The InterConnection VOLUME 7
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ISSUE 1
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
Education and Volunteering and Awards…Oh MY! Lillian Novak
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appy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and are settling back into the routine. The January issue of the InterConnection is always a special and very important one. Included in this newsletter you will find a plethora of opportunities to enhance your NACM Connect experience. From enhancing your credit education, to volunteering locally or affiliatewide, to nominating yourself or a worthy peer for an annual award… information on all of these and more are right here at your fingertips.
1. Education. Save the date for the spring annual meetings! Coming soon – full agendas will be posted. We’re gearing up for our spring classes, and don’t forget they are all available via videoconferencing if you are not in a location where you can take advantage of a live class. Barry Elms will be making the circuit through NACM Connect this spring as well. On page 10 and 11 of this newsletter and also online you will find the application for 20192020 scholarships. Scholarships are awarded on basis of merit and need. Apply for scholarship money for classes, conferences, annual meetings or seminars. If you have wanted to get your designation, attend a regional
conference, etc., but haven’t had the financial resources available for you to participate in these programs, this is a great opportunity for you to get started! Sorry, we cannot offer scholarships for Credit Congress. 2. Volunteer. We are looking for members from across the ninestate region to join the leadership of NACM Connect through volunteering on the Board of Directors or one of the many committees. Interested in throwing in for the Board of Directors? Fill out the form on page 7, submit it to Lillian Novak and she will send you a Candidate Profile for your official submission to the Nominating Committee. All forms must be submitted by January 31 Continued on page 15>>
The Benefits of Going Paperless and How ACH Works to Lower DSO Christie Citranglo, NACM Editorial Associate
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aking the switch to electronic payments (e-Payments) from traditional paper checks can be anxiety-inducing—and yet, consumers have overwhelmingly made the switch much quicker than have business creditors. Nearly two-thirds of all business-to-business (B2B) payments are still made by physical checks, according to a recent FinTech Market Landscape study. By just switching payments to ACH, days sales outstanding (DSO) can decrease by 20% after full remittance increasing cash flow and making budgets more flexible, as stated in a recent Receivable Savvy
webinar hosted by Senior Director, Product Management and Strategic Corporate Relations for NACHA, Robert Unger. “Not only is ACH a way to move money between bank accounts [company’s account to seller, etc.], you can push payments and pull payments from a seller,” Unger said in the webinar. “More importantly, it supports a boatload of remittance information. It describes what the payment is about, what kind of deduction is being made, that sort of stuff.” According to a survey by NACHA, more than 50% of respondents in the study said less than 20% of all remittance information is processed automatically with the help of ACH,
meaning most back-office functions are still performed manually. When so many tedious tasks are performed by employees, talents become wasted and the margin of error for processed reports increases. Not only is this use of employees for back-office tasks a waste of time, it’s also a waste of money, Unger said. Staff taking Continued on page 6>>