Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'Out on the fringe'

I've spent the last few days at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester and, next week, I'll be in Birmingham with the Conservatives. The conferences represent a great opportunity to meet and network with business and lobby organisations, MPs, and others but - to be truthful - I find them a bit depressing. Some of the fringe events are interesting, and I've heard some fascinating debates and arguments, but I'm far less impressed by the main conference sessions.

Now before I am accused of being partisan, I'm not suggesting any one party is better or worse than the other, and I understand that politicians are playing to an audience which is largely comprised of very passionate and committed party faithfuls who hang on their every word, but I honestly don't want to listen to a litany of all the things that the 'other parties' have done wrong, how misguided they are, and how they should be ashamed of themselves.

What I want to know from the party in opposition is what they would do to address the issues they see as being important, in specific and detailed terms, so that I can form an opinion as to how realistic their plans are, and how I believe they would perform if they were in power. What I want to hear from the governing party is how they're going to address things that aren't working quite as they'd wanted, how they're going to modify their plans to get things back on track, and where those plans will get us.

The optimist in me says that I'll be more impressed next week; the realist says I doubt it and my depression at British politics will deepen!

Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'The real definition of professionalism'

A month ago I started a discussion on the ICM Credit Community Group on LinkedIn asking: "What does professionalism mean to you?" The question generated some great responses that used words and phrases including: fair; knowledgeable; focused; integrity; confidence; experience; seeing the bigger picture; keeping up to date; reputation; experience; considered judgment; ethics; calmness; credibility; and stability.

Yesterday I spent a long day in a London office meeting a series of people who demonstrated professionalism in credit management in the truest sense - they were credible, competent and could obviously apply their knowledge in the real business world. Although not the strict definition, I believe someone displaying professionalism is someone who exudes a sense of confidence in themselves and to those around them. After all, that confidence comes from all the qualities and attributes mentioned above. If I'm going to rely on someone in any walk of life I'm going to want them to be confident in themselves and I'm going to want to sense that confidence when I'm in contact with them.

The ICM in recent times has been particularly encouraging its members to be proud of their professionalism and not to be 'shrinking violets'. Good credit management is vital to the sustainability and success of businesses and we shouldn't be afraid to say so, nor to broadcast the value we add to our organisations. A recent web clipping of a survey by Marks Sattin, a recruitment organisation, shows that pay rises for credit managers averaged 7% last year and were three times greater than those of other accountancy professionals. The accompanying press release talks about the enhanced significance and greater prominence given to credit management and supports the Institute's argument that the contribution of credit professionals is invaluable and indisputable.

Sadly, we all see examples of people showing a real lack of professionalism (including from time to time by their comments and behaviours on LinkedIn discussion forums and elsewhere) but let's make sure that those individuals remain a small minority and that we can genuinely be proud of our profession. If you're an ICM member and want to demonstrate your pride by wearing an ICM Badge, please simply send an email to members@icm.org.uk quoting your correct email address, saying how many people currently work in your credit department, and telling us the single most important thing you value from your ICM membership.

Finally can I remind you that the ICM Member Survey is still open and you can complete it here. We've been overwhelmed by the response to date but the more responses we have, the better informed will be our future planning. Can I also remind you that the latest ICM UK Credit Managers' Index opened this week - so please join the panel and respond here.