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#Written by David Tam, 1996.           #
#davidkftam@netscape.net Copyright 1999#
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David Tam
Wednesday, November 6, 1996.

                             Business Press Review
                             =====================

Gibbon, Anne. "Bill collector takes nice-guy approach". The Globe and Mail.
Monday, November 4, 1996. B6.                           ------------------

    Accounts Recovery Corp, a small Victoria-based collection agency is
experiencing financial success because they are using innovative ways in
collecting unpaid bills.  By taking a kinder, gentler approach to bill
collecting, Accounts Recovery Corp has brought revenues as high as $8.3 million
in the year ended July 31, 1996.  Profit increased from $38,674 in 1990 to
$196,000 in 1996.  Revenue is generated through commissions, ranging from 10%
to 50% of the amount assigned to collect.  In 1988, the company began with
three employees and now has one hundred, with offices in Vancouver and Toronto.
In terms of growth rate, they were ranked 54th out of 100 companies in Profit
magazine's ranking of Canada's fastest-growing firms.  Clients include major
banks, utilities such as Bell Canada, retailers such as Sears Canada Inc., and
the government.  It's average success rate in collecting unpaid debts is
between 12 % to 15 %, but is increased to 35% when they are the first agency to
attempt to collect a debt.

    Understanding the so called "customer" is the key to Account Recovery
Corpss success.  Mr. Polard, founder and CEO, says 90 % of people want to pay
their bills.  In many cases, unfortunate circumstances, such as job loss, the
death of a spouse or a divorce, dramatically reduce their ability to pay.  The
remaining 10 % are deliberately avoiding payment.  They will move often, or
live with someone else so their name does not appear on phone or hydro bills.
Some will use call display, or an answering machine to screen calls.  Some will
purposely write mistakes on their cheques so they can not be cashed.  The key
to collecting debts is to be reasonable, but assertive, and persistent.

    Accounts Recovery Corps' growth can be attributed to its innovative methods
in collecting debts, to the weaker economy, and to easy credit.  For instance,
Canadian consumer debt rose from $17-billion in 1961 to $509-billion in 1994.
With these facts in mind, it is easy to see the potential for business in the
collection-agency industry.

    From this article, we can see that innovation is one of the keys to success
for a small business.  Also, knowing current demographics also helps in
recognizing new opportunities.  The need for debt-collecting services was and
is at a peak due to the recession.  Accounts Recovery Corp. was started in
1988, which was just before the recession began.  It may have been that the
founder, Mr. Polard, had forecasted the recession and started his company
because he had recognized the new opportunities that were  going to arise.