Sunday, February 19, 2012

How to go about credit & debt recovery in slowdown phase

New Delhi, Feb 18 (UNI) A new book warns that in the wake of the recent global financial crisis and slowdown, the risks of businesses resulting from bad debt and ineffective credit controls are greater than ever before.


For businesses and institutions to survive in difficult economic times, there must be effective systems in place to successfully manage credit risks and recover bad debt Losses, the book says.
Entitled 'Essential Guide to Credit Management and Debt Recovery in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and India', the book has been writen by two experts--Roberto (Bobby) Rozario and Puru Grover. The book brings out how credit management is an important business discipline, as it impacts working capital and cash flow of an organisation.

It borrows a common adage in business that goes as follows: 'revenue is vanity, profit is sanity but cash is king!''


Credit is all around us every day. We need to understand that learning about credit management involves gaining greater insight into how it impacts us at the macro and micro level. Business closures, layoffs, higher prices, tax increases and budget deficits are just a few examples of failures in credit management and debt recovery,' the authors say.


The book is a practical, easy-to-follow guide to proven credit management and debt recovery systems throughout the Asia-Pacific region.


It is a book written by leading experts in the financial and credit and money management industry. The authors have drawn upon their years of professional and academic experience to provide a definitive guide for the industries in Hong Kong as well as Malaysia, Singapore and India.


Useful for credit managers and more accessible to beginning students in the field, the book provides a distillation of the essential concepts in credit management and debt recovery. It is supported by current examples and a solid pedagogical framework.


The text has been praised both for its balanced yet solid coverage of traditional topics, and its broad coverage of managing the risk associated with accounts receivable.


The book comes at a time when globally experts are striving to improve credit performance. The global financial crisis is linked to reckless lending practices with a broadbased credit boom which fed into a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities that reinforced risky credit transactions. 'Credit Management that encompasses prudent management of cash is the life blood of all businesses, and takes a paramount position when braving an economic downturn.


The effect of liquidity is immediate and mismanagement of credit could be unforgiving,' the book says.


The foreword of this book is written by the president of the Association of the Credit & Collection Professionals (ACA International - Minneapolis, MN US) which is the world's largest association for credit and collection professionals. 'It is so very important that we continue to encourage more youth to consider credit management as a career goal,'the book says.


Mr Bobby Rozario is the Managing Director of Alpha & Leader Risks and Assets Management Co Ltd in Hong Kong and Principal of Alpha & Leader Law Firm in China. He is the current Executive Councillor and Fellow Member of the Hong Kong Credit and Collection Management Association. Having over 15 years of experience, Mr Puru Grover has worked for organisations like Philips Electronics, Bell and D&B. He is currently the General Manager at Credit Guru Inc, a Canadian company.


Gurdip Singh
Head of Business & Economy
United News of India (UNI)