How long to wait for invoice payment

N

nod

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I am a sole trader and provide a contract design service in the electronics industry. I'm wondering how long is the average time out there for an invoice to be paid.
At present,once i submit and Invoice I can be left waiting anything from 1 to 3 months for payment,is this near enough the norm ?
 
Hi nod. As a "new" business presumably trying to establish yourself and build up market share you are to a large extent at the mercy of your cusomers. If the clients are large it may benefit you to build up a relationship with someone in the accounts department. There is no real average and wheras many invoices can be paid promptly others can drag on for months and even longer. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and ask for a cheque. welcome to the world of cash flow management!!
 
Hi BrenG
Thanks for reply.I've been in the business for the last 4 years so I know where your coming from when you say "it may benefit you to build up a relationship with someone in the accounts department".
The vast majority of my work is for one large multi-national,the invoices are not that large (avergage approx. €500) and there's never a problem over the amount,it's just that some of them can drag on for months for no apparent reason,mean while I'm on bread and water :)
 
The council directive 2000/35/EC referred to above shows that you are somewhat protected, although I'm not sure how this plays out from a legislative perspective in Ireland. Regardless of this directive, if your contract with the customers say 90 days, then that's the one that applies.

If you are dealing with a large company, presumably they are working to a standard 30 or 45 day payment commitment, and for some reason their accounts dept. are not fulfilling this. If this is true, you have a few options:

1) build up a relationship with somebody in accounts (the more junior the better) and find out if they do an organised payment for all suppliers on a certain day. Figure out what day your invoice is normally paid, and make sure it is submitted (and dated!) about 5-7 days before that date. It might take a couple of months to figure this out and get it right, but after a while it should work;

2) work out if it is better sending in one invoice, or lots of small ones. Sometimes it is easier to chase one big one.

3) establish who the most influential "business owner" is within the company. An occasional internal visit/call from them to their accounts might be received better by a busy accounts dept.

Let us know how you get on!

Bob
 
There is also the PROMPT PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS ACT, 1997 and a few subsequent amendments by statutory instrument. As far as I recall, there is no specified period in that legislation - payer and payee should agree the date in the sale contract - but there are prescribed interest penalties, and there is a clause which specifies that the payer cannot refuse those interest charges.

Of course, invoking this type of approach might sour your relationship with your customer........
 
Thanks all.
Unfortunately the person whom I was dealing with in accounts,and she was a junior person,left the company last month. We had formed a good working relationship and she had ironed out alot of niggling problems over the previous 2 years,helped by the odd bottle of whiskey a christmass.

As Bob_tg advises "Figure out what day your invoice is normally paid, and make sure it is submitted (and dated!) about 5-7 days before that date." seems to be the best way forward.

I have a good working relationship with the company so I don't want to sour it by going any legal route,I just wondered was 1-3 months a generally acceptable period of time to wait for payment,I'll use the advise below to hopefully spped up payment.
 
This is a huge problem for me also. I submit my invoices straight after each job is finished. My invoices are roughly the same, average of €500, but some can go unpaid for 3 or 4 months. I have made a point of stated on the invoice, "Credit terms 30 days" but this seems to be generally ignored.

I don't want to rock the boat with any of my clients so it's just frustrating when your cash flow reaches minimum and there's a few thousand in cheques outstanding!
 
In Ireland, the average wait is 57 days.

I do not have any source for this information, it's purely anecdotal.
 
I find the same roughly the 60 day mark and even with that you have to ring. Even with the County Councils and Corporations who are goverened by the prompt payment legislation!!!!
 
Would you consider offering a discount for payments within say two weeks??

Another option is to put payable within 30days on the invoice, to encourage payments.

Two easy efforts to help hurry up creditors.
 
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