Scottish small businesses struggling with late invoice payments

Scottish small businesses are chasing late invoices with an average value of £4,850 , according to new data analysis from fintech start-up Ormsby Street, the company behind free credit-checking tool, CreditHQ.

With around 239,400 Scottish SMEs in total, the potential for late invoice payment to have a significant impact on cash-flow and growth is clear, and Ormsby Street will be discussing these issues at the New Start Scotland Exhibition, the two-day small business event starting today.

“Almost £5,000 is a massive amount for a small business to be owed in just one invoice and is a real warning sign for SMEs all over Scotland,” said Martin Campbell, Managing Director, Ormsby Street. “CreditHQ allows a small business to tackle late invoice payment and the cash-flow issues that come with it, freeing up their time to concentrate on running their businesses efficiently and focus on future growth.”

CreditHQ is a free online tool that allows a small business to check the credit status, payment performance and general financial health of any customer or partner, taking credit data from a variety of sources and presenting the analysis to customers via a simple traffic light ratings system.

Aimed at anyone starting or expanding a business and taking place at the SECC in Glasgow, New Start Scotland has more than 150 exhibitors offering face-to-face advice and extensive range of free seminars and workshops to help businesses flourish.

Martin Campbell of Ormsby Street will be presenting a seminar at New Start Scotland, ‘The £11,000 question – how would you spend that to improve your business?’, in which he will be discussing the effect of late payments on small businesses and how CreditHQ can help improve cash-flow and ensure you get paid on time.

Already working with 25,000 UK small businesses, Ormsby Street recently unveiled a number of new features for CreditHQ, including a collect page, that has letter and email templates for customers to download, to help with chasing invoices, collecting debts and issuing credit terms to the companies they trade with.

“Running a small business is both hugely rewarding and extremely challenging, and business owners can make life easier by using the best tools to help them run their business,” continued Martin Campbell. “We believe CreditHQ is becoming a ‘must-have’ tool for small businesses as they seek to address late payment and cash-flow, and we look forward to demonstrating this at New Start Scotland.”