payment delays undermine the lives of leaders and are each year at the origin of 25% of bankruptcies of businesses traffic. The secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, reminded us again last month. “If the companies were paying in the time of their subcontractors and their suppliers, it is 4 billion euros which will accrue to the companies of intermediate size and 16 billion euros to SMES. It is a figure gigantic”, analyzed it.
Since 2008, the law on modernising the economy stipulates that the regulation between professionals shall not exceed 60 days from the date of the invoice (or, exceptionally, 45 days end of month). However, according to the barometer carried out by Sellsy in partnership with YouGov, which confirms the other data available on the subject, the TPE-SMES are paid with more than 23% of delay beyond 60 days. According to this survey, 4 in 10 companies say their business has already been put in danger because of this slow pace of regulation, or 38% of the respondents. They are the same 22% have recorded a percentage of unpaid bills of more than 5% of the total revenue, or 1 company out of 5. Among the reasons mentioned, the difficult financial situation of some customers (45%), the bad faith of some customers (40%), forgetfulness unintentional (26%), or the termination of activity of the client (24%).
Billing, digital
The digitization of businesses could help curb this scourge. Among the OFWS-SMES that have started their digital transformation, 60% of respondents indicate that they have adopted a billing software and a half claims to have found a net decrease in payment delays, ranging from several days to several weeks. “Having adopted the use of a solution dedicated to the management of customer invoicing, the companies will ensure more effective monitoring of their accounts, which in the end bears fruit” stresses Frédéric was going down, the co-founder of Sellsy.
One argument which is a hit among entrepreneurs, because, if 26% of the respondents have retained the classical tools, such as Word and Excel to edit their bills, the majority of them is considering switching to a tool that is more specialized and automated. It is the same to 11% a project at very short notice, as expected from 2019 and to 15% in the coming years.
