A survey of over 1,000 firms by the credit management research centre (CMRC) reveals that businesses within the business and financial services, manufacturing and wholesale sectors are being paid up to 26 days overdue, leaving them with cash flow problems and a culture of late payment.
The research, due to be published this month in CMRC's August 2001 review, also found that less than half the invoices issued by businesses within these industries were paid on time.
Professor Nicolas Wilson, Director of the CMRC and member of the Better Payment Practice Group comments: "Our survey enables us to identify and track payment trends within individual sectors. In some of the sectors more severely affected it is almost traditional for businesses to pay late. This creates a damaging culture of late payment with serious implications for the future success of these sectors."
