Small and medium-sized companies are the main victims of invoices not being paid on time. Specifically, three out of four, 72%, are paid after the agreed term, according to a report presented today by Cepyme with data from the Informa platform for this matter. The vast majority of them, 68%, are paid in the following 30 days and 1.5% are paid after 60 days, the term considered by law to become delinquent. It happened in the first quarter of this year and it has happened again in the last quarter of last year. Delays are usually caused by the administration and large companies.
Invoices paid in due time and form are 27.9%, the highest percentage in the last five quarters. This increase was made at the expense, fundamentally, of those paid up to 30 days after the initially agreed date. Adding the invoices paid on time and those paid up to 30 days later, 95.9% of the total is reached. A high percentage, but one that has dropped four tenths in the last year.
Cepyme warns of the increase in the proportion of invoices paid between 31 and 60 days after the agreed date, which in the first quarter of 2023 were 2.5% of the total, eight tenths above a year earlier. It is the second highest proportion since 2016.
The average payment period (PMP), for its part, has been decreasing since the start of the pandemic, when it skyrocketed. However, it is still located at 82.1 days, according to the information compiled by Cepyme with data from CESCE. It decreases, explains the organization, "because companies try to avoid the real erosion of pending collections caused by inflation, as well as alleviate the increase in the financial cost of commercial debt."
The autonomy with the highest average payment period is the Community of Madrid, with an average of 94.9 days, followed closely by the Region of Murcia, with 94.5 days. Catalonia, for its part, is below the average, with 80.5 days. Castilla y León is at the bottom with 71.1 days.
Another worrying fact that the organization chaired by Gerardo Cuerva warns is that the commercial debt of SMEs reached 200,000 million in the first quarter, 19.2% more than a year earlier. This situation is causing the most modest companies to have to face an extra cost for default. In total they had to have an additional 1,300 million to solve these treasury problems. This represents an increase of 200% in year-on-year terms. The forecast, Cepyme points out, is that this figure will continue to rise due to the evolution of interest rates.
SMEs are also having greater problems accessing finance, compared to large companies. Cepyme calculates an interest rate for new ones of up to 250,000 euros of more than 4%, a figure that has not been reached since 2025.
