@growler1969
Sad reality but show more than a handful of any majors that do pay on time and does have a good reputation to deal with when it comes to releasing cash flow. There are a number of factors from inexperienced Accounts Payable staff ,Contract Administrators, Category Managers, backlogs due to shear volume of invoicing on large projects, movement /continuity of staff etc.... or even the vendor staff not issuing invoices in a timely manner
In the real day to day situations it all comes down to the vendor issuing correct invoices on time to the correct Accounts Payable staff and Contract Administrators following up payments from the day they are due and building a personal and positive relationship with them and keeping the communication in place at all times. Any mismatches in invoicing or missing information simply go the bottom of the pile or rejected ( unless you have a special relationship with the staff on the other end) until there is time and they move onto all the correct ones that can be paid. The vendor is not informed and not aware of late payment until their staff double check or run a report for outstanding payments and that ends up months down the line. Part of this it's all about giving clear time frames for responses and escalating up the food chain on the overdue payments. Once these processes are in place and adhered to it's surprising how well the DPO is reduced or is simply removed. I've seen many small/medium business go out of business due to DPO. Simple strict follow up could at least reduce the cash flow issues.
The positive thing about the instance of NAG, (looking 12 months ahead as an example only ) they have not already supplied Goods that are to be paid and we have not supplied a Service that has already been completed. If payments are not paid on time after escalation we can always stop the service being provided as it's ongoing, ie inform the company in question they have a set period to make the overdue payment and if not paid it can be highlighted that the service of the pits will be suspended until it is resolved. It's very rare that this happens however only the threat in a nice and positive manner will have it cleared.
In theory it comes down to how NAG manage the above and how it's agreed in any possible contract they may enter into otherwise they will just become another one of many vendors on an overdue payment spreadsheet that doesn't get reviewed or partly actioned from one month to the next due to workload.
We have a hole, others need to fill it.
(20min delay)