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Description

Customer Credit Risk Assessment: Analysing, Scoring and Framing Credit Limits

Decide on a credit limit using firm criteria rather than the commercial instinct of the moment

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Intermediate
  • Up to 6 participants

A major bad debt builds up long in advance: payment delays that keep stretching, orders that suddenly increase, financial statements that are no longer shared. Without an assessment framework, the company discovers the customer's difficulties only at the point of default, when exposure is at its highest.

Over two days, this programme builds a customer credit risk assessment upstream of the sale, combining financial analysis with qualitative signals. You will learn to use available financial statements, build an internal scoring grid, set credit limits, and organise portfolio reviews as well as decision-making arbitration with the sales function.

Learning objectives

  • Collect and verify the information available on a customer or prospect
  • Analyse solvency from financial statements and structural ratios
  • Identify qualitative signals of deterioration within the commercial relationship
  • Build an internal scoring grid and credit limits
  • Organise portfolio reviews and arbitration with the sales function

What makes this programme different

Live scoring of real anonymised customer files
Development of a scoring grid tailored to participants' sectors
Arbitration case study on a large order against an already stretched exposure

Programme

1Knowing Your Customer

Collect before you grant

  • Public and private sources of information on a company
  • Verification of legal identity and ownership structure
  • Identifying changes of management and ongoing proceedings
  • Onboarding file and documents required before opening an account

2Analysing Financial Strength

Reading the accounts to decide

  • Reading the balance sheet and income statement from a risk perspective
  • Structural, profitability and liquidity ratios
  • Working capital requirements and payment terms applied
  • Limits of published accounts and the meaning of late filing
  • Interpreting and making measured use of external ratings

3Reading Qualitative Signals

What the accounts do not tell you

  • Payment behaviour and trends in overdue balances
  • Sudden increases in orders and changes in buying behaviour
  • Turnover of contacts and repeated invoice disputes
  • Customer dependence on a single principal client
  • Information reported by sales teams and from the field

4Deciding and Monitoring

Frame rather than forbid

  • Building an internal scoring grid and weighting the criteria
  • Setting credit limits and payment terms
  • Guarantees and tools for securing sales
  • Periodic portfolio review and updating of scores
  • Formalising the decision and arbitration with the sales function

Who is it for

Credit managers · finance and administration managers · accounts receivable accountants · management controllers and sales managers.

Prerequisites

Ability to read a balance sheet and an income statement.

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.