According to Intrum, only 45% of Spanish companies consider it a priority, in a boom periodimprove the payment time to its suppliers. The delay in customer payment deadlines is one of the main reasons for the lack of liquidity in companies, which are forced to delay their own payments.
The delinquency It is one of the main problems that companies face, a situation that has been aggravated in recent months by economic instability and that endangers their liquidity and viability.
In this sense, companies are very aware of the importance of making payments correctly in a timely manner to achieve good relationships with both their suppliers and their customers. a basic aspect for the proper functioning of your businessyes The Intrum European Payment Report shows that 66% of Spanish companies believe that payments within the established deadlines are essential to generate and maintain trust with suppliers and partners.
However, according to the same study, only 53% of organizations take action to make sure they pay on time. This situation might seem to be a consequence of the current economic context of uncertainty, but the reality is that in periods of business growthonly 45% of Spanish companies highlight as one of their priorities the improvement in the administration and management of their processes to guarantee that they pay their suppliers and partners on time.
A fact that is eight points below the European average (53%) and that places Spain as the third country that least cares about implementing this type of measure in periods of economic boom, only above Netherlands (42%) and Portugal (43%). In contrast, Switzerland (65%), Slovakia (63%) and Ireland (62%) are the countries with the highest number of companies that work to pay their bills on time.
The study also highlights that one of the main reasons why companies delay payments to their suppliers it is the delay they suffer in the collections of their own clients. Thus, 73% of the companies that say, in periods of growth, try to improve the way in which they administer and manage their processes to pay their own clients’ collections to suppliers and partners on time: 73% of the companies respondents stated that they would pay their suppliers sooner if they received payments from their debtors sooner.
A response that is positioned as the priority of Spanish companies, compared to other aspects in terms of sustainability, expansion or digital transformation.
Likewise, the Intrum European Payments Report has revealed that 60% of companies believe that growing macroeconomic uncertainty has led them to extend payment conditions to their suppliers in the last year. A statement that would be in line with the latest data from the CEPYME ‘SME Barometer on delinquency’, which shows that business delinquencies in the first quarter of the year increased by 42% compared to the same period in 2021, reaching 348,992 million euros.
