ABSTRACT
Wherever a trade or service transaction is not settled by cash, commercial risks precede receipt of payment and the waiting period, like the manufacturing period, must in some way be financed. This notwithstanding, local geographical, political and economic influences may affect the 'universal rules of credit management'. Particularly in Europe, the credit manager has to be aware of these subtleties, be able to assess them and take timely and adequate action in order to handle them. (And for those European credit managers with the additional responsibility for operations in the USA there are other subtleties as described in Chapter 22.)
