Late payments on invoices reach 70 percent globally - report

MarketInvoice gathered the statistics by looking at 30,000 invoices from 1.000 companies across 80 countries.

The rate is better in the US, where just under half of all invoices are settled after they’re due. In Europe, excluding the UK, it’s better still, with just 40% of invoices paid after the deadline. But British and French companies appear to be late payers, with nearly two-thirds of UK invoices paid late and more than three-quarters of invoices in France settled post-due.

In contrast, some European countries boast early average settlement times, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland. 

The MarketInvoice data is broken down by sector. Banks turned out to be the timeliest customers, settling their bills less than a day after they were due. By contrast retailers and the UK public sector were among the worst offenders. Supermarkets and e-commerce companies paid up about a week late on average, while retailers on commercial drags around the world took two weeks to settle their overdue bills.

Among the late-paying organisations in the UK public sector, the vast majority comprised schools and academies, followed by hospitals and the public health service, and then local governments. Some 80% of invoices owed by schools and academies were paid late, according to MarketInvoice.