Belco Global Foods is a leading marketer of poultry, meat and other food products. Majority of their products are sourced in the United States and then exported to more than 125 countries. Belco has seen rapid growth and great success due largely to its commitment to understanding markets and its customers. Because of their commitment their customers have kept them informed of local demands, and have helped them gain invaluable knowledge about foreign suppliers, which has helped Belco source some products more effectively from other countries.
Pam Arnold leads Belco’s Global Credit team, which oversees risk management and the collections of accounts receivable. Between 40 and 50 percent of Belco’s sales are made on open account terms and it is this team’s job to make sure customers fulfill their payment obligations. At any given time if just a few receivable’s turn into bad debts that need to be written off, Belco’s overall profitability will suffer markedly. Therefore, Belco has a standardized process for analysis of all potential customer’s credit and then granting only those will a solid past history of payment open account terms.
In this case, Belco has granted Kooritsa Kiev open account terms and it appears this may have been a bad decision. Kooritsa Kiev has an outstanding receivable of $84,000(5,411,674 Rubles) with an additional receivable of $78,000(5,025,126 Rubles) due in 15 days. Belco and Kooritsa Kiev have been doing business with each other for over 4 years, in those 4 years Kooritsa Kiev has placed several large orders and has always paid promptly.
Pam Arnold has no idea why they have fallen so far behind but she is not about to sacrifice Belco’s strong 30 year history of being able to collect on its account receivables.
Pam has three options;
One, to engage the customer further by contacting Sergei Barsov, Kooritsa Kiev’s purchasing agent or