Stricter Routines and Clearer Documentation with Limit Ledger
Keeping track of credit insurance and documenting all credit decisions can be time-consuming. The Småland-based company Hörle Wire has solved both challenges since implementing the Limit Ledger system — and they have discovered many additional benefits.
“Since we enter notes in the system about the decisions we’ve made, we get clear documentation of everything we’ve done — something our auditors also appreciate,” says Michael Jensen, CFO at Hörle Wire.
Hörle Wire AB manufactures and processes steel wire and has been in operation since 1917. The company, now more than 100 years old, continuously looks for ways to improve its workflows and routines. Since the end of 2023, they have been using Limit Ledger to keep track of their credit insurance, and it has proven to offer far more than just better oversight and control.
“When working with credit insurance — a complex type of insurance tied to multiple conditions — it is important to follow routines and act within certain time frames. One example is how long we can continue delivering to a customer who has overdue invoices. The system helps us, among other things, with a monitoring list of what we need to keep track of,” says Michael Jensen.
Michael explains that the system also becomes a platform for discussion within the organization.
“We can review customer profiles together, see whether they have exceeded their limit, and decide what we should do. Should we request a higher limit? It’s not uncommon for Sales/Marketing and the Finance department to have different opinions on these matters,” Michael says with a laugh.
There are only three manufacturers of low-carbon steel wire in Sweden today, making this a highly specialized industry. Hörle Wire’s facilities are located in Värnamo, with additional operations in Germany and Slovakia. In total, around 150 employees work within the group. Michael Jensen considers their customers to be relatively stable, and they have so far been spared major customer losses. They began working with credit insurance at the end of 2022 when they reviewed all their insurance policies.
“It gives us security and sharpens our internal routines for every credit assessment. By also implementing Limit Ledger to monitor our credit insurance, we now have better oversight and better insight into our customers’ ability to pay.”
In daily operations, it is primarily the company’s controller who works with Limit Ledger and generates the reports. But Michael Jensen says that because the system is so user-friendly and all the charts are so clear and easy to understand, he can log in anytime and review things himself. Previously, he had to open the ERP system, extract a list of customers with reminders, and manually create an overview.
That it is a good platform for many people to access and align around is also appreciated by the auditors.
“They appreciate that we can document and approve decisions when they review the company from a governance perspective.”
It also helps during the annual reporting to the insurance companies regarding what has been sold to each insured customer.
“When something happens, we have excellent support in the system when reporting exactly what we’ve done to the insurance company. Everything is in Limit Ledger — it becomes like a logbook for us,” Michael concludes.