BCCA, the media industry’s credit association, has developed a new credit report, called Media Whys, that includes a credit score based on industry-specific aging combined with trade data from Experian or D+B.
“With the industry’s trend toward consolidation and centralization moving many credit decisions out of the local market, it was imperative for us to create a solution that could address the need for rapid and accurate exchange of credit information to minimize exposure to loss and decrease turnaround time,” said Mary M. Collins, President & CEO of BCCA and MFM, the Media Financial Management Association. “We also had to find a way to ensure that credit information would not be reported to the major credit bureaus unless requested to do so by the data provider.”
To develop the industry-specific reports, BCCA teamed up with Business Credit Reports, the largest independent provider of business and owner credit information, which has created industry-specific credit tools for a number of other industry groups, including the construction, sports, music and medical services markets.
Available only to BCCA members, the media-specific section of the report contains media industry trade payment information, current payment performance and payment trends reported by other industry members. The report also includes analytics such as a credit logic score - a 0-100 score illustrating risk of severely delinquent payment - and a payment trends graph - which illustrates whether the company is improving, declining, or stable.
Additional information included is what users would expect from a comprehensive credit report:
• Data depth score,
• Business failure assessment,
• Balance to high credit graph,
• Secretary of State / corporate registration data,
• Company background data from D&B,
• Corporate linkage showing all branches, subsidiaries, and including global ultimate parent,
• Data on bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments, collection accounts,
• UCC Filings, and
• The user’s choice of Experian or D&B trade data.
In addition, members interested in performing trend analysis on their accounts and/or in automating their credit decisions based on industry-specific factors will have access to aging analysis and credit decisioning tools.
“This new report provides real-time access to the information critical to making an informed media credit decision,” Collins said. “I want to thank the members of MFM’s Board of Directors, particularly Harry Vasels, Interim General Manager for Tropical Music Service, and Gary Hoipkemier, SVP and CFO for Schurz Communications along with Melody Darch, VP Accounting of Cox Media Group and Bob Warner, director of credit and collections for Media General, who helped develop a similar tool when he was in the construction industry. Without their guidance and support we would not have been able to develop and offer this valuable tool.”
Members who provide aging data will receive volume discounts. They can also opt to make an upfront investment at varying financial levels that will earn them additional discounts ranging from 10% to 25% for periods of three-to-five years. Already signing on for the new service are Cox Communications, Media General, Schurz Communications, and Graham Media Group. More information about Media Whys and the other credit services offered by BCCA may found on the organization’s Web site, at http://www.bccacredit.com.
About MFM and BCCA: Media Financial Management Association (MFM) is the premiere resource for financial professionals for media industry education, networking, and information sharing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More information about MFM is available on its Web site: http://www.mediafinance.org. Its BCCA subsidiary serves as the media industry’s credit association. BCCA’s revenue management services include a variety of credit reports on national and local media advertisers and EMCAPP - the Electronic Media Credit Application. More information about BCCA and EMCAPP is available at http://www.bccacredit.com and www.emcapp.com.
