Eldritch
05-16-2010, 11:10 PM
A pan-European study carried out in 23 countries by the credit management concern Intrum Justitia seems to indicate that Finns are among the most conscientious and prompt payers when it comes to invoices. On average, a bill gets paid in 26 days.
This compares remarkably favourably with the European average of slightly less than two months. In some countries, with Greece being mentioned as a particular example [:p], it is commonplace for a bill to linger more than three months before it is dealt with.
The situation benefits the local Finnish economy, but it tends to hurt the competitiveness of companies in the export sector, since they have to wait long periods for customers to pay up, and in the meantime must finance their operations by other means.
The Intrum Justitia Group, which has more than 90,000 clients and just under 3,000 employees in 22 European countries, examined credit risks in 23 European states. Aside from Finland, the safest payers were found close at hand from the other Nordic countries, and Estonia, too, was among the most prompt.
If an invoice directed to a Nordic consumer, enterprise, or some public body goes past its due payment date, the bill gets dealt with at much the same pace by all the parties concerned, or around a week late.
Things are very different in Southern Europe, where consumers are the most reliable payers. For instance in Portugal it is by no means inconceivable that a company might need to wait three months for payment from a client in the public sector.
The greatest risks of being left high-and-dry with a payment and incurring losses are encountered by companies doing business with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic. The risks become greater if the company's products or services are not indispensable. Respondents to the study reported that if money is not available to accommodate all requiring settlement, the first cheques go to creditors who are hard to replace with another supplier.
SMEs are in a particularly awkward situation, as they are more vulnerable to variations in cash flow, they often rely on a limited number of customers, and they are frequently suppliers to large firms - who are known to delay payments to a greater extent than is the case with smaller companies.
Relative to the situation in the previous year, the risks of non-payment have declined in most of the countries surveyed.
Governments generally set the worst example as late payers, says Intrum Justitia.
The 2005 European payment survey shows that governments' payment delay is nearly double that of business to business (B2B) or business to consumer transactions (B2C).
Link. (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finns+pay+their+bills+more+promptly+than+other+Eur opeans/1101979941590)
This compares remarkably favourably with the European average of slightly less than two months. In some countries, with Greece being mentioned as a particular example [:p], it is commonplace for a bill to linger more than three months before it is dealt with.
The situation benefits the local Finnish economy, but it tends to hurt the competitiveness of companies in the export sector, since they have to wait long periods for customers to pay up, and in the meantime must finance their operations by other means.
The Intrum Justitia Group, which has more than 90,000 clients and just under 3,000 employees in 22 European countries, examined credit risks in 23 European states. Aside from Finland, the safest payers were found close at hand from the other Nordic countries, and Estonia, too, was among the most prompt.
If an invoice directed to a Nordic consumer, enterprise, or some public body goes past its due payment date, the bill gets dealt with at much the same pace by all the parties concerned, or around a week late.
Things are very different in Southern Europe, where consumers are the most reliable payers. For instance in Portugal it is by no means inconceivable that a company might need to wait three months for payment from a client in the public sector.
The greatest risks of being left high-and-dry with a payment and incurring losses are encountered by companies doing business with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic. The risks become greater if the company's products or services are not indispensable. Respondents to the study reported that if money is not available to accommodate all requiring settlement, the first cheques go to creditors who are hard to replace with another supplier.
SMEs are in a particularly awkward situation, as they are more vulnerable to variations in cash flow, they often rely on a limited number of customers, and they are frequently suppliers to large firms - who are known to delay payments to a greater extent than is the case with smaller companies.
Relative to the situation in the previous year, the risks of non-payment have declined in most of the countries surveyed.
Governments generally set the worst example as late payers, says Intrum Justitia.
The 2005 European payment survey shows that governments' payment delay is nearly double that of business to business (B2B) or business to consumer transactions (B2C).
Link. (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finns+pay+their+bills+more+promptly+than+other+Eur opeans/1101979941590)