National Association of Credit Management

The National Association of Credit Management (NACM) is a non-profit organization based in Columbia, Maryland that promotes standards for the business-to-business credit profession. Founded in 1896, NACM has more than 15,000 members, primarily of credit and financial executives representing manufacturers, wholesalers, financial institutions, and service organizations. The trade association specializes in education for its membership, advancement of credit industry practices as well as business credit and accounts receivable management products and services.

NACM has been active in its advocacy agenda for more than 100 years in Washington, DC, lobbying during the crafting of relevant legislation. Among its recent federal legislative priority issues were bankruptcy reform, the Federal Trade Commission’s “Red Flags Rules” and the 3% withholding tax issues.

NACM’s education, training and professional certification programs include the Credit Business Associate (CBA), Credit Business Fellow (CBF), and Certified Credit Executive (CCE) designations, among others. It trains Certified Expert Witnesses (CEW) in the area of business bankruptcies and preferences.

The association’s international arm is Finance, Credit & International Business (FCIB). FCIB provides education, seminars, credit groups and reporting designed for the international credit professional. In 2011, the division launched its “Doing Business in…” series to highlight key details of credit and collections dealings, notably for emerging economies such as Brazil, China and South Korea.

The newest NACM division is its "Mechanic’s Lien and Bond Services" division, which includes information and services pertaining to various commercial construction-related matters as well as state and federal laws governing lien and bond rights and processes. In May 2013, the NACM Mechanics Lien and Bond Services division was sued by zlien in federal court for alleged copyright violations and unfair trade practices. The suit specifically alleged that NACM illegally scraped content from zlien's mechanics lien resources, as well as from other websites, and sold that content to its membership through its "Lien Navigator" product.^[1][2]

NACM’s annual conference, Credit Congress, is the industry's largest gathering of credit professionals. Robin Schauseil, CAE, is the group's president. The current national chairman is Marshall Kahn, CCE.

NACM’s Canons of Business Credit Ethics

NACM lists its "Canon" as follows:

• Adhere to the highest standards of integrity, trust, fairness, personal and professional behavior in all business dealings.
• Negotiate verbal or written credit agreements, contracts, assignments and/or transfers with honesty, fairness and due diligence to and for the benefit of all parties.
• Render reasonable assistance, cooperating with impartiality and without bias or prejudice, to debtors, third parties and other credit professionals.
• Exchange appropriate, historical and current factual information to support the process of independent credit decisions.
• Exercise due diligence as required to prevent unlawful or improper disclosure to third parties.
• Disclose any potential conflict in all business dealings.

References