Payment terms

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

30 days plus month end = Invoice at the end of the month, make sure the agency/client receives it by the month end and then you should be paid 30 days after that. Means that 60 days has elapsed from the time you start the work/invoice cycle to you getting paid. Welcome to the world of business - shouldn't have signed the T&C's if you weren't happy with the arrangement.

[Torrango]

Talked to the AP people at the client about this and they agreed to pay the "outstanding invoice" this week and switch terms to 30 days from invoice. Very decent of them to my mind, since they were under no obligation to do so. Nice to see some understanding that these kinds of cashflow issues have disproportionate impacts on one-man suppliers. Brightened up my day!

Nonetheless, lesson learned - always check payment terms carefully!

[mailric]

must be because they only do an accounts run once per month which seems a pretty poor effort.

gues the only problem (assuming cash flow ok) is if you have to work two months before you find out whether the agency has paid... in today's market you don't know who going to go out of business.

Would hope i'd spot that one but I'll definately look out for in future thats for sure.

[VectraMan]

the turnaround time for it to be approved and my umbrella to invoice will normally be at least a working day, pushing me in to the next month. It would be a lot more honest just to be upfront and say "60 days from invoice", no?

To be fair it's not the agent's fault that your umbrella takes a day to invoice. If you were in control of the situation (i.e. you ran your own limited), you could invoice on the last day and get the money 30 days earlier.

Incidentally I'm about to invoice my agent and I know for sure the money will be paid on Friday. 30 days seems pretty piss-poor to me.

[blacjac]

It's only 60 days if you invoice at begining of month.

If you invoice last working day of the month, you should get it end of the following month.

[ratewhore]

It's a trap many people fall into, and in fact is not a problem if you have correct cashflow. Always a bugger for new contractors though.

Still, even 60 days is better than what you could have by going direct, which can often be over 90 days.

[Menelaus]

I stand corrected but I read it as being perfectly normal and what 30 days end of month means, i.e. end of the month, 30 days from the point at which the invoice is received. In effect this means 60 days. Slightly longer than the contracting norm but no reason to contact the FD imo.

ninjaedit: I started my career as a debt collector, I'm always worried

[oracleslave]

This seems more than a little sneaky, especially given that they paid so promptly last time. Get hold of the FD / CFO of the pimp and ask them what the hell they're playing at.

I stand corrected but I read it as being perfectly normal and what 30 days end of month means, i.e. end of the month, 30 days from the point at which the invoice is received. In effect this means 60 days. Slightly longer than the contracting norm but no reason to contact the FD imo.

[Menelaus]

Quick question, what is the normal interpretation of payment terms of "30 days end of month"?

I must admit I didn't read this too carefully before I signed (my own fault, of course), and since the client paid the first invoice within a month, I hadn't noticed anything odd. But the next invoice seemed overdue, and when I enquired I was told that this meant that for work done in April and invoiced in May, I wouldn't get paid until end of June (so effectively 60 days from invoice date).

Is this pretty normal? My last couple of contracts this has never been an issue. I've got no concerns about the client not paying, just means a bit of a squeeze for cash this month...

It just seems a little sneaky to me, since the client insists I invoice for a month at a time. So if I submit a timesheet at the end of the last friday of the month, the turnaround time for it to be approved and my umbrella to invoice will normally be at least a working day, pushing me in to the next month. It would be a lot more honest just to be upfront and say "60 days from invoice", no?

This seems more than a little sneaky, especially given that they paid so promptly last time. Get hold of the FD / CFO of the pimp and ask them what the hell they're playing at.

[Torrango]

Quick question, what is the normal interpretation of payment terms of "30 days end of month"?

I must admit I didn't read this too carefully before I signed (my own fault, of course), and since the client paid the first invoice within a month, I hadn't noticed anything odd. But the next invoice seemed overdue, and when I enquired I was told that this meant that for work done in April and invoiced in May, I wouldn't get paid until end of June (so effectively 60 days from invoice date).

Is this pretty normal? My last couple of contracts this has never been an issue. I've got no concerns about the client not paying, just means a bit of a squeeze for cash this month...

It just seems a little sneaky to me, since the client insists I invoice for a month at a time. So if I submit a timesheet at the end of the last friday of the month, the turnaround time for it to be approved and my umbrella to invoice will normally be at least a working day, pushing me in to the next month. It would be a lot more honest just to be upfront and say "60 days from invoice", no?