When former Bank of Queensland chief executive David Liddy was appointed chair of the impaired debt buyer and collection agency Collection House in March 2012 he promised to make a "measurable contribution to the strategic and operational stewardship of the business."When the company released its financial report later that year he said his board was committed to improving three key metrics: return on equity, gearing ratio and the EBIT margin.A measure of Liddy's contribution to the company is that when he announced his retirement on Monday one of those ratios had improved but the other two were stuck where they had been in 2012.In 2011/12 Collection House produced a return on equity of 11.6 per cent. In the year to June its ROE was 11.9 per cent.Over the same period the EBIT margin has inched up from 26.9 per cent to 27.4 per cent.Of Liddy's three metrics, the only one to have improved is gearing. The company's net gearing ratio fell from 80.2 per cent in 2011/12 to 63 per cent in the year to June.The financial report for the year to June shows a modest five per cent increase in revenue and a 17.4 per cent fall in net profit. Debt ledger acquisitions, the core of the business, fell for the second year in a row.Collection House's performance looks weak in comparison with its peers, Credit Corp and Pioneer Credit.Credit Corp reported an 18.7 per cent increase in revenue and a 19.5 per cent increase in net profit for the year to June. Debt ledger acquisitions rose 63 per cent during the year.Credit Corp's return on equity was 23 per cent - consistent with its ROE over the past five years.Pioneer Credit reported a 23.5 per cent increase in revenue and a 27 per cent increase in net profit for the year to June. Its ROE was 14.6 per centAn important measure for debt buyers is the number of accounts that enter into payment arrangements. Credit Corp's recurring payment arrangement book grew by 12 per cent over the year to A$1.2 billion and the number of accounts under payment arrangements rose by 5.7 per cent to 147,000.The value of Pioneer Credit's payment arrangement book increased by 17 per cent to $155 million.In Collection House's case the value of the arrangement book fell 8.2 per cent to $357 million and the number of accounts under arrangement fell 10.9 per cent to 49,000.Collection House lost its chief executive in June, when Matthew Thomas retired, and now it has lost its chairman. The new team has plenty of work to do.