WorkflowAccounts Receivable Automation (Order-to-Cash)

B2B Credit Risk Management

B2B credit risk management where the agents watch every customer and you sign every limit

Bad debt kept down without blocking good orders, every limit change cited and signed.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo37signalsfound overnight on 35 of 4,812 customers, each with the passage it came from
demo9of 14held orders the agents propose to release on evidence — $698,050 that can ship
target25%less bad debt written off
target1business dayfrom a warning signal to a decision, not the next annual review
In short

What is B2B Credit Risk Management?

B2B credit risk management software reviews customer credit files, sets credit limits and flags deterioration before it turns into bad debt. B2B Credit Risk Management puts eight agents on every customer every night: they read payments, liens, filings, bureau and insurer notices and news, re-score the customer, propose a limit with a cited memo and test it against your credit policy. The credit manager decides and signs.

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Updated

The problem

Why credit limits fall behind the risk

A seller on 30- to 60-day terms is lending to thousands of business customers, yet most limits are set at onboarding and looked at again at the annual review. The warning signs arrive in a dozen places: slower payment in the aging, a blanket lien filed by a new lender, going-concern language in a quarterly report, a plant closure in the local press, a credit insurer cutting cover. Bureau alerts land in one analyst's inbox, news is noticed by chance, and a 10-Q note is rarely read at all.

Meanwhile good customers' orders sit on credit hold behind stale limits, and analysts spend their mornings releasing them by hand. When a limit does change, the memo is rewritten from scratch, the approval happens by email, the ERP is updated by hand and sales hears last. At quarter end the controller and the auditors ask for the support behind large limits and the forward-looking part of the allowance, and it is spread across email and spreadsheets.

typical8%of US B2B credit sales lost to bad debt, on average
typical1 in 2invoicesbetween US businesses paid late
typical+6%rise forecast in global business insolvencies in 2025
Where one limit decision's working hours goestimated
By hand10.5 days
With the solution1.7 days
  • Pulling the aging, payment history and a fresh bureau report2 → 0.2 d
  • Reading liens, court records, filings and news2 → 0.3 d
  • Re-scoring the customer and writing the credit memo3 → 0.5 d
  • Checking the limit against the credit policy and authority matrix1 → 0.2 d
  • Approval by email and keying the limit into the ERP1 → 0.2 d
  • Telling sales, working the held orders and filing the evidence1.5 → 0.3 d

Estimated split for one limit decision on a mid-size trade account, by hand and with the solution.

How it works

How a warning becomes a decision

Eight agents watch every customer nightly, re-score, propose a cited limit and check it against your policy; the credit manager signs.

What comes in
Signals in9 sources · ledger, liens, filings, bureau, news
Agents at work
Payment watcherdays to pay, past due
Filings and liens watcherquotes the passage
News and bureau watchertwo sources
Then
Credit scorerexplains every point
Then
Limit recommenderlimit, orders, memo
Policy checkercan disagree
Then
Hold and release agentafter the signature
A person decides
Credit managerapproves, edits or rejects
What comes out
Limit in the ERP
Orders held or released
Evidence pack
One case, step by step

One customer, from four warnings to a signed limit

Tarrant Steel Fabrication of Erie, Pennsylvania, has bought plate and coil from Kestrel & Vane Metals Distribution since 2014 — about $3.1M a year on Net 45, with a $500,000 limit set at its March review. In twelve days it had a blanket lien, a going-concern note and an idled production line. Here is how Helen Ward, the credit manager, works it with the agents in one conversation, screen by screen.

  1. 0106:12

    The morning starts with a conversation, not a report

    Credit lead

    Helen opens Tarrant Steel's credit file. The dial shows exposure of $479,660 — 96% of the $500,000 limit, $20,340 of headroom — and a blue tick at the proposed $350,000. Six signals sit around it. Beside the dial, the credit team has already written to her: 37 signals on 35 customers overnight, 9 re-scored, 6 decisions waiting, Tarrant first.

    Credit lead: “Four warnings in twelve days — a blanket lien, going-concern language in its quarterly report, a production line idled, and last night days to pay reached 67.”

  2. 02One click

    Every signal opens the passage it came from

    Filings and liens watcher

    Helen clicks the quarterly report signal. The 10-Q for the quarter to 31 August opens at Note 2, with the passage the agent used highlighted: a net loss of $6.8 million for the nine months and a breach of the fixed charge coverage ratio on the revolving facility. Note 7 describes a waiver from its lenders to 15 December.

    “These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.”

  3. 0306:14

    A credit memo she doesn't have to rebuild

    Limit recommender

    The recommender proposes cutting the limit from $500,000 to $350,000: eight weeks of expected purchases after the line idles, under the class D cap of $390,000. Ship while past due over 30 days stays below $25,000, and re-review on 15 December when the lenders' waiver ends. The memo has six sections, every statement cited, and 11 sources quoted — the UCC-1 filing, the 10-Q notes, the aging, the bureau report, the credit group report and Credit Policy CP-7.

    Each paragraph can be edited, or the recommender asked to rewrite it; every edit is a new version.

  4. 0406:15

    A second agent tests it against the credit policy

    Policy checker

    The policy checker works on its own, rule by rule, against Credit Policy CP-7 revision 2026.2. Within the approver's authority, under the class D cap, inside the going-concern cap of 8 × $45,000, a lien re-review 74 days after the lien, Rosa Delgado and the sales VP told of a cut over 25%, every signal sourced and no older than 30 days, recommender and approver not the same, and the open orders shown before approval: 8 of 8 pass.

    “The recommender cannot overrule it.” A disagreement always goes to a person.

  5. 0509:50

    She asks what sales loses

    Helen Ward · Credit manager

    Helen types her question into the thread. The credit lead answers with its sources: at $350,000 Tarrant can keep buying about $45,000 a week, roughly $1.2M of orders over the next six months. Only the two open orders, $61,400, wait, and they release as soon as the $142,880 past due is paid. Rosa Delgado will be told why, in plain words, before it takes effect.

    Other questions she can ask in the same place: “Why not hold everything?” · “Show the going-concern passage” · “Make it $300,000”.

  6. 06What-if

    She moves the limit and watches the rules

    Helen Ward · Credit manager

    On the what-if screen a slider runs from $200,000 to $600,000. At $350,000 the expected loss is $19,740, SO 7781204 ($38,900) and SO 7781266 ($22,500) hold, and all eight policy rules pass. Told in the thread to “make it $300,000”, the recommender re-proposes, expected loss falls to $16,920, and the policy checker re-tests it: still 8 of 8. She keeps $350,000.

  7. 0709:52

    She signs, with her reasons

    Helen Ward · Credit manager

    Approve opens the decision: cut the credit limit, $500,000 → $350,000. Reason codes are required; she ticks RC-02 payment behaviour deteriorated and RC-03 public distress signals. She confirms she has read the memo and the policy check, and signs with the meaning “I approve this credit decision”.

    Sign and approve stays greyed out until there is a reason code and the confirmation.

  8. 08One minute later

    Only now does an agent touch the ERP

    Hold and release agent

    Acting on the signed decision, the hold and release agent writes $350,000 to the ERP credit master and gets it confirmed, holds the two open orders with the reason, tells Rosa Delgado and the sales vice president in plain words, schedules the re-review for 15 December with Daniel Osei, and logs evidence pack DEC-2026-10-0418 — memo v1, 11 sources, the policy test and the signature.

    “Draft the letter to Tarrant's payables team — waits for you to press Send.”

  9. 09Same morning

    Sales hears why, in plain words

    Rosa Delgado · Sales account manager

    Rosa sees her 46 customers with credit words replaced by plain ones. Tarrant: “Credit limit lowered to $350,000 today. Tarrant has been paying later each month and has new debts in its public reports.” Below it, what she can do — and a box to ask credit, answered by the credit team, which passes anything that needs a decision to Helen Ward.

    “What you can do: Ask Tarrant to pay $142,880 that is more than 30 days late: SO 7781204 and SO 7781266 ($61,400) then ship at once.”

  10. 10Next decision

    When the agents disagree, she sees it

    Policy checker

    Rosa has asked to raise Halvorsen Building Supply from $750,000 to $1.2M for a $640,000 hospital order. The recommender proposes $1.0M, with exposure peaking near $980,000, once the owner's guarantee is renewed. The policy checker disagrees on two rules: the personal guarantee expired on 30 September and the financial statements are 14 months old. $1.2M is above Helen's authority, so it can go to Graham Whitlock, the group CFO.

    Policy checker: “I disagree on two rules … §6.2 needs both for a limit above $500,000.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who touches a credit limit.

The same credit decision, seen by the five people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

HW
Helen WardCredit Manager, North America · approves limits to $1M
Credit manager
Before
Owns 4,812 accounts reviewed once a year, hears about a lien or a plant closure late, and approves limit changes by email.
Now
Starts with the six decisions that need her, each with a cited memo and a policy verdict, asks the agents what she needs in plain words, and signs. “Tell me what changed, show me where it says so, and I'll decide.”
DO
Daniel OseiSenior Credit Analyst · approves to $100,000
Senior credit analyst
Before
“I spend my mornings releasing orders that should never have been held.”
Now
Opens the hold list with a proposal and a reason on every order — a payment received, a wire in transit, a raise proposed — and releases the good ones together, with one reason, once he confirms.
RD
Rosa DelgadoSales Account Manager, Metals Distribution · 46 customers
Sales account manager
Before
Finds out a customer was cut when an order is blocked. “If you cut my customer, tell me why and what they can do about it.”
Now
Sees each customer's credit in plain words, what the customer can do to ship, and asks credit for a change in the same place.
GW
Graham WhitlockGroup CFO · approves limits above $1M, the credit policy and the scoring weights
Group CFO
Before
“I want fewer surprises in the reserve, not fewer sales.” Reads the portfolio after the losses are in it.
Now
Reads a monthly portfolio report written from the credit files — exposure by risk class, movements, expected loss and a forward-looking allowance note — and decides every limit above $1M, with the policy checker's verdict and reasons.
FN
Farah NadeemInternal Audit · read-only
Internal audit
Before
Asks for the support behind large limits and gets a memo on a shared drive and an approval in someone's inbox.
Now
Filters every read, proposal, check, decision and write by person, agent or customer, and exports the evidence pack for any decision.
Built on the engine

8 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Eight agents watch every customer nightly, re-score, propose a cited limit and check it against your policy; the credit manager signs.

Credit lead

Talks with the credit team: each morning summarises what changed overnight, presents each recommendation and the policy verdict, and answers questions from the credit files with a citation for every fact.

  • Never decides and never changes a limit
  • Cites a passage for every fact; plain words for sales
Payment watcher

Reads the receivables ledger, aging and bank lockbox file every night: days to pay by month, past due, returned payments and remittances in transit.

  • Reads only
  • Never contacts a customer
Filings and liens watcher

Watches lien filings, court dockets and public company filings for every customer and its parent, and quotes the passage; insolvency filings go to legal at once.

  • Flags and quotes the passage
  • No legal advice beyond what the filing says
News and bureau watcher

Reads bureau reports, credit insurer notices, industry credit group reports and the news, and records each score change.

  • Ignores unsourced posts
  • Two independent sources before a news signal such as a plant closure
Credit scorer

Re-scores a customer whenever a signal changes, lists each driver with its points and its source, and works out the 12-month probability of default and the expected loss at the current and proposed limits.

  • Cannot change the scoring weights
  • Flags a score outside the model's range
Limit recommender

Drafts a new limit with conditions and a re-review date, writes the credit memo with every statement cited, and shows which open orders the limit would hold and what releases them.

  • Proposes only
  • Never above a policy cap without saying so
Policy checker

Independently tests every recommendation against each rule of the written credit policy, with the evidence, says agrees or disagrees with its reasons, and routes the decision by the authority matrix.

  • Cannot be overruled by the recommender
  • A disagreement always goes to a person
Hold and release agent

After a signed decision, writes the limit to the ERP credit master, holds or releases orders with the reason, tells the sales account manager, schedules the re-review and drafts the letter to the customer.

  • Acts only on a signed decision
  • Letters wait for a person to press Send
Credit manager

Decides with a reason code; above $1M the CFO. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the credit team, in plain words

Ask about any customer, signal, hold or limit — or tell the agents what to change. Every answer points to its source, and nothing reaches the ERP until a person confirms.

Which customers got riskier this week?

Nine moved to class D or E this month; three this week stand out. Tarrant Steel, 71 → 44, after a blanket lien and a going-concern note. Ostrander Freight Lines, 58 → 9, Chapter 11 on 12 Oct. Whitcombe Electrical: its credit insurer halved cover to $250,000.

Why did Tarrant Steel's score drop?

From 71 to 44 in two weeks: the going-concern note cost 11 points, the payment trend 7 — days to pay 38 → 67 — the blanket lien 5, the idled line 2 and the bureau 2. That crosses into class D, so the recommender proposed a lower limit.

Release Larkspur's held orders

Larkspur has three orders held, $86,250; it pays in 29 days on Net 30 and a raise to $400,000 is proposed. I have selected the three orders in Holds — press Release 3 and give a reason; nothing goes to the ERP before you do.

Add a rule: re-review any customer with a going-concern note within 30 days

Added to the policy rules, waiting for Graham Whitlock's approval as policy §1.4 requires. Today it would catch 3 customers: Tarrant Steel, Lowick Medical and Quillon Marine. The policy checker tests it from tonight.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The credit fileThe watchlist with the decisions first, the credit-limit dial with exposure, today's limit and the proposed one, six cited signals, and the conversation with the credit team.
A signal's sourceThe 10-Q note behind the going-concern signal, with the passage the agent used highlighted and who read it, when.
The credit memoDrafted by the limit recommender, every statement cited, with versions, the 11 sources quoted and a box to ask for a rewrite.
The policy checkEach rule of the credit policy tested on its own, with the evidence and the policy text, and the verdict: agrees, 8 of 8.
What-ifMove the limit and see exposure, expected loss, the orders that hold and every policy rule recalculated.
Asking the credit teamThe credit manager asks what sales loses; the credit lead answers in the thread, with its sources.
Approve and signRequired reason codes, an optional note, confirmation that the memo and policy check were read, and the e-signature with its meaning.
After the signatureThe hold and release agent writes the limit to the ERP, holds two orders, tells sales, schedules the re-review, drafts the letter and logs the evidence pack.
When the agents disagreeA sales request for $1.2M, the recommender's $1.0M, and the policy checker's disagreement on an expired guarantee and old financials.
Holds and releasesEvery order on credit hold with the agents' proposal and reason — release or keep — and bulk release once a person confirms.
What sales seesA sales account manager's customers in plain words, the held orders, what each customer can do, and a box to ask credit.
The portfolio reportWritten for the group CFO: exposure by risk class, movements, expected loss, the allowance note for the controller and the largest exposures.
Audit trailEvery read, proposal, check, decision and write by people and agents, append-only, with an evidence pack to export.
Governance

Built for credit decisions you can defend: cited, checked, signed.

Every signal and sentence cites its sourceEach signal, score movement, memo sentence and policy test opens the passage it came from — the lien filing, the 10-Q note, the aging, the bureau or insurer notice — with the agent that read it and when.
A named person decides and signsAgents never change a limit or release an order on their own. Every change is approved, edited or rejected with a required reason code and an e-signature that records the signer, the time and its meaning.
An independent check before the decisionThe policy checker is a separate agent with its own instructions. The recommender cannot overrule it, a disagreement always goes to a person, and the recommender and the approver are never the same.
Routed by your authority matrixCredit analyst to $100,000, credit manager to $1,000,000, group CFO above, credit committee above $5,000,000. A cut over 25% tells the sales manager and sales VP first, and a decision waiting more than 2 business days goes to the CFO.
Written to the ERP only after a signatureThe hold and release agent writes limits and order blocks only on a signed decision, and customer letters wait for a person to press Send. Changes to the policy or the scoring weights need the CFO's approval.
Every step on the audit trailAn append-only trail records every read, proposal, check, decision and write by people and agents, with an evidence pack per decision. Records are kept 7 years after an account closes.
Configuration

Your credit policy, as rules you set

The agents read your written credit policy and turn it into rules you approve. Thresholds, weights, authority and service levels are settings, and every change is on the audit trail.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Going-concern cap8 weeks of expected purchases (policy §4.3)Step up or down, one week at a time
Order tolerance before an order holds2% over the limitStep up or down, one point at a time
Re-review after a blanket lien90 days (policy §4.5)Step up or down, in days
Signal that triggers a recommendationScore drop of 8 points in one weekStep up or down, one point at a time
Scoring weightsPayment trend 30 · public filings 20 · liens 15 · bureau 15 · trade references 10 · news 10Must total 100; sent to the group CFO for approval
Risk classes by scoreA 80 and above · B 65–79 · C 50–64 · D 35–49 · E below 35Class D cap: lower of 10% of tangible net worth or $400,000 · class E: secured or cash in advance
Approval authorityAnalyst $100,000 · credit manager $1,000,000 · group CFO aboveCredit committee above $5,000,000 · agents disagree: always a person
Service levelsClass change to D or E decided in 1 business dayHeld order reviewed in 4 working hours · insolvency told to credit, legal and the sales manager the same hour · escalate to the CFO after 2 business days
Connections

Works with the systems your credit team already uses

ERPcustomers, receivables, open orders, the credit master and order blocks
Bank lockbox and remittancespayments, returned items and remittance advices in the credit inbox
Credit bureau and credit insurerbusiness credit reports, scores and buyer limit notices
Liens, courts and public filingsUCC filings, tax liens, dockets, quarterly and annual reports
News and industry credit grouptrade and local press, two sources, and trade references
Your credit policy and CRMthe written policy and authority matrix, account owners and the sales pipeline
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
25%
less bad debt written off
Today100
Target75
target
100%
of limit changes cited, policy-checked and signed
every change
memo, policy test, signature
target
1day
from a warning signal to a decision, not the next annual review
Annual reviewup to 12 months
With agents1 business day

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (Atradius Payment Practices Barometer, United States 2024 — half of B2B invoices overdue, bad debts averaging 8% of B2B credit sales; Allianz Trade Global Insolvency Report, Oct 2025 — global business insolvencies forecast to rise 6% in 2025). ASC 326 and IFRS 9 are named as context only. People, companies, lenders, publications and filing numbers named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What credit managers and controllers ask us.

What is B2B Credit Risk Management?

B2B credit risk management software reviews customer credit files, sets credit limits and flags deterioration before it turns into bad debt. B2B Credit Risk Management puts eight agents on every customer every night: they read payments, liens, filings, bureau and insurer notices and news, re-score the customer, propose a limit with a cited memo and test it against your credit policy. The credit manager decides and signs.

How does it monitor customer credit risk?

Three watchers read the receivables ledger and lockbox file, lien and court records and public filings, and bureau reports, credit insurer notices, industry credit group reports and the news. Every signal carries the passage it came from, and a news signal needs two independent sources. On the sample data they found 37 signals on 35 customers in one night.

How does it recommend a credit limit?

The credit scorer re-scores the customer and explains every point it moved, with the probability of default and the expected loss. The limit recommender then proposes a limit within your policy caps, with conditions, a re-review date, a credit memo with every statement cited and the open orders the limit would hold.

What happens when the agents disagree?

The policy checker tests every recommendation on its own, rule by rule, and the recommender cannot overrule it. A disagreement always goes to a person, and a limit above the credit manager's authority goes to the group CFO with both agents' reasoning.

Does it release orders on credit hold?

It proposes. The agents check payments received, remittances in transit and proposed limit changes, and mark each held order release or keep with a reason — 9 of 14 for release on the sample morning. Nothing is written to the ERP until a person confirms with a reason.

Does it help the controller with the bad-debt allowance?

The monthly portfolio report includes an allowance note for the controller: expected loss by risk class, the forward-looking adjustment from class migrations and the change in expected loss from each limit decision, every number linked to the credit file it came from. ASC 326 and IFRS 9 both ask for forward-looking information in the allowance on trade receivables.

Do people stay in control of credit limits?

Yes. Agents never change a limit, release or hold an order, contact a customer or change the policy on their own. Every decision needs a reason code and an e-signature, routes by your authority matrix, and is written to the ERP only after it is signed.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your credit policy, authority matrix and a sample of credit files — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. First-time setup connects the ERP, reads your policy into rules you approve and back-tests 20 of your analysts' past decisions before the watchers start.

See it on
your customers.

We'll run B2B Credit Risk Management on a sample of your own credit files, against your own credit policy.