Mon, 01 Apr 2024 | BUSINESS NEWS
New research has revealed that overdue invoices hit a 16-month high in Scotland during February. An analysis of Creditsafe data by restructuring firm R3 found that Scotland was one of only two regions of the UK that saw a yearly increase in overdue invoices.
The research showed Scottish business had a total of 428,824 unpaid invoices on their books in February 2024, the highest monthly total since October 2022 (593,114). The figure also represented a 3.4 per cent increase on the 414, 575 seen in February, making Scotland one of two areas of the UK to see a year-on-year increase, with the West Midlands seeing a 22.3 per cent rise.
Richard Bathgate, chair of R3 in Scotland and restructuring partner at Johnston Carmichael, commented: “Although overdue invoice numbers in Scotland have fallen substantially compared to October 2022’s high point, the yearly rise is concerning and suggests that businesses in Scotland are struggling with paying their invoices promptly and with cash flow management much more than they were 12 months ago.”
“This is likely to be a knock-on effect of the cost-of-living crisis, increases in energy, fuel, products, materials, interest rates, and requests for salary increases from staff.”
Although Scotland saw an overall increase in the number of overdue invoices, the number of companies that had overdue invoices on their books fell from 32,074 in February 2023 to 30,362 in February 2024.
Bathgate continued: “While fewer businesses are failing to meet their payment deadlines than this time last year, it’s very clear late payment is still a real and serious issue for a high number of businesses in Scotland – at every stage of the supply chain. My message to any business owners that are struggling with unpaid bills is simple: seek help from a qualified source as early as you can.”
“It’s natural to feel anxious when dealing with money worries, but taking steps to address the issue will help ease your worries and will afford you more time and more options for handling your concerns than if you’d waited for them to get worse.”
Find out more about how companies can be impacted by overdue invoice payments
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