Businesses deserve cash flow certainty

A NEW survey by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association (ISME) shows many businesses are still experiencing long delays in being paid

According to the results 69 per cent of businesses are experiencing delays of two months or more to be paid.

Of the 556 companies surveyed 73 per cent of SMEs would favour a statutory 30 day payment regime.

On the back of the results the association has highlights the importance of cash flow certainty and urged businesses to work together to improve this.

“These results are a welcome improvement. Credit days are at their best since summer 2016. This trend needs to continuously improve; we don’t want a situation where progress in one quarter is followed by regression in the next,” said ISME CEO Neil McDonnell.

“Businesses need to work together to improve cash flow certainty. We encourage businesses to sign up to the Prompts Payments Portal. The results today show us that multinationals/ big businesses are taking longest to pay; this is unacceptable,” said Mr McDonnell.

“Multinationals do not experience the same level of cash flow uncertainty as many SMEs. They should be leading by example and paying smaller businesses promptly,” Mr McDonnell said.

The Association called on Government to actively promote the Fair Payment Code for all businesses and Iisist on adherence to Fair Payment Charter as criterion for granting state contracts.

ISME also want the Government to insist that all state agencies adhere to the 15 day rule and they all calling on the Office of Government Procurement to require all tenderers to openly publicise their “creditor days”.