President’s Message – The Rewards of Goodness

Oct 23, 2018

Posted by & filed under President's Message.

I recently read a LinkedIn article by Paul Hillen of The Revier Brand Group LLC (Formerly with Proctor & Gamble and Cargill) and Paul Batz, CEO/Founder of Good Leadership Enterprises who has co-written a book by the name, “How Goodness Pays”. I haven’t gotten my hands on the book yet, but I sure plan to. The three main points in the article struck me how I could easily relate them back to our NACM network.

Goodness Means Transparency –

Before the day when everyone had a camera and cell phone in hand, the intent and acknowledgment of goodness was earned by working with one customer at a time through hard work, determination, and pure honesty. NACM earned its reputation for goodness (dating back to 1896) by continually sticking to its core values and superior service qualities for the credit professional.… Read the rest

Where Are We and Where Might We be Headed?

Oct 22, 2018

Posted by & filed under Economics.

Written by: Dr. Chris Kuehl

This has been a tumultuous year for economists and analysts. I realize this sounds a little lame given all the other stuff that takes place in the course of a year – everything from hurricanes to fires to crime and health scares but we have had our share of the unexpected and inexplicable. Some of this has been generated by a President that leaps in an out of economic issues in a cloud of tweets and leaves everybody wondering what just happened. But there have also been indicators that are not indicating what they used to and reliable theories that are suddenly not all that reliable. The big movements in the economy are making their way through – everything from exiting the age of the Baby Boomer to the rapid pace of robotics and automation.… Read the rest

General Contractors are Enforcing Statutory Right to Inspect Subcontractor Payroll Records

Oct 22, 2018

Posted by & filed under Credit, Legal, Lien Law.

Written by: Christopher Ng

Yes, California’s Assembly Bill 1701 was a doozy. For those of you not yet familiar with the new law, to make a long story short, AB 1701 makes a direct contractor (California speak for “general contractor”) jointly liable for the unpaid wages, fringe benefits, or other benefit payments or contributions of a subcontractor — at any tier! The new law governs private projects only and applies even if the direct contractor has paid its subcontractor.

Labor Code section 218.7(f) does give the direct contractor the right to inspect each of its subcontractor’s employees’ wage statements and payroll records maintained under Labor Code section 1174. Significantly, such “records must contain information sufficient to apprise the requesting party of the subcontractor’s payment status in making fringe or other benefit payments or contributions to a third party on the employee’s behalf.”… Read the rest

Why Contribute?

Oct 22, 2018

Posted by & filed under Business Credit Journal, Credit, Data Contribution.

The main reason is without trade data, you would be missing a very important piece of information to assist you in making your credit decisions. Credit is a privilege. The decision to extend credit is based in part on current, factual information, which includes that payment history.

  • Increase leverage with customers
  • Reduce fraud
  • Reward prompt payers
  • Enhance your customers’ creditworthiness profiles
  • Protect your company
  • Save time in preparing for NACM industry credit group meetings
  • Save staff time responding to credit reference requests*
  • Meet “best in class” corporate standards
  • Support the NACM credit community

INCREASE YOUR LEVERAGE

You can create goodwill with your customers while setting the stage for improved payment performance by those that may be slower to pay.… Read the rest

2018 NACM Fund-raising Events

Oct 17, 2018

Posted by & filed under Foundation.

Thank you to everyone who attended, helped, and donated to these events. Both of the events were successful and we look forward to the next event. As you may have seen as a part of the “An Evening of Aloha” event we had a raffle for a trip for two to Hawaii. The winner of that prize was Mark Silva from Simple Sums Accounting.

NACM 2018 Golf Scramble

 

 

 An Evening of Aloha

 

Oct 17, 2018  … Read the rest

New Federal Law Allows Consumers to Place Free Credit Freezes And Yearlong Fraud Alerts

Oct 1, 2018

Posted by & filed under Consumer Reports, Credit, Legal.

Starting September 21, 2018, consumers who are concerned about identity theft or data breaches can freeze their credit and place one-year fraud alerts for free.

Under the new Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, consumers in some states – those who previously had to pay fees to freeze their credit – will no longer have to do so.

A credit freeze, also known as a security freeze, restricts access to a consumer’s credit file, making it harder for identity thieves to open new accounts in the consumer’s name. The new law also allows parents to freeze for free the credit of their children who are under 16, while guardians, conservators, and those with a valid power of attorney can get a free freeze for their dependents.… Read the rest

Privacy and Data Security Check-Up

Sep 21, 2018

Posted by & filed under Security and Fraud, Technology.

Published in the Sussman Shank LLP Spring 2018 Newsletter

Businesses of every size confront privacy and data security issues on a near-daily basis. Employees, consumers, customers, and clients are more concerned with the safety of their personal information than ever before. At the same time, the risks from lax security measures have never been greater. The following are questions that business owners and their advisors should be asking to determine compliance with privacy laws and preparedness for a cyber incident (data breach).

1. What kind of data does your business store?

Compile an inventory of the data that your business stores. Find out who the data belongs to, how your business received the data, and where that data is stored.… Read the rest