In response to abysmal payment terms of 120 days or more, which were seriously crippling smaller suppliers, the UK has instituted a requirement for large businesses to report on their UK payment practices twice a year, with failure to do so a criminal offence with unlimited fines. The goal is that the mandatory reporting requirement, which requires companies to report on the average time it takes to pay invoices for the majority of contracts (0-30 days, 31-60 days, and 61+ days), will encourage businesses to improve their payment practices as a result of transparency and public scrutiny.

It’s a shame that this requirement only exists in the UK, because not only should you know, and be prepared to report on, how fast you are paying your suppliers, but you should be striving to pay all of your suppliers within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice, because your success depends on their success, and while a happy supplier, like the pied piper, will catch and lead the supply chain problem rats away, an unhappy one will allow those problem rats to multiply, and possibly even aid in their reproduction and spreading.

Suppliers are critical to your success. They not only provide the raw materials, products, and services you need, but often the raw materials, products, and services your customers need — and if these raw materials, products, and/or services are not of high quality, delivered timely, and supported enthusiastically, your customers will not be happy. Unhappy customers, especially those not under or nearing the end of their contracts, tend to defect.

A supplier is only likely to provide high quality, supported, timely products and services if it is happy. And believe the doctor when he tells you that a supplier will NOT be happy if that supplier is not paid on a relatively timely basis most of the time. Like you, suppliers need predictable cashflow and if you give them a cashflow nightmare, they will not be too concerned about giving you an inventory forecasting or customer satisfaction nightmare.

So don’t rely on a forthcoming guidance or industry initiative to tell you when to pay the piper. Just pay the piper and reap the benefits. (And if you not only pay on time, but pay early, you’ll be a customer of choice, and those customers tend to get all the benefits.)