Firms are helped by quicker invoice payments

Monday 23 July 2012

FIRMS in Scotland are having to wait less time to get paid, according to data from Experian.

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Research shows the average time taken to pay bills in the second quarter of 2012 was 23.59 days. That compares to 26.09 in the same period of 2011 and 24.99 in the first three months of this year.

South-west England was the quickest place to get paid at 17.05 days, followed by the south-east at 19.16 and Wales at 22.61.Bills took the longest to get settled in the north-west at 28.63 days with London next at 26.5. Across the UK the average figure for paying overdue invoices for the second quarter was 23.38 days after agreed terms, which is an improvement on the 24.59 seen in the first quarter.The biggest improvements came from businesses employing 50 to 100 and more than 501 people, which paid up nearly two days quicker than in the previous year.Max Firth, UK managing director for Experian's business information services division, said: "This is the third consecutive quarter of improving payment performance, which means that cash flow among firms is getting better."Much of this improvement has been led by the UK's largest businesses. There is, however, only so much improvement that can take place among these firms. The very nature of the way large businesses are structured – hundreds of suppliers, multi-sites, multi-departments, stringent processes – makes it impossible for them to pay as fast as their smaller more flexible counterparts."It is vital smaller firms think about their collection and take on board some of the strategies employed by their larger counterparts to help ensure they get paid on time."

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Firms are helped by quicker invoice payments

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