According to a recent survey by Tungsten Corporation, the average SME is owed GBP 40,857 in unpaid invoices, with GBP 20,937 of that total overdue.
When applied across the UK’s 5.2 million SMEs, the total owed could be as much as GBP 212 billion.
Of the 1,000 companies surveyed, 23% responded that late payments have put them at risk of closure. The issue was most acute in the technology sector, where almost a third of all businesses (32%) had been impacted financially by late payments from customers.
The survey results suggest that the issue spans customer sizes and types, with 22% of those surveyed saying most of their late payments were from large businesses, 11% pointing to medium-sized firms and eight per cent identifying the public sector as being responsible for late payments. Some 33% of businesses surveyed said that there was no clear pattern.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now