A Christmas Collection
The payment was late: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of this story I am going to relate.
Once upon a time - of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve - old Scrooge sat busy counting his unpaid invoices.
The Prompt Payment Code and the Supply Chain Finance Scheme - what's going on?
The current economy is turbulent enough, without seemingly conflicting schemes being launched to help businesses with credit control and late payment.
But in recent weeks, both the Prompt Payment Code and the Supply Chain Finance Scheme have been making headlines for companies with slow-to-pay clients.
Read more: The Prompt Payment Code and the Supply Chain Finance Scheme
If you're a small-business owner and you've never heard of the Supply Chain Finance Scheme, announced today, sit down and put anything breakable well out of reach, because you're going to want to smash something pretty soon.
The SCFS is one of those initiatives that you hear about, think "how the hell did they come up with that?", and then realise it was a government idea.
Read more: 'What's Yours is Mine' Says the Supply Chain Finance Scheme
We always say that a sensible approach to invoicing can help to cut down on the number of problems you face - and that's still true. Chasing up invoices, making sure they've been received by the client, and querying any payments as soon as they become overdue can all help to encourage clients to pay up on time.
But when an invoice goes unpaid, it's easy to find yourself becoming more and more lenient in the hope that your client will eventually pay - while they become less and less reasonable in their reasons for delaying.
Read more: Dear John... Dealing with a (Very) Overdue Invoice
The videogames industry is a key contributor to the post-industrial UK economy, at a time when the creative industries and services sector are steadily growing in importance.
But safeguarding this contribution means ensuring the continued health of companies working in the industry - and the sector's representative body TIGA (The Independent Games Developers Association) is doing just that by encouraging all those working in the videogames sector to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code and avoid late payment.
Read more: TIGA Pounces on Late Payments in Videogames Sector
Businesses that have been surviving at the edge of affordability - commonly called 'zombie businesses' for their inability to survive any further change in the health of their cashflow - could be particularly keen to see the Late Payments Directive introduced as planned.
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills is running a consultation until October 19th on the Late Payments Directive (or European Directive 2011/7/EU, to use its proper name), which should help many small businesses to receive full payment of their invoices within 30 days - and to charge interest on top of any debts that go unpaid for longer.
Read more: 30 Days Later. Late Payments Directive Brings Life to Zombie Businesses
Local authority late payments are almost as much of a problem now as when, in 2008, the government first introduced a ten-day target for settling its invoices in the regions, reports the Forum of Private Business.
Following on from our mock interview with Dodgy Dave the Debt Collector below you can find an infographic containing Nine Top Tips to avoid dodgy B2B Debt Collectors.
The tips are from the pen of our MD Sid Home. Sid is a former British Transport Police officer and has been the Managing Director of Safe Collections since the company was incorporated in 1984.
