Credit Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Credit Managers, Credit Controllers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FM-140

Before you join: Participants should understand basic financial statements, sales invoicing and accounts receivable processes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Credit management determines how confidently an organisation can sell on credit while protecting cash flow and limiting bad-debt losses. Weak customer assessment, inconsistent credit limits, unclear terms and slow dispute resolution can turn reported revenue into overdue receivables. Credit teams must balance commercial relationships with evidence-based decisions, disciplined collections and accurate reporting to finance leadership.

This course develops the practical methods used to control the order-to-cash credit cycle. Participants assess customer creditworthiness using financial statements, trade references and credit-scoring criteria; set credit limits and payment terms; monitor receivables ageing; prioritise collections activity; and manage disputes without losing control of agreed payment commitments. The course also addresses credit policy design, early-warning indicators, doubtful-debt provisioning, write-off governance and the use of key measures such as Days Sales Outstanding, Collection Effectiveness Index and aged-debt profiles.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic cases, credit-file reviews, group decisions and collections simulations. Participants apply the methods to situations such as a bank assessing a corporate borrower, a manufacturer managing distributor credit, or an NGO controlling donor-funded supplier advances. They leave with a working credit management toolkit containing a credit policy structure, customer assessment model, credit-limit decision template, collections workflow and receivables reporting pack.

The course suits finance, credit, collections, sales operations and account-management professionals who influence customer payment risk. It is particularly useful for organisations with significant trade receivables, decentralised credit decisions, recurring late-payment issues or pressure to improve operating cash flow.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess customer creditworthiness using financial, behavioural and trade-reference evidence
  • Design credit policies that define authority, limits, terms and escalation routes
  • Calculate credit limits using exposure analysis, financial ratios and risk ratings
  • Apply receivables ageing analysis to prioritise collections actions and escalation
  • Conduct structured collections conversations that secure credible payment commitments
  • Manage invoice disputes using root-cause analysis and controlled resolution workflows
  • Report credit performance using DSO, CEI, ageing and bad-debt measures
  • Prepare a credit improvement plan for an assigned customer portfolio

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible credit decisions using documented evidence and consistent criteria
  • Identify deteriorating accounts before overdue debt becomes a major loss
  • Handle difficult payment conversations with clearer structure and greater authority
  • Produce receivables reports that explain risks, actions and expected cash collection
  • Build transferable capability for credit, receivables, treasury and finance-management roles

For your organisation

  • Reduce overdue receivables through earlier intervention and targeted collections activity
  • Improve operating cash flow through tighter payment terms and follow-up discipline
  • Lower bad-debt exposure through consistent customer assessment and limit controls
  • Strengthen sales and finance coordination around customer onboarding and account holds
  • Provide management with clearer credit-risk reporting, forecasts and escalation decisions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how credit decisions affect revenue quality, cash flow and bad-debt risk.

  • Order-to-cash stages from customer onboarding through final cash allocation
  • Credit management objectives: profitable sales, controlled exposure and predictable collections
  • Revenue recognition compared with cash collection and credit-loss exposure
  • Stakeholder responsibilities across sales, credit, billing, collections and finance
  • Working-capital effects of payment terms, billing delays and overdue debt
  • Credit-control failures identified through common receivables process breakdowns
  • Segregation of duties between credit approval, invoicing and cash posting

Participants can structure a credit policy with clear decision rights, terms and controls.

  • Credit policy components: objectives, scope, authority levels and exceptions
  • Approval matrices aligned to credit limits, risk grades and delegated authority
  • Standard payment terms, early-settlement discounts and late-payment charges
  • Personal guarantees, parent guarantees and security arrangements compared
  • Customer onboarding controls before activating credit sales accounts
  • Contract clauses covering invoicing requirements, disputes and collection rights
  • Exception registers documenting commercial rationale, approvals and review dates

Participants can assess a customer file and assign a reasoned credit-risk rating.

  • Five Cs of Credit: character, capacity, capital, collateral and conditions
  • Credit applications validated against legal entity and ownership information
  • Trade references assessed for payment history, limits and dispute patterns
  • Financial statements reviewed for liquidity, profitability, gearing and cash generation
  • Current ratio, quick ratio and interest-cover calculations interpreted
  • Credit bureau reports used to identify defaults, judgments and adverse filings
  • Risk-rating scorecards combining qualitative evidence with financial indicators

Participants can set, review and control credit limits using customer exposure data.

  • Credit limits calculated from expected purchases, payment terms and risk rating
  • Open-order exposure added to invoiced balances and unbilled commitments
  • Temporary limit increases controlled through expiry dates and approvals
  • Credit-hold rules triggered by overdue balances, disputes and covenant breaches
  • Concentration risk measured by customer group, sector and geographic exposure
  • Collateral values discounted for enforceability, volatility and recovery timing
  • Periodic limit reviews scheduled according to risk grade and account activity

Participants can interpret receivables data and forecast likely customer collections.

  • Aged-debt reports segmented by due date, customer, collector and risk
  • Days Sales Outstanding calculated using ending balances and credit sales
  • Collection Effectiveness Index used to assess collection performance
  • Promise-to-pay registers compared with actual receipts and broken commitments
  • Cash forecasts built from invoice due dates, payment behaviour and disputes
  • Early-warning indicators include declining orders, partial payments and contact avoidance
  • Receivables dashboards highlight exposure, overdue trends and collector workloads

Participants can plan and conduct collections actions matched to debt risk and ageing.

  • Collections segmentation based on value, ageing, risk rating and payment behaviour
  • Dunning schedules define reminder timing, channel, message and escalation
  • Call preparation uses account history, invoice evidence and desired commitment
  • Questioning techniques establish payment blockers, decision-makers and realistic dates
  • Payment plans documented with instalments, due dates and default consequences
  • Escalation paths move accounts from reminders to demand letters
  • Collection priorities balanced between high-value exposure and recoverability

Participants can control disputed invoices while protecting collection momentum and customer relationships.

  • Dispute codes distinguish pricing, quantity, quality, tax and delivery claims
  • Root-cause analysis traces recurring deductions to process owners and controls
  • Undisputed invoice amounts separated from contested balances for collection
  • Dispute registers record evidence, ownership, ageing and agreed resolution dates
  • Credit notes authorised through documented validation and approval controls
  • Service-level agreements define response times for billing and delivery queries
  • Recurring dispute trends reported to sales, operations and finance leaders

Participants can distinguish collection escalation, impairment assessment and write-off decisions.

  • Recovery escalation considers debt age, evidence quality, cost and collectability
  • Demand letters set payment deadlines, outstanding balances and consequences
  • External collection agencies assessed by fee structure, reporting and conduct
  • Legal recovery decisions consider jurisdiction, limitation periods and available security
  • IFRS 9 expected credit losses linked to ageing and forward-looking evidence
  • Specific provisions distinguished from general allowances and final write-offs
  • Write-off approvals preserve audit trails and continued recovery rights

Participants can specify system controls and data disciplines that support reliable credit management.

  • Customer master-data controls prevent duplicate accounts and incorrect billing details
  • ERP credit blocks configured around limits, overdue thresholds and risk grades
  • Workflow approvals capture decision evidence, authority and exception rationale
  • Cash application accuracy reduces false delinquency and unnecessary collections activity
  • Invoice delivery controls confirm receipt through electronic invoicing records
  • Data-quality checks identify missing terms, expired limits and stale risk ratings
  • Internal audit tests review policy compliance, overrides and segregation duties

Participants can prepare a practical improvement plan for a credit portfolio and control process.

  • Credit scorecards translate portfolio risks into measurable management priorities
  • Root-cause review links overdue debt to upstream process failures
  • KPI targets set for DSO, CEI, disputes and bad-debt losses
  • Action plans assign owners, milestones, measures and escalation checkpoints
  • Portfolio review meetings focus decisions on exceptions and deteriorating accounts
  • Sales-finance operating rhythms align account growth with approved exposure
  • Personal application plans identify immediate changes to workplace credit routines

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Credit policy and delegated-authority template
  2. Customer credit-assessment scorecard
  3. Credit-limit calculation and approval worksheet
  4. Receivables ageing and cash-collection dashboard
  5. Collections call and payment-plan checklist
  6. Credit performance improvement action plan

Who should attend

  • Credit Managers — need consistent policies, risk decisions and collections controls
  • Credit Controllers — need practical methods for assessing accounts and recovering overdue debt
  • Accounts Receivable Managers — need stronger visibility and control of outstanding invoices
  • Finance Managers — need to improve cash conversion and bad-debt governance
  • Sales Operations Managers — need to balance customer growth with approved credit exposure
  • Account Managers — need to handle payment risk and disputes without damaging relationships

Skills and tools covered

Credit risk assessmentCredit limit settingReceivables analysisCollections managementDispute resolutionCredit performance reporting

Tools and standards

Five Cs of Credit, Collection Effectiveness Index, IFRS 9 Expected Credit Loss, Days Sales Outstanding

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce credit-control methods, followed by case work based on customer applications, aged-debt reports, disputed invoices and payment-risk scenarios. Participants review credit files, calculate exposure, make limit decisions and plan collections priorities in small groups. Collections simulations develop questioning, objection handling and payment-commitment techniques. Facilitated discussion compares commercial and financial viewpoints. Each participant completes an application plan that identifies improvements for their own credit process, portfolio or reporting routine.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic financial statements, sales invoicing and accounts receivable processes. Experience working with customer accounts, payment follow-up, finance operations, sales administration or commercial contracts is useful. Participants should be able to interpret simple percentages and ratios, including gross margin and current ratio. No prior credit-management qualification is required, and advanced corporate-finance, banking-risk or legal knowledge is not assumed. The course explains the financial and operational context needed for credit decisions before applying the tools.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic invoicing, receivables and financial-statement concepts. Experience in finance, sales operations, account management or customer service is useful, but no specialist credit qualification is required.

Bring a laptop if available, plus any non-confidential examples of your credit policy, aged-debt report or recurring payment issues. Course materials and calculation templates are provided.

It is designed for credit managers, credit controllers, receivables staff, finance managers and commercial colleagues involved in customer payment decisions. It also suits managers responsible for improving working capital or reducing bad debts.

This course focuses on customer credit risk and the order-to-cash process, from onboarding through collections and recovery. General cash management courses address wider liquidity, banking, funding and treasury decisions.

Participants can use the credit-assessment scorecard, limit-review process, collections workflow and reporting measures with their own accounts. The final application plan identifies actions for a current portfolio or process issue.

The programme contains ten modules taught in sequence across five training days, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group decisions, collections simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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