Amsterdam, March 19, 2019 – The Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling with a poor payment morale from their customers. More than half of all invoices sent in 2018 were not paid within the payment term. This is evident from an analysis by Payt, a provider of debtor management software, of over 1.8 million invoices. Poor payments are one of the main reasons for bankruptcy.
High payment morale in healthcare
Especially companies in business services, consultancy, and research are plagued by poor payers. In these sectors, as much as five percent of invoices remain unpaid after three months. Notably, there is a high payment morale in healthcare. The average period an invoice remained outstanding in 2018 was only twenty days, which is significantly faster than in other sectors. “For a quick payment, a shorter payment term is not a panacea,” says Sander Kamstra, director of Payt. “This applies to all sectors. Many debtors wait until the second or third reminder. Almost five percent only pay after the final reminder, and more than one percent of invoices go into a collection process.”
Payment term of 14 days makes little difference
Remarkably, invoices with a payment term of 14 days are paid only one week faster than those with a term of 30 days. The former invoices remain outstanding for just over 25 days on average; invoices with a 30-day payment term are paid on average after just over 32 days. Kamstra: “Debtors use their own internal payment term and do not look at the number of days stated on the invoice.” What is also notable: companies that include an iDeal payment link with a fourteen-day payment term get paid on average after sixteen days; 9 days earlier than without an iDeal link.
Noord-Brabant: long wait for your money
If you want a good cash flow as a company, it is best to seek customers in Zeeland. There, invoices are outstanding for an average of 26 days. In Noord-Brabant, organizations have to wait the longest for their money: 31 days. In Friesland, the period an invoice is outstanding is also long, at 30 days. Utrecht is exactly in the middle with 28 days. “Whether an invoice remains outstanding for a long time or not also depends on the collection efforts a company undertakes,” says Kamstra. “The more you stay on top of it, the sooner the bills are paid. In that respect, we can still make progress throughout the Netherlands.”