Companies: late payments, a French disease – Boursorama

At the end of April, the amount of late payments amounted to almost 4 billion euros in France (photo illustration ). (AFP /)

“We know that there is an impact on employment, investment and trust,” said Thursday the national ombudsman international relations businesses, Pierre Pelouzet, presenting the first quarterly indicator of bill payment delays in France. “This blocks the innovation is a drag on this economy which is being gradually resume”.

The study, conducted with the firm Altares and published on the occasion of the five-year inter-company mediation, two thirds of businesses pay their suppliers and subcontractors out of time. The average delay is 13 days. The study is based on analysis of 211 million bills of 120 large companies. Worse, according to “Le Figaro” that revealed the report, 9 intermediate sized companies (ETI) in 10 are in this case “against 4 of 10 in Germany and 8 out of 10 on a European scale.” The statutory payment deadline is 60 days after the date of issue of the invoice.

The total in late April, the amount of potential late payments amounted to 3.97 billion euros. However, “there is a cascade phenomenon: the great evil pay averages that pay badly hurt small that pay very small,” said Pierre Pelouzet. In very small companies, “there are 25% of bankruptcies are linked to late payments.”

In addition, “if everyone paid according to the law, there would be about 100,000 jobs that could be created in SMEs, “assured the Ombudsman, relying on a note of two researchers, Jean-Noel Barrot (MIT) and Julien Sauvagnat (CREST). According to Pierre Pelouzet, two types of behaviors are the cause of these delays, with one hand companies that have an information system “complicated” delaying paying bills and also those “who are knowingly cash on the supplier back. “

The sanctions are rare, hesitant suppliers to take legal action against their clients. The Hamon Act of March 2014 introduced administrative penalties expected to be more dissuasive. According to “Le Monde”, Bercy has planned 2,500 inspections in 2015. Other avenues are also being explored to minimize delays. On June 9, as part of its plan for SMEs, Manuel Valls announced that the names of large companies guilty will be systematically made public (or if the fine exceeds EUR 75,000). Objective? That moral disapproval is added to the financial cost.