In a perfect world, suppliers would prefer to be paid cash up front. However, in reality, the world works on credit. Trade credit is inevitable and so is the debt that comes with it. For most businesses, trade credit is essential for growth as businesses don’t have to pay suppliers on the spot but rather with […]
With companies increasingly defaulting on payments, going into administration and getting wound up by the ATO, small to medium businesses are more vulnerable than ever to bad debtors. To safeguard their bottom line against slow and non-payers, it is necessary for businesses to perform due diligence on their customers and otherwise maintain an effective credit management system. Our […]
Inadequate cash flow has been cited as the cause of two in five business failures in Australia *, lending credence to the age-old saying that ‘cash is king’ (an especially unmerciful one at that). For this week’s “Let’s Talk…” feature, we asked more than a dozen thought leaders to identify the common mistakes startup founders and other […]
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be empowered to report a business’s overdue tax debts to credit reporting bureaus under draft legislation released by Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer. The legislation, which – together with explanatory material – is now available for public comment, will require a business to “effectively engage” with […]
Rapid-growth SME credit bureau CreditorWatch has been acquired by InfoTrack, a leading provider of intelligent search and automated workflow solutions for business professionals. Founded by managing director Colin Porter in 2011, CreditorWatch has, in the ensuing six years, been able to challenge the duopoly held by incumbent credit bureaus Veda (now Equifax) and Dun & […]
SMEs are vulnerable to late payers in Australia, with Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell stating, in April, that larger organisations are using them as a “cheap form of finance”, restricting their growth and causing solvency issues. From calls for legislation to the introduction of a voluntary code to deter late payments, late payments have never […]
Nearly one in two Australian businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to bad debt by not performing credit checks on their existing customers, new research shows. In a survey conducted by Australian credit bureau CreditorWatch, business owners, accountants and credit professionals from small to large-scale businesses were asked questions in relation to their credit management responsibilities. […]
CreditorWatch recorded a 42% increase in its customer base over two years on the way to reaching a major growth milestone, this month: 50,000 customers. Founder and managing director Colin Porter spoke to Dynamic Business about the genesis, success and future of the credit reporting bureau, which launched six years ago. DB: What was your […]
The Coalition has been urged to follow the example set by the UK Government and introduce legislation to deter big business from making late payments to SME suppliers. From April 2017, large companies and limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in Britain will be required by law to publicly report twice a year on their payment practices […]
SMEs are far more punctual in paying invoices issued by corporates than those issues by other SMEs, a leading commercial credit reporting bureau has revealed. The latest quarterly risk review of CreditorWatch – an analysis of payment data sourced from over 40,000 active customers – shows SMES take, on average, nearly two weeks longer to […]
