In Focus Risk


Once a credit manager, always a credit manager


For those who fall into, and then enjoy, the credit management profession, it can become part of their DNA


Linda Woolcocks Credit management professional linda.woolcocks@gmail.com


Almost three years ago, I stepped out of a full-time role as a credit manager to look after my two young grandsons, whilst my daughter trained to become a paediatric nurse. It was a big decision to make as I was about to leave behind the working world that was so familiar to me (not to mention a salary) to enter a whole new world which consisted of school runs, playgroups and soft play – a place never to be entered without trepidation and certainly not for the faint hearted! At the time I started this, my grandsons


were 11 months and two and a half years of age, so quite a handful and a completely different challenge to the world of credit management, where at least I would have time to grab a cup of tea!


Looking forward I have not been totally estranged from credit management and remained involved by teaching the subject, which is very rewarding. Well, here I am, almost three years later, three years older and hopefully wiser! My daughter has completed her final lecture and, with one exam and a final placement ahead of us before she finally qualifies in September, I have started to find myself thinking about what next? Throughout this period of my life, I


realised that, for those of us who choose a career in credit management, the ‘deep- rooted DNA’ we all talk about is spot-on. Once credit management is in your blood, it is in your blood for good. I do not think I ever stopped thinking about myself as a credit manager, even when I was not going into an office daily, or attending a forum of the credit variety, or a customer visit, or


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even completing the infamous month-end reporting, but instead spending large parts of my days talking to a three year old and watching Peppa Pig until I can quote episodes almost word-perfectly.


Like it or loathe it Credit management is a role most of us fall into and it is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it from day one, but I suspect, if you are reading this, then you have also found a passion for the credit world. In fact, I knew this when my husband


acquired a new system for his business and, as his company secretary, I was asked to learn about how it worked. I was so excited when I found the aged debt – sad I know, but there it was, in all its glory, and it was beautiful. It had overdues listed by 30, 60, and 90 days, it had reports I could build, it had a cashflow statement. Oh how I have really missed a proper,


good old accounts-receivable ledger to get my teeth into!


www.CCRMagazine.co.uk


I was so excited when I found the aged debt – sad I know, but there it was, in all its glory, and it was beautiful


So, what have I learnt during this period


of my life? Well, I learnt that running around after grandsons for 14 hours straight is exhausting and, by the end, I am no longer able to walk and am in need of substance of the alcoholic variety and a visit to the osteopath to fix me. I have also learnt that bringing up two


boys – I raised twin daughters – involves a lot of toilet humour! But, the main lesson I have learnt is that


once you are a credit manager, you are always as credit manager. CCR


June 2017


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