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Credit Technology

Automated aging reports improve accuracy
Credit&Finance

The following article is reprinted from the November/December 2017 edition of the Western Grower & Shipper magazine, published by Western Growers Association. For additional information on how accounts receivable aging reports can improve credit accuracy and business decisions, contact the Blue Book Services customer service team at customerservice@bluebookservices.com.

It’s a very simple concept, but it can have a huge impact on business decisions when executed properly. For more than 100 years, Blue Book Services, Inc. has been the leader in providing credit and marketing information for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry. By synthesizing financial and rating information, Blue Book Services has continuously provided credit data to all segments of the industry’s supply chain so that well informed business decisions can be made.

And now, they’ve come up with a better and faster mousetrap.

Jim Carr, president/CEO, explained the effort by Blue Book to give members real-time access to accounts receivable (A/R) aging reports. The new feature has some bells and whistles, but at its core any company that electronically submits its own A/R aging reports to the Blue Book credit team receives digital access to the aggregate report. Of course, creditor names and specific information are omitted, but these real-time electronic credit reports offer the most up-to-date information available.

A Win-Win for the Industry
Carr calls it a win-win for the industry, as it allows a selling or buying decision to be based on current financial information. He stands by Blue Book’s traditional meth-od of gathering information from thousands of businesses and said these regular submissions remain extremely valuable in creating an overall picture of any company’s financial health. There are literally thousands of companies in this industry and millions of transactions in almost any given time span.

Blue Book staff continually gather this information and use various measurements from the aggregate data to determine a company’s financial creditworthiness, rating, and pay trends. This system has worked well since the firm was founded in 1901 and continues to be the backbone of its business model.

In July 2016, Blue Book Services unveiled this new effort to literally harness the power of A/R aging reports to deliver an instant snapshot of how a company is currently performing. The feature is fully functional with contributor growth on the rise. “We have major grower-shippers and distributors from throughout the country participating and giving their colleagues the benefit of A/R aging reports,” added Carr.

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