P&A launches survey of global payment trends
7 February 2011 By Northern Lights
100 subsidised places on ‘gold standard’ customer service training courses will help North East hospitality and leisure businesses prepare for the start of the tourism season.
P&A Receivables Plc, which provides international credit management and debt collection services, has designed the survey in partnership with the MSc degree in Finance at Sheffield Hallam University’s Business School.
The survey aims to find out what the impact of late payment is on businesses and which countries and sectors are the best and worst at paying on time.
“If you are not getting paid then your business could go under,” warns Jeremy Priestley, managing partner of The P&A Group of Companies, of which P&A Receivables is a division.
“Businesses are being encouraged to trade internationally but different countries have very different attitudes towards paying on time. Companies need to consider the implications of late payment on their business performance and growth.”
Laurie Beagle, divisional director at P&A Receivables, is the founder and chair of several international credit forums run by P&A which bring together credit and senior managers from corporates in diverse industry sectors across the world. He said: “We came up with the idea of an annual survey because of concerns from our members about late payment, debt recovery and even fraud in a global market.
“We hope that the survey will give us a true picture of the impact of a difficult global economy on how and when businesses are paid. The resulting research will help companies weigh up the risks of doing business in a particular country or with a particular sector.”
Philip King, Chief Executive of the Institute of Credit Management (ICM) says: “Given the difficult trading conditions experienced over the last two years, cash has never been more important to the survival of global businesses, and robust credit practices are vital. The ICM is pleased to support P&A Group in this initiative, which will help to assess payment trends across all sectors and the impact these have on the economic trading conditions, both at home and abroad. Please take time to complete the survey, which will help to inform future business thinking.”
To take part in the survey go to www. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8KFY6JD The survey will be online until 21 February.
