Deepseek

Cutting Credit Approval Time Without Raising Risk: Metric of the Month

A sales team can do everything right and still lose the deal after the customer says yes. The proposal is accepted; the buyer is ready. Now finance must gather documents, check references, review financials, and decide how much credit to extend. If the process takes too long, the customer may turn to a competitor. If it moves too quickly, the company may accept undue risk. Benchmarking data from the American Productivity & Quality Center shows a 25th-percentile approval time of four calendar days, a median of five, and a 75th-percentile of six. This article explores how finance leaders can shorten approval cycles without raising risk by implementing risk-based review tracks, identifying delay sources, automating non-judgmental tasks, and measuring performance by both risk and revenue outcomes.