August 2008
Upcoming Events

Webinars
*Join the FCFP and get six free webinars annually at no charge. Contact Kerry Prata at 201-714-4514.

Back to School Consumer Spending*
9/10/08
2:00 - 3:30 pm

Escheatment: What You Need to Know*
9/24/08
2:00 - 3:30 pm

DSO Reduction & Bottom Line Savings with EIPP*
10/15/08
2:00 - 3:30 pm

Workshops
Best Practices in Change Management*
9/12/08
10:30 - 2:30 pm
Holiday Inn
4701 Stelton Road
South Plainfield, NJ

More upcoming events.

A FREE, weekly
e-newsletter from
the FCFP & Smyth
Hearing What's Not Said Can Prevent Costly Credit Mistakes
by Steve Becker
"Our liquidity is fine. As a matter of fact it is better than fine, it's strong..." Ken Lay, CEO Enron 9/26/01; (Not said...the only available source of liquidity was a $3 billion line of credit.)

Sometimes it's not what's said that's important. It's what's not said that can be critical! Think about it. How many credit accounts say their company is in good shape, and then out of the blue they go bankrupt leaving you hanging out to dry. Or customers who say they can't pay right now but go on a long vacation (with your money).
Read more...
Credit and Collections Professionals Are Sales People Too
by Robert S. Shultz
Credit and collections professionals are sales people too. Anyone in a credit and collections role must realize sales is one of their primary responsibilities. However, if you ask most collectors if they are sales people, their hair bristles.
Read more...

The XBRL Revolution: Playing Tag with Powerful Information
By Ira Kaplan
XBRL, eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based digital document markup language that has the ability to greatly improve how we store, retrieve, share, and understand financial information. Markup languages such as XBRL use tags like <company_name>, <StartDate>, and <OtherAdministrativeExpenses> to describe the contents of Web pages, documents, and databases.
Read more...
Understanding & Reducing Credit Card Acceptance
Costs In The B2B Industries
by Matt Fluegge
Thousands of businesses are using cards as payment options and many more are signing up each day, creating an electronic pipeline between their money and their vendors' bank accounts. By supplying organizations with the accounting data needed to track type of spend, Business, Corporate, and Purchasing Cards (collectively referred to as Commercial Cards) are able to enhance the efficiency and cost effectiveness of corporate purchases.
Read more...

10 Things You Need to Know About Managing Returns
By Kristen Metzger
Depending upon your industry, your returns can run as high as 8% of sales and significantly dilute profits. In some industries, it can even be 30% of revenues. As a result, you need to plan the returns process with the same forethought as your forward sales process.
Read more...