Do you want to bid and tender for Government Contracts above £5m a year?

If so,you need to keep a good house in your business, which includes paying suppliers on time and being able to demonstrate that your cash flow, which requires good credit control and risk management can support the burden of paying any sub contract costs during the term of the contract.

You must be able to show your payment history and demonstrate the means to pay your suppliers, if what you show is not sufficient you will be asked to show proposals to improve if that fails then you will not meet the criteria for successful contractors.

We may also see as a result of this years new regulations, fines and payment orders being imposed on late payers and it will be interesting to see how the first cases of the board being held accountable for the late payment of suppliers.

The Association of Accounting Technicians’ (AAT) have gained strong support for all businesses employing over 250 staff to register with the Prompt Payment Code, which is administered by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM). This is good but there a significant number of businesses that will not attain this level of staff that have significant turnover.

Quite how fines will be managed or indeed compliance policed, there can be no room for error, such as where a valid dispute exists or the business is suffering from a late payment issue itself, as getting it wrong could have dire consequences.

We hear constant positive ideas but it is still difficult to see how all the pieces will come together.

It is the opinion of I Credit Management Limited t/a ICM Debt Recovery/Credit Management and ICM Group that only by re educating SMEs and start up businesses to the true value of Risk and Credit Management, Credit Control and that it is a skill not a purchased off the peg product. It is all too easy to rely on automated process but there still needs to be at the very least a basic understanding.

Much the same as presuming that Money Claims on Line will always recover a late payer, the only real time saving and cost saving way for the start up and SME is to refer to reputable collection agents or Credit Control service provided.