Does Your Contractor’s Dun & Bradstreet Rating Matter?
Are you familiar with Dun & Bradstreet?
While many consumers have never heard of this business service, the company has been around since 1841!
D&B is for business, what Experian and Equifax are for individuals — they rate businesses on their finances, credit score, credit history, marketing, management and risk exposure.
A business’ financial report is extremely important when it comes to selecting a reliable company. The credit score, similar to a personal credit score, will predict how likely a company will need legal relief from creditors or will have to cease operations without payment.
One example of D&B’s scoring process is their rating of the “Supplier Risk.” This is where companies are evaluated on several financial factors. See those below:
General Business information:
- Ownership
- Company’s financial condition
- Number of employees
- Change in management
- Years in business
- Region
Public Information:
- Business deterioration
- Number of law suits, judgments or bankruptcies
- Dollars of law suits, judgements or bankruptcies
- Total number of UCC filings
- History
Financial Information/Payment Experiences
- Current balance sheet
- Quick ratio/Current ratio
- Net Worth
- Total Assets
- Current Liabilities
- Net Profit
It’s important to take the “Supplier Risk Rating” into consideration, especially when doing business with a contractor. For instance, if the contractor has not paid his suppliers, then it’s possible you could be left footing the bill long after the company has vacated the job site.
In conclusion, there are a lot of companies that might look professional when you search the internet, but if you want to ensure that you’re in safe hands, it’s important to do a little more research and see what the company is really built on.