Generally Accepted Credit Management Principles

Current studies confirm that inadequately performed credit management in the sense of management of debtor risk represents one of the major reasons for the insolvency of companies. At the same time, there were no recognized guidelines for credit man-agement. The GACMP are eliminating this gap. Building on the outstand-ing work of the Association of Credit Management in Germany publishing the minimum requirements of credit management for Germany, the Association of Credit Management in Switzerland developed the Generally Ac-cepted Credit Management Principles (GACMP) in English, German, French and Italian making this a global standard. Definitely, the GACMP are not to be understood as a best practice guide but rather as the basic requirement for the further development of a company's own credit management system all the way to best practice processes. The possibility of certification of credit management processes of a company is a logical step for making it possible to document to interested third parties, such as shareholders or creditors including financial institutions, that the company meets the GACMP and thus has satisfied an important condition for the sustainability of the company. As a result of market dynamics, the solvency of business partners will remain a key element of successful business activity in the future. Finally, what if we show growing sales but lose a large part of it as bad debt? That is a question that is as good as justified! Practice shows that an efficient, professional, and certified credit management process is the right answer to it. This edition has been extended with a brief introduction to risk management. The idea is to show that credit management is an important sub-function of a much more complex area of risk management, but it is worth looking beyond the end of one's own nose to ensure that the viabil-ity of one's own company is preserved.