FSB weighs in to late payments row

[barryhynd]

Federation of Small Businesses becomes the latest trade body to slam big companies for stretching out payments to suppliers to even longer times.

FSB weighs in to late payments row - Accountancy Age

I'm seeing more and more companies get ripped off by bigger companies dictating payment terms etc

[TomB]

That is shoking, can you image having to wait 105 days for payment, thats nearly 4 months.

I would go mental if one of my clients said that to me. I bet you though if you owed them money they'd only give you 15 - 30 days to pay.

Different story when its the other way round.

I'm glad the fsb got involved they do some good work. Well worth my membership fee.

Just sickening bad business ethics.

Us small businesses should show them a thing or two about how to run a business.

T

[Idea15]

The story mentions Boots, which is already notorious for its "terms" with suppliers. All those BOGOF offers we love are used by Boots as leverage - they tell suppliers that they either do BOGOF or they lose their contracts with Boots altogether. So they are already dealing with Boots on the slimmest of profit margins.

[TFGtv.com]

It's a problem that's been around for decades. As long ago as 1988 I simply stopped dealing with one of the biggest and oldest advertising agencies in Scotland because their invoices would TYPICALLY take 90-120 days to settle.

Some sat around for up to EIGHT MONTHS and when chased you would get run from department to department with everyone blaming everyone else claiming that 'something' needed signed off by 'somebody'...

When I told them their business wasn't welcome any more. ( I literally told one of their senior account executives to shove his business up his.....) I got a 'lecture' about how big and powerful they were and how I wouldn't last six months without them....

Almost twenty years to the day on and THEY don't exist any more (haven't for some years). But I do!

I have VERY strict stage payment strategies in place and WILL kill a job on the spot if people are late paying. What's more I'm very willing to go to court. I have to be. Servicing other people's debt would cost me money which ultimately gets loaded on the the honest paying customer's bills.

Why should my good clients pay for the bad?

As for the FSB; I'm afraid I've no faith in them as an organisation. Anyone can join no matter how incompetent or disreputable. And they seem to achieve very little save for supplying many lunching opportunities to the stuffed shirts that run it....

[Idea15]

You've jogged my memory - wasn't an unreasonably long settlement period the cause of Au Naturale's collapse?

[TFGtv.com]

Originally Posted by Idea15

You've jogged my memory - wasn't an unreasonably long settlement period the cause of Au Naturale's collapse?

I believe it was a symptom of their troubles. And if you look at some of the characters behind that particular drama it may well have been a matter of policy......

Again, WAY back in the day, I recall being warned off a retail company called "Razzle Dazzle" by a client of mine who ran a little clothing firm. They apparently had the reputation for being slow payers. Duly warned, when the call came I politely declined to quote for the job...


But then slow paying WAS common practice back then and even something that some accountants would advocate. But it's a practice, if tolerated, that leads to unnecessary exposure, company collapses and can ultimately (when extrapolated out) contribute to recession.

Personally I view it as dishonesty. And I've a zero tolerance attitude to slow payers. I seen too many friends and acquaintances go to the wall because they've been effectively carrying the credit risk for larger clients.

Part of the reason my business now focuses on servicing small businesses is that the stress of trying to keep financial control of larger scale projects is much reduced. In the late 80's to mid 90's I WAS very much going after the high-end side of the market. And had to carry the premises and equipment to do that as well as the liabilities in the form of large amounts of customer debt.

At one point we were exposed to over

[TomB]

Originally Posted by TFGtv.com

Anyone can join no matter how incompetent or disreputable.

I hope that's not a suggestion of my incompetance lol

[TFGtv.com]

Originally Posted by TomB

I hope that's not a suggestion of my incompetance lol

'course not ol' bean.

I had in mind the Corbis/Getty 'victim support group' over on what the punters in the House of Commons would call 'another' place...