Business growth
Write credit rules your staff can actually use
If every unusual order needs a call to the owner, staff need clearer rules. Start with the decisions they encounter at the counter, not a statement that the business values responsible credit.
Set the approval boundary
Write down who can propose a sale, who can approve an exception and who can change accepted terms. An approval limit needs an amount and a scope: is it per sale, or the customer’s total unpaid exposure?
For example, if a staff limit applies to total exposure, a customer with ₦180,000 already outstanding cannot be treated as a fresh ₦150,000 decision. The combined amount is ₦330,000. Make the calculation explicit in training.
Describe the checks staff can perform
List the required customer, order and delivery details. Explain what to do when one is missing. “Carry out adequate checks” does not tell a new employee whether they can release an order with an unconfirmed recipient.
Keep exceptional cases visible. If an authorised person approves a deviation, record the reason, scope and expiry rather than letting that one decision become an unwritten rule for every customer.
Separate recording from correcting money
Specify who may confirm a received payment and who may approve a correction or reversal. A staff member should not erase an error to make the cash-up look tidy.
For high-impact corrections, require the review your business has agreed. The reviewer needs the original record, proposed change, evidence and resulting balance, not just a button labelled Approve.
Define when the rule is reviewed
Review limits and payment terms when your costs, cash position or customer payment patterns change. Explain how revised rules apply to new orders while preserving commitments already accepted.
Ask staff to bring examples of rules that caused confusion. A policy is useful when two trained people can read the same case and explain the same next step. If they cannot, rewrite the instruction before adding more exceptions.
Questions people ask
Frequently asked questions
How long should the policy be?
Long enough to answer the recurring decisions, with links to detailed procedures where needed. A page of specific rules can be more useful than a long document of general intentions.
Can the owner override any rule?
Your governance and system permissions determine that. Exceptions still need a recorded reason and must not bypass legal obligations or accepted customer terms.