This Essential and Comprehensive Credit & Collections Benchmarks and Analysis Report is Available Now

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/44a8e9/credit_collectio) has announced the addition of the "Credit & Collections Benchmarks and Analysis 2008" report to their offering.

It’s no secret that today the credit, receivables, and collection functions are in the midst of a sea change—which makes sophisticated and reliable benchmarking more critical than ever.

The Credit & Collections Benchmarks and Analysis provides you with practical advice on how to improve your performance throughout a broad spectrum of cross-functional activities such as bank relationship management, cash forecasting and management, customer financial advising, and sales-marketing.

Featuring extensive data culled from an exclusive survey of hundreds of credit pros nationwide, key metrics covered include:

- top 3 best practices for maximizing performance in credit, receivables, and collections

- automation of deduction management

- automation of credit decisioning

- electronic invoicing

- annual bad-debt write-offs as a percentage of sales

- percent over 60 days past due, ending current receivables

- average time to approve a new order

- auto write-off tolerance

- top strategies to control credit and collection costs and improve efficiencies

- and much, much more

In addition, you'll get valuable insights into how “best in class” companies are successfully reinventing their credit functions to meet today’s new business paradigms with latest in electronic commerce, process improvement, technology, global risk management, systems knowledge, and automated decisioning.

Key Topics Covered:

Introduction

I. overview of 26 key credit & collections benchmarks

Benchmark 1: What Are Your Three Main Credit, Collections, and AR Goals, in Order of Importance?

Benchmark 2: Deduction Management

Benchmark 3: Do You Use a Decisioning Support System in Credit Approval?

Benchmark 4: Do You Allow Anticipation Payment Discounts?

Benchmark 5: Do You Collect Interest on Customers for Delinquent Payments?

Benchmark 6: Top 3 Best Practices for Maximizing Performance in Credit Area

Benchmark 7: Top 3 Best Practices for Maximizing Performance in Collections Area

Benchmark 8: Top 3 Best Practices for Maximizing Performance in the Receivables Area

Benchmark 9: Top 3 Standards Used to Measure Credit Department Performance Relative to Objectives, in Order of Importance

Benchmark 10: Percent of Sales Done by Top 10% and Top 25% of Your Customers

Benchmark 11: Average Number of Employees Reporting to a Single Manager/Supervisor, by Number of Employees

Benchmark 12: Number of Active Customer Accounts (Averages)

Benchmark 13: Number of Employees in Credit & Collections (Averages)

Benchmark 14: Use of Electronic Invoicing, Payments

Benchmark 15: Top 4 New Technologies Adopted Over Past 12 Months

Benchmark 16: Average Number of Employees in AR

Benchmark 17: Department Operation Budget—Credit, Receivables, and Collections

Benchmark 18: Bad-Debt Write-Offs as a Percentage of Beginning Receivables & Average Annual Bad-Debt Write-Offs as a Percentage of Sales, by Number of Employees and Industry

Benchmark 19: Annual Net Bad-Debt Write-Offs as a Percentage of Sales, by Number of Employees and Industry

Benchmark 20: Percent Over 60 Days Past Due, Ending Current Receivables & Percent Over 60 Days Past Due, Ending Total Receivables (Net)

Benchmark 21: Average Time to Approve a New Order (In Days)

Benchmark 22: Auto Write-Off Tolerance

Benchmark 23: Dollar Amount You Will Automatically Ship to New Accounts With No Credit Investigation

Benchmark 24: How Often Do You Manually Check Credit References?

Benchmark 25: How Often Do You Update High-Risk Credit Line Accounts?

Benchmark 26: Five Best Ways to Control Credit and Collections Costs

Ii. detailed analysis of key benchmarks

New Study Benchmarks Best Practices in Key Credit and AR Functions

DSO Tops List of 38 Most Utilized Benchmarks

Credit Decisioning Systems and e-Invoicing Now Essential

Out of 23 New Technologies

Department Productivity & Staff Size Benchmarks

How to Curb Undeserved Losses & Improve Profitability With Better Deduction Mgmt

New Benchmarks for Bad-Debt Write-Offs and Deductions

Is Your AR Department’s Budget and Staff Size Competitive?

New Study Benchmarks New Order Approval Time, Auto Write-Offs, & More

How Does Your Percent Over 60 Days Past Due Compare With Others’?

SAP Still Tops in ERP System Usage

85% of Credit/AR Departments Utilize a Centralized Structure

21 Credit Pros Share Automation Success Stories

Five Best Credit & Collections Department Efficiency and Cost Control Best Practices

IIi. Best practices & strategies

Our Study Reveals Best Practices in Credit, AR, and Collection

Credit Pros Reveal Top Objectives for 2007

Reducing Number of Late-Paying Customers Is Top Credit-Receivables Tactic in 2006

7 Credit Pros Reveal Internal Strategies to Rein in Unauthorized Deductions

12 Credit Pros Share Tips for Building Credit-Sales Rapport

Using ‘SMART’ Performance Metrics to Improve Your Credit and Receivable Functions

Improved DSO, Cost Savings, & Cash Flow Drive EIPP Adoption

Credit Pros Are Now Working With Their CFOs to Improve the Utilization of Working Capital

Using Six Sigma in AR: How Volt Reduced Bad-Debt Write-Offs by $750K Annually

Improve Your AR Analysis by Using Better Aging Buckets

Collection Management Software Can Raise Staff’s Confidence in Your Metrics

When Credit Terms Become Effective Affects Customers’ Payment Behavior

CRF Survey Compares Leading ERP Providers’ Credit Functionality

2 New Surveys Chart Steady Evolution Toward e-Payments

How to Control Lockbox & ACH Bank Services Costs

Terms for e-Payments: Use Latest AP Trends to Help Drive Your AR Dept.’s Response

The Business Case for Credit Cards: 10 Factors That More Than Offset Card Fees

Aberdeen Study Quantifies Cost of AR ERP Solutions

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/44a8e9/credit_collectio