Australian businesses have indicated they would be willing to miss payments to suppliers, putting at risk their credit access with financial institutions, a new survey shows.
Australian businesses have indicated they would be willing to miss payments to suppliers, putting at risk their credit access with financial institutions, a new survey shows.
Australian businesses have indicated they would be willing to miss payments to suppliers, putting at risk their credit access with financial institutions, a new survey shows.
In the Dun and Bradstreet 'Business Payment Priorities Study' released today, 66 per cent of firms say they were prepared to miss supplier payments if they were unable to pay all their accounts, while a further 15 per cent are prepared to miss a tax payment.
The survey also found that many businesses were unaware of the implications of late payments, with nearly two-thirds indicating that if they knew late payments would detrimentally impact their credit standing they would be more likely to pay on time.
About 51 per cent of firms admitted to paying their bills late in the past 12 months, with one in four saying they paid bills 60 days after the due date.
About 13 per cent of respondents cited cash flow issues and 18 per cent said late payments from customers were two of the key reasons for their own poor payment behaviours.
Meantime, the study revealed that 61 per cent of firms would be more likely to pay their bills on time if they knew late payments were being listed with a credit reporting bureau, which would affect their credit standing.
Conversely, 29 per cent of firms said the listing of early payments would make them more likely to pay promptly.
However size does matter, with 67 per cent of firms with 51-100 employees indicating that a late payment listing would make them more likely to pay their bills on time, while 55 per cent of firms with 100-499 employees would change their behaviour.
Meanwhile, 8 per cent of firms with 500-plus employees said early payment listings would make them pay their bills on time.
The figure doubled for firms with 100-499 employees and rose above 30 per cent for smaller firms.
"The study's findings demonstrate that many firms are unaware their payment records are being listed with a credit bureau or they don't fully understand the consequences of their payment behaviours," D&B chief executive Christine Christian said.
"More than nine million trade references are recorded on the D&B bureau, which means the likelihood that a credit provider is unaware of a firm's poor payment behaviour is very low."