League tables for over 4,000 companies published by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), a member of the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG), have shown that plcs are failing to make prompt payment a priority.
The private sector performance league tables, published by the FSB In conjunction with the Dun & Bradstreet for the third consecutive year, show that the average length of time it takes plc to pay its suppliers remains at 46 days, the same as in 1999 and 2000 and the payment performance of the slowest paying plc is getting worse.
A total of 4,100 plcs appear in the tables - an increase on the 3,141 from the last year. The total amounts of the accountants examined are estimated to represent one fifth of the UK GDP. Other findings include:
One quarter of companies listed are taking over 60 days to pay, compared with one fifth last year.
