In order to secure relations with their suppliers, companies pay their invoices late less often, according to a study published on Wednesday by the firm Altares.
With the crisis linked to Covid-19, late payments had increased in Europe to reach 14.5 days on average, according to the specialized firm which analyzed the accounting data of some 15,000 companies.
Altares observes that today
"despite a difficult economic context"
linked to supply problems and the energy crisis, the average delay has clearly decreased to 13 days in the 2nd quarter of 2022,
"a threshold which does not
had not been reached since the 1st quarter of 2018”
.
"Companies seek to preserve their relationship with their suppliers and for this are committed to paying invoices on time
," said Thierry Millon, director of studies at Altares, in a press release.
Read alsoWho are the seven families of business creators in France?
In France, the average late payment fell to 11.6 days, returning to pre-crisis levels.
“German companies, two-thirds of which pay their suppliers on time, have an average delay almost twice as low as the European average”
, with 6.5 days, details the firm.
In Italy, the average average delay fell below the 18-day threshold from the end of 2021, but according to Thierry Millon,
"the problem of late payment seems to resist the dematerialization effort deployed"
by the country, which has made the exchange of invoices in electronic format compulsory for all companies since 2019.
Portugal, the worst student in Europe
In France, only companies that deal with the public sector have already had to send their invoices in electronic format since 2020, and the generalization to the private sector must take place between 2024 and 2026. Late payments have lengthened in the United Kingdom where they reach 15.6 days, the
“worst figure since the end of 2016”
, according to Altares.
Portugal remains the worst pupil in Europe with an average delay which
“struggles to pass under the threshold of 26 days”
, according to the cabinet.
In France, significant differences persist between the regions, with 16 days for companies in the Ile-de-France region compared to only 9 for those in Pays-de-la-Loire.
Finally,
"the data attests to it, the larger the company, the longer the delays in payment"
, the structures of at least 1,000 employees in France presenting an average delay of 16.7 days, or five days of more than average.
