Executive Summary
This study provides a bird's eye view of the pressures faced by Canadian credit managers and the steps they are taking to protect their companies' Accounts Receivables, often a company's second largest asset.

Canadian professional credit grantors were fully aware of the global financial crisis commencing early in the last decade and steps were made by most to protect their credit portfolios prior to the 2009 Credit Institute of Canada National Conference. Thirty eight CIC member companies responded to the 2009 Pre-Conference survey. Prior to the 2011 National Conference a second survey was conducted with...

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Please note that the Credit Institute of Canada's National Office will be closed during the Holidays

From:
Friday December 23^rd, 2011
To:
Monday January 2^nd, 2012

Regular hours will resume on Tuesday January 3^rd, 2012

The Credit Institute of Canada
Wishes everyone a Happy and safe Holiday!!
 

Today is your last chance to register for 2011-2012 CCP winter courses. Winter courses begin December 5th, 2011. Enrol now

The 2011-2012 academic year debuts the new Managing Credit with Information Technology (CR3) course. This is a highly customized course developed after years of research and at the request of credit professionals. The skills and knowledge that students will gain after completion of CR3 will give them a clear understanding of how IT can be used to help them succeed in their role of credit risk and project management specific to their department.

Mr. Richard Dicerni, Deputy Minister of Industry Canada, announced the appointment of Mr. Bill James as Superintendent of Bankruptcy. This appointment, is made on an interim basis for a term of one year, starting Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) has as its mandate the supervision of all estates and matters under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The OSB is also responsible for maintaining a public registry of filings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and for receiving, recording and where appropriate, investigating complaints concerning the conduct of monitors under the Act.

Mr. James brings many years of public sector experience and expertise to this post. He has held a number of executive positions within Industry Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and Environment Canada

What’s important for business
On September 29, 2011, the federal government introduced several proposed amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act – PIPEDA, under Bill C-12. Most of the proposed changes fine tune the legislation and update it to reflect changes in technology and the market place. There are several key components which clarify and streamline the rules for business transactions and propose exceptions to consent otherwise required to collect, use and disclose personal information.

Key exclusions for businesses to be aware of are:

• (a) Business Contact Information Exclusion
• (b) Exclusions for Certain Business Transactions
• (c) Exclusions for Private Sector Investigations and Fraud Prevention
• (d) Exclusions for Employment Related Purposes

CRIBIS D & B (D & B partner company) recently commissioned a study of global payments practices.  The full study reports on the payments practices for more than 27 million companies world wide, and 16 countries. We are fortunate that Canada is among the countries whose payment practices were researched. D & B has allowed us to share this report with you.

Here are some highlights for Canada:
The percentage of Canadian companies studied with on time payments improved significantly from 38.5% in 2007, to 43.3% at the end of 2010.  Late payments, over 90 days, declined from 3.3% in 2007 to 1.0% at the end of 2010.  However, there are significant differences by industry sector.  In Canada, the three sectors which showed the strongest payment records were:

• - Agricultural/Forestry
• - Financial Services
• - Retail Trade

As part of its continuing efforts to improve awareness of debtor responsibilities, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy’s website now contains a new section called "Bankruptcy abuse and fraud" which looks at abuse and fraudulent activity by debtors within the insolvency system. Designed to raise awareness about debtor compliance, the content focuses on the duties of the bankrupt, provides information on what constitutes non-compliant behaviour, and includes real-life examples of criminal convictions and Court decisions on debtor discharges.

The section also provides information on the discharge process, the roles of debtors and creditors, and investigations conducted by the OSB's Special Investigation Units and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

As part of its continuing efforts to improve awareness of debtor responsibilities, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy’s website now contains a new section called "Bankruptcy abuse and fraud" which looks at abuse and fraudulent activity by debtors within the insolvency system. Designed to raise awareness about debtor compliance, the content focuses on the duties of the bankrupt, provides information on what constitutes non-compliant behaviour, and includes real-life examples of criminal convictions and Court decisions on debtor discharges.

The section also provides information on the discharge process, the roles of debtors and creditors, and investigations conducted by the OSB's Special Investigation Units and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

With this year's conference still fresh in our minds, it seemed to me like a great time to reflect on some of the great moments of those few days in Ottawa.

Justin Trudeau

The conference (aptly titled "Credit to our country"), did a good job of showcasing some of the great talent we have across Canada. Starting off the conference was a presentation by the dynamic Justin Trudeau. He spoke about the need for Canada to boost its labour pool with a focus on continual education. On that vein he congratulated the CIC for its contribution and then went on to add that an important part of this success rests in younger professionals and new Canadians. He stressed that it is not just about education, but about the desire to innovate and strive to improve one's abilities, that are needed to push the Canadian economy.

The rest of the day was spent in a variety of different sessions. Members seemed to really enjoy the session on Fraud given by Corporal Louis Robertson of the RCMP and one on personal finance given by Bill Hill of RBC. The day was capped off with a special evening hosted by Dunn & Bradstreet at the Canadian War Museum. For the die-hard hockey fans, D&B brought in a giant TV to show the playoff game.

Thursday started off with a very informative talk by Peter Hall of EDC on the state of the global economy, and its implications for Canada. From conversations held afterwards, I know that the attendees found the information and updates that he shared very helpful. This was followed up by an expert panel on the economic recovery, specifically looking at if we are out of the proverbial woods yet. The discussions were lively and animated, and the information the panelists brought out was always insightful. Overall the members in attendance were able to walk away with valuable information and a good sense of what to expect from the economy in the year ahead.

Peter Finlay

Attendees then were able to break off into groups for a workshop to share the current best practices from their various industries. I will not go into detail about that since we will be publishing those in the coming months, but the members enjoyed their time discussing industry trends as well as different strategies in dealing with clients – both good and bad.

After lunch we gathered again for the AGM. I would like to take this time to thank all the members who could not attend in person for either sending a proxy or joining in online. The members approved several by law changes which will help us move forward as an organization. After a break, everyone gathered for another great evening, this time hosted by Equifax.

Patrick Leroux started the final day of the conference with a captivating and motivating talk on what it takes to achieve personal S.U.C.C.E.S.S. By the end of this he had the audience engaged and excited for the opportunities which awaited them after the conference. Afterwards, during the closing ceremonies a few of the sponsors handed out some prizes. Congratulations to Donna Birtwistle on winning an iPad.

This year the prestigious Quaker Oats Trophy was awarded to the Hamilton & District Chapter, to recognize their achievements over the past year. The trophy is awarded based on a chapter's performance in a variety of criteria, including: student enrollment, course completion and membership engagement. The Credit Institute would like to congratulate the members of this chapter for their hard work.

From left to right: Chuck Zizzo, Brian Bull, Joyce Chuang, Heather Wilson, Linda Kurpe (back), Charlene Terreberry, Terrie Demelo (back) and Vanessa Ingraham

After the closing ceremonies we all said our goodbyes and parted ways, eager to bring back and share the knowledge we had gained at the conference. I know people learned a lot, and shared some great experiences with their peers.

I for one cannot wait until the next one in Jasper two years from now.

- Reggie Delovitch, CHRP, MBA

Sign up for the upcoming Live Webinar: Strategies to Optimize Debt Recovery on September 15, led by Ken MacDonald, LL.B., LL.M. If optimizing recovery is your top priority, then you won't want to miss this webinar. Ken will explain in clear layman's terms some of the options available to creditors to collect from dishonest debtors.

Click here to learn more about this webinar

Certified Credit Executive (CCE) desigation holders from the National Association of Credit Management are eligible to write the Challenge Exam to obtain the CCP designation. We accept the CCE designation as having the equivalent level of education and work experience that we require Challenge Exam takers to have.

Click here to learn more about the Challenge Exam

Exam information for Spring 2011 Semester (including Challenge Exam) is being posted as they become available under Current Students > Exam Information. Please check back for possible changes.