Confirm your supplier is a safe credit risk and keep updated on their performance

Supplier failure or bankruptcy can have disastrous consequences for your supply chain and business performance. Credit checking and risk monitoring are critical tools to ensure your procurement process identifies safe and reliable companies to partner with and alerts you to any potential problems.

However while many companies will conduct a basic credit check when appointing a supplier they fail to monitor the risk profile of their suppliers to avoid any nasty surprises in the future.

A D&B credit check will allow you to ensure you are selecting safe and reliable suppliers while our Alert Service will ensure you are alerted to any events that may alter the risk profile of your suppliers in the future.

A D&B credit report can provide you with the following information:

• confirmation of a company's identity and nature of business
• any negative events such as court actions or collection incidents
• predictive scores of the likelihood your supplier will experience financial distress in the next 12 months - our unique DRS score
• predictive scores of the likelihood your supplier will pay their own bills in a severely delinquent manner in the next 12 months, alerting you to cash flow pressures - our unique DDS score
• data on company directors including whether they have been involved in any previous court actions or been associated with failed companies.

The D&B Alert Service will alert you to any changes on your suppliers' credit report including:

• any negative events such as court actions or collection incidents
• identity changes including name or industry category changes
• any change to their likelihood of experiencing financial distress in the next 12 months resulting in a change to their DRS score
• any change to their likelihood of paying their own bills in a severely delinquent manner in the next twelve months resulting in a change to their DDS score.

To discuss using credit reports and alerts in your purchasing decisions and supplier management processes contact D&B Client Services on 13 23 33 or email clientservices@dnb.com.au

To learn more about the importance of credit checks in your business order a copy of D&B's Straight Talk on Credit Checks booklet by emailing marketingdept@dnb.com.au