In their business payments barometer published in June, Bottomline Technologies, a company that provides digital payment solutions for a number of different industries, found that 92% of financial decision-makers surveyed admit to paying suppliers late.
What’s not surprising is the fact that businesses pay their suppliers late.
What is surprising, however, is that 92% of those surveyed admit to it.
For small businesses, delayed payments can be a question of life or death: according to data compiled by the Federation of Small Business, 50,000 small companies in the UK fail each year because of clients that pay their invoices too late. This costs the economy around £2.5 billion a year.
There have been some regulatory changes to try to curb late payments, but few seem to have made any difference.
The Duty to Report, which came into effect in 2017, requires businesses to report on payment practices and is intended to shorten payment times and support small business.
Paying suppliers late is a historical problem, but it is one which can be eradicated with new solutions
Data compiled by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply showed that more than 1,000 companies have ignored the rules and have failed to provide sufficient data in the required timeframe.