Payment times
Page 22

If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ExpenanS survey reveals that overall, payment times have increased by 0.5 days in the past six months. with UK businesses taking on average 58.4 days to pay invoices. Small companies take on average 57 days, an increase of 0.6 days in the past six months. and large companies have increased their payment tmes by 0.7 days compared to six months previously. Only mediumsized companies have shown signs of improvement, with a reduction of 0.5 days over the past six months.
In November 2003 transport firms took on average 60,97 days to pay invoices, up nearly a day from six months earl er. Phil Cotter, managing director of Experian's business information division, says in 2003. more than 17,500 companies went to the wall and late payment was a contributing factor. He explains: "Companies are not making the use of late payment legislation -or feel they risk losing valuable business if they do-in contrast to countries like Sweden, where use of legislation is widespread, resulting in considerably faster payment and fewer delays."