All companies are formed as investment vehicles with required financial "rates of return," which makes profitability the metric that matters the most, and its support the primary task of every individual and department. Realizing the credit department is in the profit rather than just the collection business helps management better understand and organize its path to success. Like all paths taken in pursuit of success knowing where your Mission starts greatly impacts where and how well you finish. Achieving the credit department's Profit Mission requires a management willing to meet challenge and opportunity with creative and occasionally nontraditional approaches-a management always looking well "outside the box" for better financial solutions. Goals of this book are: To help credit management realize that support of Profitable Growth is its primary Mission. To facilitate "outside the box" financial solutions and enhance the credit department's role in a company's overall business success. To help credit management maximize and internally market the department's value proposition. The contents have been organized to show a company how it can more effectively identify its credit department's Profit Mission, creatively develop supporting processes and procedures, build organizational structure and support, and efficiently leverage its resources to help maximize company brand and financial value.