides transparency
• Further development of the credit manager job specifications
• Communicate successes clearly, precisely and positively
• Further development of existing insurance structures

First km Entrepreneur Day 2012

Bankruptcy proceedings: latest news from law and practice

Lectures by Dr. Mull and Dr. Wolf

On the basis of current bankruptcy proceedings, Dr. Mull and Dr. Wolf presented the effects of the new bankruptcy code, which has been in effect since March 1, 2012. In doing so, they triggered an animated exchange of information and a proactive discussion amongst the participants. One area of focus was the function of the creditors’ board as well as their rights and obligations.

A brief overview of the most important points:

• Strengthening of the creditor position during the selection of the bankruptcy administrator
• Introduction of a so-called creditor protection process
• Simplification of the access for independent administration
• Expansion and streamlining of the bankruptcy process

• Course of action in case of late or slow payments by the debtor
• Bankruptcy proceedings: grounds, indicators, process
• The creditor committee
• Supplier rights during bankruptcy proceedings
• Bankruptcy appeal and compensation during the bankruptcy

Bankruptcy proceedings: Dr. Mull and Dr. Wolf give lectures providing the latest legal and practice-related news

Challenges and opportunities in credit management
– efficient processes for your business

Lecture by Dr. Michael Sauter, Guardean GmbH

Dr. Sauter highlighted the significance of the active structuring of efficient credit management processes. In particular, he mentioned that the most diverse sources of information should be analyzed in an automated fashion in order to enable credit management to always have an overview about possible credit defaults at the individual customer level.

• Global economy: current situation and outlook
• Country risks: focus on southern Europe
• Strong together: the sales organization and credit management
• Use potential for optimization in credit management
  • Strategic and administrative assessment of the internal credit management organization
• Proactive work in credit management
  • Credit manager functions as a consultant in the corporation
  • Automation of the information procurement and analysis using credit management software
  • Establishing credit risk scorecards in order to assess and monitor client risks
  • Make and implement decisions
  • Communicate successes and added value

The high quality of the contributions, the active exchange of ideas and experiences between the participants and the often reiterated wish from all sides to continue the discussions regarding these subjects has strengthened the managing directors Markus Moritz and Jörg P. Kowalewski in stating that the km Entrepreneur Day would be established as a communication platform for managers and directors from the world of finance. In the planning of the topics and agenda, the participating companies would be intimately involved thereby ensuring the relevance and timeliness of the topics and issues.

For questions and more detailed information, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you. To contact us, please select one of the methods listed in the column at the right or use our Contact form.