What you will learn:

•Financial Analysis
•Business Ethics
•Legal Environment of Credit
•Finance and Treasury Functions
•Corporate Strategy
•Credit Policy
•International Finance and Credit
•Negotiation Skills
•Presentation Skills

Plus – qualify to take the CCE (Certified Credit Executive) exam.

Who Should Attend:

·Financial professionals who would like to enhance either a four-year undergraduate degree or an M.B.A.
·Financial professionals with a broad range of senior level experience in the field of credit or financial management.
·Financial professionals who have the potential for greater responsibility within their organization.

This program is designed to broaden the knowledge and skill level of senior- and executive-level business credit professionals with a sound working knowledge of the credit and financial functions of their companies.

 

NACM and the Commitment to Executive Education

The National Association of Credit Management is the leader in executive education for the credit and financial management community. Organized in 1896, NACM is recognized worldwide for maintaining high standards of excellence.

NACM entered the arena of continuing, executive education more than 50 years ago, decades before major colleges and universities. Today, NACM continues its dedication to the global promotion and enhancement of the business credit professional through executive education.

The GSCFM Curriculum

The GSCFM program provides a foundation in disciplines, such as financial analysis, valuation, business economics, business law, corporate strategy, treasury management, and international finance and credit. To prepare to dive into these topics upon arriving to the program, participants must complete advance-reading assignments. A complete list of advance-reading assignments and textbooks will be shipped to each participant upon admission to the program.

Attendance at all scheduled class sessions is mandatory. In addition, participation in the discussion of assignments, class activities and projects is required. Between the first and second year sessions, participants working in groups will be assigned a project that will draw upon concepts presented in the first session culminating in a presentation before members of the class and faculty. Failure to meet any of these requirements will endanger the participant’s certificate of completion.

The First-Year Session Highlights:

• Financial Statement Analysis
• Corporate Strategy
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Ethics in Business and Society
• Treasury Management
• Introduction to International Credit

The cornerstone of the first-year program is financial statement analysis. Complementing the financial analysis program are sessions on corporate strategy and treasury functions, international credit and business ethics. These sessions, adding information about how to operate in a changing environment and how to understand and maximize corporate competitive strategy, bring new ideas and greater depth of knowledge to the decision-making process.

The Second Year Session Highlights:

• Advanced International Credit
• Financial Warnings
• Legal Environment of Credit
• Advanced Negotiations
• Presentation Skills
• Credit Scoring
• Project Presentations
• CCE Exam

During the second year, participants will continue to expand their understanding of the financial side of credit during the Financial Warnings segment. This segment brings the elements already covered in the first-year session together, providing an in-depth look at credit strategy in a competitive environment, focusing on new techniques for credit investigation and credit granting decisions. Adding to these topics are sessions on the legal environment of credit, presentation skills and advanced negotiations. Participants also present their projects before an audience of their peers and distinguished faculty.

First Year Session Descriptions

Corporate Strategy
This course focuses on developing and sustaining a competitive advantage. Topics of study include an analysis of the firm’s industry and the firm’s strategic positioning. Additional topics include the nature and sources of value creation and competitive advantage. The course will teach participants to develop an understanding of the reasons for good and bad performance of an enterprise, how to develop strategy options, how to assess these options under conditions of imperfect knowledge, and how to select an appropriate strategy.

Dealing with Difficult People
Dealing with difficult people can be challenging!  Their behavior is often offensive and condescending leaving you emotionally and physically drained, and distracting you from focusing on more important issues.  You may end up feeling angry, resentful, and stressed.  But, difficult people can also serve a positive purpose.  Think of them as teachers, and the lessons they share are all about you.  Every encounter teaches you about your own strengths, weaknesses, hot buttons, and boundaries.  Once you learn the lesson, difficult people cease being a problem in your life. You are a teacher too; you teach others how to treat you by what you allow.  This is a powerful concept that is not intended to place blame or shame, but rather to reinforce that you have the power to change your outcome!  There's no guarantee that somebody will stop being difficult, but you get to decide whether that person will negatively impact your life.

Ethics in Business and Society
Business ethics involves right or wrong actions taken by corporations and their agents. These actions take place in the context of a relationship between business and society shaped by various stakeholder expectations of corporate responsibility in economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic domains. The ability of managers to respond to these expectations requires knowledge of several areas, including value-based leadership (executive mechanisms for shaping corporate culture), public policy (the role of regulatory agencies), organizational ethics (corporate governance, ethics programs, compliance), business law (Sarbanes-Oxley), stakeholder issues (public affairs, crisis management, issues management), environmentalism (sustainable business practices), personal ethics (moral reasoning), and ethical dilemmas in international business.  In this seminar we will consider models and diagnostic tools for recognizing and dealing with ethical issues in a business and society context as well as ethical traditions that shape public expectations of corporate responsibility, including utilitarianism, deontology (duty), justice and fairness, human rights, ethics of care, and virtue ethics.  Subsequently, students will apply this material to actual cases, using conceptual tools from the course to analyze select firms and recommend appropriate actions for public policy makers, top managers, and boards of directors.     

International Credit and Risk Management
In the global business environment, the professional credit executive realizes that issues of risk management are dynamic. The course is designed to introduce both an understanding of the vast changes in the global economy and transitions in the social and political sectors that impact our decisions.  In addition, the program offers an opportunity to appreciate what "best practices" will work in the field of international credit and risk management. The concerns for both the global buyer and seller are examined.  Country, currency and culture risk attributes are identified with specific examples.  Risk mitigation techniques, international law; credit insurance; sources of credit information are considered.  Payment alternatives are described and evaluated.  The role of banks and how credit professional should effectively relate are assessed.  Collection techniques; international ethics and the future of global credit management are additional topics in the program.

Treasury Management Training
This session will focus on the fundamentals of cash and treasury management in a typical company. The topics to be covered include: organization and functions of the treasury area; regulations and financial environment related to treasury management in the U.S.; characteristics of payment systems and instruments; liquidity measurement and management; working capital philosophy and tools; and cash position management operations such as collections, concentration and disbursement of funds.

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Advanced International Credit and Risk Management
Building on the concepts from the first year class, more in-depth discussion of risk mitigation techniques for the risk management professional are evaluated and applied in various case study scenarios. Negotiating techniques helpful to the credit manager in different parts of the world are explored, with examples. Attention to how ECA’s (Export Credit Agencies) function, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank, are analyzed.

Legal Environment of Credit
Comprehensive knowledge of business laws specific to the field of credit is critically important to each decision today’s credit executive makes on a daily basis. This intensive course will focus on a broad range of advanced legal issues affecting the credit decision. This course will encompass a combination of lectures, readings, case studies and interactive discussions to enable participants to increase their knowledge of the complex issues in corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, contracts, bankruptcies, antitrust and negotiable instruments as they impact credit decisions.

Successful Presentation Skills
Whether you’re making impromptu comments during a meeting or giving a formal presentation, there are specific techniques to use that will ensure your success.  Learn how to overcome nerves, read your audience, project confidence, use visual aids, and recover if your mind goes blank.  Every speaking situation will be addressed from handling Q&A to being persuasive.  Participants will receive individual coaching, videotaped examples, and group feedback in a supportive, learning environment.

Advanced Negotiations
All business dealings and transactions, whether small in dollar amount or in the number of products purchased and sold, result from underlying negotiations which are generally memorialized in written agreements between the parties. To create effective agreements, a mastery of negotiation skills is essential, and is attained through practice. This course, through the use of class lectures and negotiation problem solving exercises, will help participants better understand and master negotiation skills.

Credit Scoring; From Theory to Application
Credit scoring is often thought of as a black box of numbers and equations developed by overeducated geeks in dimly lighted rooms, and then triumphed as solution to virtually every credit process from credit approvals to bad debt collection. This course will attempt to cast some light into the ‘black box’ and demystify the advance science of statistical modeling. The instructor, with assistance from an industry practitioner, will attempt to uncover both the positive attributes of credit scoring and pitfalls from misapplication of this advanced risk management tool.  The goal of the course is to help participants better understand the basic theoretical foundations and applications of credit scoring. The course will emphasize ‘real world’ case studies to demonstrate how credit scoring is being applied to commercial credit decisions. 

Project Presentations
During the first session, a project incorporating the topics presented in this program will be assigned. Working in groups between the first and second year sessions, participants will develop a teaching case, complete with a written solution and make a presentation before students and faculty.

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CCE Exam

Second year participants may take the CCE exam after completing all necessary qualifying paperwork.

These continuing education units have been awarded in accordance with the standards recommended by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training. The CEU is a nationally recognized unit designed to provide a record of an individual’s continuing education accomplishments. One CEU is awarded for each 10 contact hours of instruction.

NACM is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State Boards of Accountancy have the final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37219-2417. Website: www.nasba.org.

General Program Information

The GSCFM program is held on the campus of Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire.  Hanover is a picturesque community of 9,200 residents situated in a valley on the banks of the beautiful Connecticut River. It is a little more than two hours by car from Boston, five from New York and three from Montreal.

Program Dates for the 2008 and 2009 Sessions
Participants arrive on campus on Monday, June 16, 2008. Classes for the 2008 session will conclude on Wednesday, June 25th. In 2009, the arrival date will be June 22nd. The 2009 session classes conclude on Wednesday, July 1st. A walking tour of campus and brief orientation will be given for first year students on the evening of their arrival.

Tuition Cost
The total 2008 session cost is $5,800. However, to encourage early enrollment an early bird rate of $5,450 is reserved for applications received by March 1st after that the cost will be $5,800. This fee covers the cost of books and materials, instructional fees and use of the school’s facilities, dorm rooms, linen service, parking and athletic passes, three meals per day and beverage breaks. The second-year session tuition will be $5,450 for those returning in 2009.

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Application Process
To apply for admission to the GSCFM program, complete the Application for Admission form and mail it to: GSCFM Program Administrator, National Association of Credit Management, 8840 Columbia 100 Parkway, Columbia, Maryland 21045-2158.

A $500 application fee, made payable to NACM-GSCFM, must accompany the application form. This fee will be applied to the participant’s tuition upon acceptance to the program. Applicants not admitted into the GSCFM program will receive a refund of the application fee, less a $100 processing fee.

A letter of recommendation from the candidate’s employer or immediate supervisor must be attached to the application form. In addition, a photo, i.e. passport, clear digital, drivers license, and a current resume must also accompany the application form. This information is provided to the faculty in order to help them prepare for the class.

All applicants will receive formal notice of admission to the program within three weeks of application. An invoice for the tuition balance, room and board will be sent following this notification. Payment is due upon receipt; tuition must be paid in full prior to the start of the program.

Early application is recommended, because the class size is limited to 45 participants. Materials, including the session binder, reading assignments and texts, will be sent to each participant prior to the program. 

Refund and Cancellation Policy
Due to the inherent costs associated with establishing and holding this program, no refunds are available after May 1st. Prior to May 1st, tuition fees, less a $500 processing fee, will be refunded for written cancellations.  For questions, comments or to confirm administrative policies, please contact the NACM Meetings Department at 410-740-5560.

Certificate of Achievement
Participants receive the GSCFM Executive Award upon successful completion of all program requirements. Graduation will be held on the last night of the second session.

Special Achievement Honor
Selected by the members of the GSCFM class, the Best Student Award honors the individual who has made a significant contribution to the overall quality of the program, based on class participation and enhancement to the overall educational experience. The award recipient will be honored at the graduation dinner and at the following year’s NACM Annual Credit Congress. 

Housing and Meals
Participants, staff and instructors will be housed in one of the Dartmouth dorms on campus. Although the specific design of each dorm bedroom unit varies, participants will occupy a unit and share a bathroom. Upon request, participants can receive an athletic pass to take advantage of the recreational and workout facilities at Dartmouth. The gym, complete with indoor track and swimming pool, is located across the street from the dorm complex.

Meals will be served daily at The Hanover Inn, cafeteria style in a campus dining hall, in the dorm or at local restaurants. A photo session and special graduation dinner are held on the program’s final night. Participants are required to attend every meal to help cultivate relationships with both the faculty and other participants.

What to Pack and What to Wear
Participants should bring a telephone charge card in order to place long-distance telephone calls to the office or home as well as a laptop or notebook computer. Comfortable, casual attire is recommended for program participants. Jeans, shorts and tennis shoes are all in order. Additional details and suggestions for essential items needed to bring for the program will be provided after admittance into the GSCFM.

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Dartmouth College is not a sponsor or co-sponsor of the NACM Graduate School of Credit & Financial Management.

Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management Application

Click here to download the Application as a pdf.

The value I received by attending the National Association of Credit Management’s Graduate School of Credit & Financial Management far exceeded my expectations!  The educational sessions, instructors, staff, and the Dartmouth College campus were all fantastic.  Most important to me though was the teamwork and interaction of all the students in our class.  I may have learned as much from the other students as I did from the instructors and I walked away with such an incredible sense of achievement.  I would definitely recommend the GSCFM to others. 
Debbie McNulty, CCE
Director – Credit & Purchasing
Bay State Milling Company

GSCFM is an intense and challenging educational experience guaranteed to take the credit professional to the next level.… The quality of the teachers is what attracted me to the program and the experience exceeded my expectations. The teachers are outstanding with exceptional credentials!

My classmates possess a broad range of expertise, come from diverse industries and the international students provided an even broader perspective on the credit and risk management topics. The program provides in-depth knowledge that can be applied immediately upon returning to the office.
Joyce Williams, CCE, CICP
Credit Administrator
McKesson Pharmaceutical

I have had the pleasure of taking all the CAP and ACAP classes, but GSCFM is definitely a different educational and networking opportunity. I
completed my first year with a broader range of knowledge of the credit function. This knowledge will benefit my company for years to come.
Marlene Groh, CBF
Credit Manager
US Foodservice Charlotte

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Instructor Biographies

Additional instructor information will be available in November.

Paul Beretz, CICE
Paul Beretz, CICE is Managing Director of Pacific Business Solutions, a company he created in 1999. In addition, he is a founding partner of Q2C (Quote to Cash) Solutions. He brings over 30 years of global, corporate experience in finance and management with industries such as telecommunications, semi-conductors and forest products among others.

Paul is a faculty member at St. Mary’s College in California teaching Management at the undergraduate level and instructs Masters level Leadership programs. His adjunct faculty postings also include UC Berkeley and Michigan State University (MSU). In 2003, under the combined sponsorship of FCIB, MSU and the U.S. Department of Commerce, he created a course in international credit and risk management. Paul is the project manager and lead instructor for this online program. He also instructs two online courses for the CMA Business Credit Services. In addition, Paul was an instructor in international credit for the 2007 session of the GSCFM. 

Paul has given over 150 presentations and in-house training programs to Fortune 500 companies, associations and professional groups. He has been an expert witness and written articles for trade publications that include Business Credit and IOMA and has been quoted by news organizations (e.g., Bloomberg). He is a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of IOMA's publication, Managing Credit, Receivables & Collections, and authored a book for the American Management Association on credit management. In 2007, he was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Under Secretary for International Trade of the U.S. Department of Commerce for his contributions to the “Trade Finance Guide,” a reference publication produced for U.S. exporters. He was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for 2007-2008. Paul was also elected to a three-year term on the Advisory Board of FCIB beginning in 2007. Paul received his BBA from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from Golden Gate University and the Executive Award at NACM’s GSCFM program. 

Wanda Borges, Esq.
Wanda is an attorney and member of Borges & Associates, LLC. Ms. Borges has concentrated her practice on commercial litigation representing corporate creditors and commercial insolvency matters representing corporate creditors and creditors' committees in chapter 11 proceedings, out of court settlements, and commercial litigation for an excess of 27 years. AS a member of the Commercial Law League of America, she is its President, is a Past Chair of its Bankruptcy Section, and served six years on the Executive Council of the Eastern Region of the CLLA. She is a member of INSOL, the American Bar Association, the Turnaround Management Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association. She has become a regular lecturer for NACM National and its affiliated associations on commercial and corporate law (including ECOA, the Uniform Commercial Code and FCRA), insolvency matters, creditors' rights issues and antitrust law. She is one of the authors of the Comments of the Commercial Law League of America and its Bankruptcy Section to the Preliminary Draft of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.  Ms. Borges has authored and edited numerous publications including West Publishing Company's Enforcing Judgments and Collecting Debts in New York, NACM's Antitrust, Restraint of Trade and Unfair Competition: Myth Versus Reality, NAB's Out of the Red and into the Black, BCCA's Credit Handbook, the CLLA Bulletin, Journal and Bankruptcy Section Newsletters, including her treatise "Hidden Liens: Who Is Entitled to What?" and NACM's Manual of Credit and Commercial Laws.

Susan Fee, M.Ed., L.P.C.
Susan Fee is a licensed professional counselor and business presentation coach based in Cleveland, OH.  She has taught public speaking skills to clients such as Motorola, US Navy, and State of Michigan employees and is an adjunct college instructor of Effective Public Speaking.  Ms. Fee is the author of Positive First Impression and Dealing with Difficult People both available from her Web site www.susanfee.com.  Last year, Adams Media released her latest book My Roommate Is Driving Me Crazy!  Solve Conflicts, Set Boundaries, and Survive the College Roommate from Hell. 

Vernon Gerety, Ph.D. has 20+ years of experience and expertise in risk management solutions for a variety of industries and companies, specializing in applications for credit, collections and bad debt recovery. In 2005, Vernon formed an independent consulting company, VGAdvisors, to assist companies with optimizing strategic decisions and operational processes.  They specialize in credit and collection practices, assisting clients in understanding customer behavior and profitability by using both internal and external data with emphasis on the use of predictive scoring solutions and technology. Vernon’s professional experience includes employment with PredictiveMetrics, GE Capital, D&B and AT&T.  Vernon holds a B.A. from California State University, Fresno and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona.

Constance E. Helfat, Ph.D.
Connie is Professor of Strategy and Technology at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Professor Helfat’s research focuses on firm capabilities and knowledge, with particular attention to technological innovation and adaptation and change of firm capabilities over time. She also has conducted research on corporate executives and boards of directors. Professor Helfat’s research has been published in Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Journal of Industrial Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Industrial and Corporate Change. She also has published a book entitled Investment Choices in Industry (MIT Press) and is the editor of the recently published Blackwell/Strategic Management Society Handbook of Organizational Capabilities: Emergence, Development, and Change. Professor Helfat currently serves as an associate editor of Management Science, and is on the editorial boards of Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Strategic Organization. Professor Helfat received her undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University. Prior to coming to the Tuck School, Professor Helfat was a faculty member at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Charles Mulford, Ph.D., CPA
Chuck is Invesco Chair and Professor of Accounting in the DuPree College of Management at Georgia Tech. Since joining the faculty in 1983, he has been recognized ten times as the Core Professor of the Year and twice as the Professor of the Year by the Graduate Students in Business Administration. In 1999 the graduate students voted to rename the Core Professor of the Year Award the “Charles W. Mulford Core Professor of the Year Award.” An additional teaching award received in 2000 was the university-wide W. Roane Beard Class of 1940 Outstanding Teacher Award. In addition to his work at Georgia Tech, Professor Mulford regularly consults with major domestic and international commercial banks and money-management firms on issues related to credit and investment decision-making. Professor Mulford has a doctorate in accounting from Florida State University and is professionally qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Florida and Georgia. Prior to joining the Georgia Tech faculty, he practiced public accounting with the firm of Coopers & Lybrand.

Diane Swanson, Ph.D.
Diane Swanson is the von Waaden Professor of Business Administration at Kansas State University where she teaches undergraduate, graduate and continuing professional education courses in Business and Society, Professional Ethics, and Accounting and Business Ethics. She is also the Founding Chair of KSU's Ethics Education Initiative, which has received international acclaim. Professor Swanson's record includes publishing widely on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, leadership, and organizational dynamics; serving on editorial boards; holding governing positions in academic associations; and interviewing frequently with the media. She is also listed in several biographical indices, including Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who of American Women, and Who's Who in Business in Higher Education. Since spearheading a national campaign to improve business education in 2002, she has been invited to speak to several national audiences on the importance of business ethics. In 2004 she received the Best Ethics Educator Award from the Colleges of Business at Colorado State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and University of Wyoming.   

Judith White, Ph.D.
Judith White is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Her area of expertise is organizational behavior, and her current research topic areas include solo status in groups, negotiations, and organizational and social identity. Professor White has published numerous articles and working papers in these areas. She has been the recipient of many awards including the George W. Goethals Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard University. Dr. White holds a BA from Indiana University, a JD from Yale University, and her PhD from Harvard University.

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