


creditcontrol.co.uk
Recent sample papers
< Archive
Tectonic shifts and power-hungry innovation
AI, cyber, autonomous automation and power usage are interwoven on a grand scale and will affect virtually everyone, either directly or indirectly whether they are at work, at home, or on the go.
A quarter century of excellence at ACS
In the fast-paced, ever-evolving landscape of financial services and debt recovery, longevity is a testament to integrity, adaptability, and results.
Opportunity benefits of enterprise storage
Introduction Most enterprises don’t automatically increase their IT budgets year-on-year – the C-Suite often just expects teams to ‘do more with less’.
Coping with the unexpected in the management team
Businesses of all sizes can be severely disrupted by the unplanned and unexpected loss of a key executive, but particularly so when it’s caused by their death or sudden incapacity.
Finding common ground with the CFO on enterprise storage
This article discusses a situation that arises when a chief financial officer (CFO) expresses concerns about an IT department’s proposal to acquire a new storage system for infrastructure upgrade.
Lack of innovation threatens economic growth
The UK is falling in global rankings for innovation, technology, and competitiveness due to persistently low business investment.
The strategic importance of good credit risk management
In a stagnant economy with uncertainty fuelled by global trade challenges and geopolitics, UK businesses are increasingly exposed to complex counterparty risk
The difference between wrongful and fraudulent trading
Abstract The directors of failed companies can be accused of a range of offences, mainly based on contravening their fiduciary duties.
So much for the UK insolvency regime being creditor friendly
The world thinks the UK has an insolvency regime that favours creditors, but the truth is rather different, with negligible or most often no returns for them from the most heavily used liquidation procedure and the terminal decline of the main rescue process.
World Back UP Day 2025: Protect your enterprises date with next generation Cyber Secure Back Up
Next-gen data protection goes beyond traditional backup, restore and disaster recovery. Putting your enterprise’s data in an air-tight cyber repository is not the same as the conventional means of moving data to an online repository as a backup file. Traditional backup environments are high-value targets for cyber attacks.
International risk management needs a different mindset
Solving cross-border insolvency issues
The insolvency world faces shapeshifting, ever more challenging examples of cases with international aspects in a commercial world, which becomes more complex and multinational with every passing year.
Trade may be globalised, but insolvency regimes are not
Trade has become ever more global in recent decades, much of it dominated by more and more powerful multinationals with bewilderingly complex corporate structures.
Renewing your offshore company structure
For individuals or businesses with offshore companies, it is vital to complete a timely renewal to maintain compliance, if you are to safeguard assets and sustain operational efficiency in 2025. Regular renewal can keep your company up-to-date and compliant with local regulations, avoiding legal or financial repercussions.
Maximizing tax efficiency in the new tax year
Now we are well and truly settled into the new tax year for 2024, business owners, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and high net worth individuals in the UK are presented with an opportune moment to reassess their tax strategies, and optimize their financial positions.
Breaking the Growth Barrier: Why businesses must invest in technology
Abstract Recent research by Equals Money reveals that 90% of financial leaders were impacted by the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget, with over two-thirds (70%) choosing to delay or cancel planned investments.
Caveat Emptor - buying assets through a Pre-Pack
Buying a business and its assets through a Pre-Pack Administration process may seem like the short route to a good deal at a beneficial price, but there are some very real risks associated with such transactions.
Is it time to prioritize currency hedging?
In today’s global economy, businesses face an increasingly complex financial landscape.
How businesses can build thriving international growth plans
Expanding a business internationally is one of the most promising paths to growth, allowing companies to access new markets, diversify their customer base, and seize fresh opportunities.
The commercial immorality of late payments
The UK commercial world is plagued by endemic late payment of bills owed to suppliers, most often delays imposed by large businesses on smaller ones.
The Post Office scandal has finally shone a light on the positives that forensic investigators can bring to troubled situations. The valiant forensic experts from Second Sight doggedly exposed the failings of the Horizon system despite all efforts to silence them and have now finally had their say at the Public Inquiry.
Misfeasance trading and the £150 million directors fine
A high profile recent case has created a new offence that directors can be accused of committing – Misfeasance Trading – and one that is easier to prove than the more familiar Wrongful Trading.
Winning or even being nominated for a business award not only boosts awareness of a company’s brand, products and services helping to gain new customers, but it also boosts staff morale and helps to attract and retain staff – people want to work for award winning businesses. But winning awards isn’t easy – it takes hard work.
Crowdstrike outage - painful loses and reputational risk
The CrowdStrike outage has caused huge public service and commercial disruption worldwide
Is the Labour win right for business?
The new Labour government has certainly hit the ground running, with the new Chancellor Rachel Reeves leading the charge into the changed economic world so heavily promised during the election campaign.
Why good cashflow forecasting is essential in uncertain times
It’s an old business cliché that cash is king, but it’s never truer than when a business and its management are battling with the multiple problems which come with economic and commercial uncertainty.
Uncertain times call for top quality business leadership
There are innumerable theories about what good business leadership looks like. In good times, the momentum of strong revenues, solid profit margins, positive cash generation and thoughtful investment strategies for the future can hide a multitude of management flaws.
Investing in payments is key for businesses to grow, yet many UK firms are still relying on slow, outdated processes such as BACS and invoicing.
Supply chain disruptions - getting ahead of the problems
A malfunctioning supply chain will play havoc with the profitability and viability of any business. It has the potential to alienate customers, it will certainly damage the smooth running of its operations and cause serious financial problems.
Business reputations - The court of public opinion is right, and denial is always wrong
Reputations in business are hard won, but easily lost and they can be near impossible to rebuild. Better to mould behaviours to mitigate the most obvious risks and deal constructively and openly with problems where they do occur
In conversion with Steve Paul, Equals Money
With AI now shaking up the payments arena, we talk to Steve Paul, Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Equals Money about the challenges and the opportunities facing CFOs across industries as they begin adopting AI and virtual payments, and ask, can AI really drive greater corporate productivity and performance for every industry?
The slippery slope from triumphant profitability to financial disaster
Seeing a business descend from the calm of profitability to the chaos of collapse and liquidation is watching a tragedy that destroys jobs, devastates communities, and imposes losses on stakeholders such as creditors, landlords and lenders.
Cybercrime and the art of possible
Malicious actors with highly sophisticated hacking tools take data hostage and demand enormous ransoms.
Behaving well in your business community
Being a good business citizen is a more productive strategy than acting like a predator.
Why is negative working capital so popular?
A significant percentage of companies across the UK economy now operate with greater short-term liabilities than their ‘quick’ assets. Some consider this to represent a higher commercial risk to the business itself and its stakeholders.
UK business investment lags behind competitors
UK business investment is poor and has been for decades, doing untold damage to productivity and limiting the economy’s growth.
Stopping healthy competition turning into rivalry
Competition is a natural part of doing business. The urge to succeed is hard-wired into entrepreneurs and will always bring them head-to-head with other businesses in their market. What happens next could be positive or it could escalate into bitter rivalry, which damages profitability, heightens risk and threatens reputations.
Coping with a low growth, no growth economy
2023 was a difficult year with little growth, soaring interest rates, record insolvencies and an inflation crisis.
Shareholder and management agendas
Shareholder disputes are not common, but they can be devastating. Investors and managers need to understand each other’s objectives, communicate regularly, and maintain an open-minded dialogue, especially when times are hard.
Being a force for good
Storage technology experts by day and humanitarian aid supporters by night.
Borderless data - acting locally, thinking globally
Today’s supply chains require data to be shared. But with the regulatory landscape having never been more complex, data and technology leaders must not only meet new compliance demands, but also rising expectations from their organization to use data to meet business goals.
Does IT infrastructure really matter? YES!
No one would dispute that Information technology has become the backbone of commerce. As IT’s power and presence have expanded, companies have come to view it as a resource ever more critical to their success.
It's not always malware
Threats to data are increasing, yet it is not always about malware attacks.
Can IoT adopters manage the security and privacy challenges in smart utilities?
The utility sector is undergoing a huge transformation, becoming highly connected infrastructures, with millions of endpoints, including smart meters and smart grid devices.
Taking credit management solutions to the next level
When it comes to taking credit management solutions to the next level it’s important to listen to market needs, learn the lessons from processes of the past and build them into the technology solutions of the future.
Business productivity gains
Digital transformation efforts are driving enterprises to refresh and modernize their server, storage, and/or data protection infrastructure, and many are turning to storage systems equipped with solid-state storage.
GDPR - the benchmark for a global privacy network
The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set the precedent for privacy and data laws around the world with 71% of countries now having data protection regulations in place and a further 9% with legislation in development.
In conversation with Alex Zerlang and Christian Melby
As Summa Equity (“Summa”) acquires a majority stake in cybersecurity leader Logpoint, we talk to Jesper Zerlang, CEO, Logpoint, and Christian Melby, Summa Equity Partner and Chief Investment Officer, about the next stage in Logpoint’s development.
Improving the bottom line
In the face of continuing economic uncertainty and a recession threat, every company is hyper-focused on cost management and financial performance. Whatever any possible downturn may bring, what is clear is that the CFOs is on the hook to deliver a solution.
Ego gains workflow edge with Esker
Ego Pharmaceuticals reduces invoice processing time with Esker's Accounts Payable solution to improving supplier and employee experience. Now equipped with customisable dashboards Ego can track invoices at every stage, monitor important KPIs, and gains full process transparency over the invoicing function.
In conversation with Laura Martin, Conga