SMEs say large corporate organisations are most likely to make late payments in Northern Ireland, whereas in the Republic, they say it’s the public sector.
The late payment problem continues to be an issue for more than a quarter of SMEs in Northern Ireland, and over two fifths in the Republic.
The findings come from the latest Close Brothers Business Barometer, a quarterly survey that canvasses the opinion of SME owners and managers from a range of sectors across the UK.
Paul Stephens, Head of Sales (ABL/invoice finance) for Close Brothers Commercial Finance said: “These findings show that the burden of late payments continues to result in cash flow difficulties for the majority (67%) of business in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.”
Of those affected by late payments, over half claim that they have had to write off up to 10% of their turnover on average in the last 12 months whilst many others have had to write off between 10% and 25% of their turnover.
Mr Stephens added “The amount of money that SMEs are forced to write off as a result of late payments is astonishing and surely hindering business growth.
“It’s clear that it continues to be a real issue for SMEs and that is why we are working to improve awareness of the financial options available, such as invoice finance and asset based lending (ABL), that can help businesses manage their cash flow and ultimately enable them to fulfil their growth potential.”
