American Collectors Association (ACA) Offers New Certification For Collection Agencies

Minneapolis, MN — In March 2000, the American Collectors Association (ACA) launched its first certification program for collection agencies entitled Professional Practices Management System (PPMS) – a management system for collection agencies based upon developing, implementing and adhering to a set of professional practices and policies.

The ACA PPMS program was developed as a voluntary, cost-effective program for those agencies interested in measuring their performance against a professional industry standard. Designed to educate participants on the demands facing the collection industry, and in the long run, help them to become more profitable, PPMS is not a prescriptive program, but instead allows agencies the freedom to define its own procedures at its own pace. “The PPMS certification process, developed by industry leaders, is aimed at providing a roadmap for improving the professionalism and effectiveness of one’s office. Participating in this program has created a positive influence on office operations and moved our organization into compliance with evolving professional standards,” said Steve Tomac, collection manager for PPMS certified Collection Bureau of Lawrence in Lawrence, KS.

The first step in the certification process is ACA’s Foundational Training on PPMS seminar. During this two day seminar, professionals learn the 17 basic elements of the PPMS program, how to write a company policy manual and how to develop standard company procedures and work instructions. Upon completion, an agency will have the fundamental tools, samples and knowledge needed to customize PPMS to fit its own unique business needs. To date, 98 agencies (137 collection professionals) have completed training.

Those agencies that continue with the certification process will benefit from developing and implementing professional practices into their own work environment. Earning certification benefits agencies’ client confidence, increases profitability, decreases poor service by creating a standardized management system, increases efficiency by implementing processes so all employees understand their job descriptions and decreases litigation by requiring agencies to comply with all federal and state laws. However, the greatest benefit is not the certification itself, but rather the continual improvement of the agency.

“Implementing the PPMS has improved communication with my staff. Each department shared the same overall business goals of improving service and revenue, but sales didn’t tell customer service what was going on, customer service didn?t tell the collection staff and so on,” said Gary Williams, president of Williams & Fudge, Inc. in Rock Hill, SC and current ACA treasurer. “We now have weekly scheduled meetings including key people from all areas, but the effect on our internal communication goes even beyond that ? we now stop and talk at the water cooler about PPMS issues.”

Two agencies have recently become the first to receive PPMS certification ? Williams and Fudge, Inc., Rock Hill, SC and Collections Bureau of Lawrence, Lawrence, KS.

“Achieving and maintaining PPMS certification provides our agency with a template for implementing policies and procedures consistent with how we believe our organization should be managed. We believe our dedication to certification makes a sound statement regarding our agency to current and future clients,” said Tomac.

For more information on PPMS contact ACA’s Vice President of Programs, Ted Smith at 952-926-6547 or at smitht@collector.com.

The American Collectors Association (ACA) is an international trade organization with approximately 4,000 members, including third-party collection agencies, attorneys and vendor affiliates. Creditors International (CI) is the credit division of ACA with approximately 1,200 members. ACA and CI are headquartered in Minneapolis and serve members in the United States, Canada and 58 other countries worldwide. For more information about ACA call 952-926-6547 or visit the ACA web site at www.collector.com.