An Open Letter to Finance & Accounting Departments
Dear Sir or Madame,
I am a small business. I enjoy working with a variety of companies, including yours. I provide a valuable service, and deliver my work on time and on budget. The people I work with like me.
However, I do depend on my clients' accounting and finance departments to pay my invoices on time. When I send out an invoice, it says, "Due upon receipt." Despite what my invoice says, I accept that most of you have rules that pay invoices in 30 days. So I factor that into my budget and planning.
When you stretch that to 45, 60, 75, or 90 days, things get pretty rough for me. I am not a wealthy man, rather I offer your company a great product at a very fair price. So when I don't get paid, things get tight.
Imagine not being able to collect your paycheck for six to twelve weeks? How long would your savings last? At what point would you become a little agitated? When would you begin to panic? How would you explain to your kids that you can't give them money for the lunch or the movies because somebody forgot to pay you?
Right now, I am having challenges paying my rent and my cell phone bill. This will cost me in terms of fines and late fees. However, some of you guys aren't willing to pay my late fees when you're late. I'm supposed to accept that my invoice got misplaced. Even less fun is being told that the check was cut on Tuesday and mailed on Wednesday. You see, then I hop in my car on Thursday and Friday and Saturday, pay $4.65 a gallon to drive to my PO Box to look for a check you promised me, only to find out on Monday that the check hasn't even been cut. At that point, I'm supposed to believe that the invoice was misplaced (again) and can I resend it?
All I'm really asking is that you remember that there's a person on the other side of that invoice from a small business. Somebody who has to scrimp and save, pinch pennies, and run up late fees when you don't pay them on time.
Thanks for listening.
I am a small business. I enjoy working with a variety of companies, including yours. I provide a valuable service, and deliver my work on time and on budget. The people I work with like me.
However, I do depend on my clients' accounting and finance departments to pay my invoices on time. When I send out an invoice, it says, "Due upon receipt." Despite what my invoice says, I accept that most of you have rules that pay invoices in 30 days. So I factor that into my budget and planning.
When you stretch that to 45, 60, 75, or 90 days, things get pretty rough for me. I am not a wealthy man, rather I offer your company a great product at a very fair price. So when I don't get paid, things get tight.
Imagine not being able to collect your paycheck for six to twelve weeks? How long would your savings last? At what point would you become a little agitated? When would you begin to panic? How would you explain to your kids that you can't give them money for the lunch or the movies because somebody forgot to pay you?
Right now, I am having challenges paying my rent and my cell phone bill. This will cost me in terms of fines and late fees. However, some of you guys aren't willing to pay my late fees when you're late. I'm supposed to accept that my invoice got misplaced. Even less fun is being told that the check was cut on Tuesday and mailed on Wednesday. You see, then I hop in my car on Thursday and Friday and Saturday, pay $4.65 a gallon to drive to my PO Box to look for a check you promised me, only to find out on Monday that the check hasn't even been cut. At that point, I'm supposed to believe that the invoice was misplaced (again) and can I resend it?
All I'm really asking is that you remember that there's a person on the other side of that invoice from a small business. Somebody who has to scrimp and save, pinch pennies, and run up late fees when you don't pay them on time.
Thanks for listening.