The global financial crisis did not spare the Australian economy and business community. With bankruptcies and payment delays rising, a large group of credit managers gathered at separate events organized by Dun & Bradstreet Australia to hear the latest economic forecast, results of D&B’s business optimism surveys and to discuss a range of information services that will assist credit managers to mitigate risk.
BIIA managing director Joachim C Bartels spoke about the lessons learned from the global financial crisis, the role of information in this crisis and discussed the implications on credit management and credit information services. The implications are still severe. It certainly made the task of credit managers more difficult as they switched from a credit management mode to a liquidity management mode.
Based on a BIIA survey of international credit managers the implications are still severe, risk mitigation and cash flow are expected to be the main focus for the next 18 to 24 months. Financial statements were rendered useless because of the rapid meltdown in liquidity in the supply chain. Taking into account that a lot of the ‘real-time’ data comes from the public information sector it may be part of the inertia problem. The other real-time information comes from trade credit granting community in form of trade information. May be a greater degree of contribution from that sector may bring about the desired dynamic risk assessment which credit managers are seeking, rather than relying on past financial statements alone.
Further information can be obtained by contacting Danielle Woods: Woodsd@dnb.com.au
