SME Business News

A small business that employs just two people has forced multinational retail store Alliance Boots into back tracking on its payment terms.

After receiving a letter from Alliance Boots that said that the company was changing it’s payment terms from 30 days to 75 days from receipt of invoice, the husband and wife team of training firm MTa International threatened to cancel a planned training course with the company.

A report in the Financial Times says that after the threat from SME owners Justine and Martin Thompson, Alliance Boots backed down and agreed to re-introduce it’s original terms.

A victory for the small business man for a change, but small business groups are growing increasingly concerned at how long big businesses are taking to pay SMEs, with reports of  some companies taking 105 days to pay.

Although the law allows companies to charge interest to late payers, it is a recourse that many SMEs avoid as in most cases the business is crucial to them in turnover terms although few of us consider the costs involved in collecting outstanding monies.