Credit management and the question of late payment seems to be exercising many people at the moment.

One of my colleagues was interviewed on the BBC recently on this very question. In simple terms good credit management means that you get more bills paid on time.

However too few small firms use good credit management. This was one of the significant findings of research undertaken by the Credit Management Research Group based at the University of Bradford.

This research has been incorporated into a new guide to effective credit management - Better Payment Practice: a guide to credit management - published by the DTI on behalf of the Better Payment Practice Group. It provides straightforward guidance and advice, in simple language, on how to get paid on time.

The Better Payment Practice Group is a consortium comprising the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI, DTI, Federation of Small Business, Institute of Credit Management and many others. It forms as integral part of the Government's commitment to work in partnership with the business community to bring about a better payment culture in the UK.

The guide is an important part of the package of measures that the Government is bringing forward to tackle the late payment problem and change the payment culture in the UK. It is, however, only one part of this package.

Other measures include The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Bill, which will give businesses the statutory right to claim interest on late paid bills.

Given the number of companies whose cashflow problems stem from late payment, this could be a very timely programme, and one which they can't afford to ignore.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.