Prompt payment

Prompt payment is a commercial discipline which requires businesses to:

  • agree fair and reasonable payment terms with their suppliers
  • ensure suppliers' invoices are approved and paid within agreed terms
  • encourage adoption of the same practices throughout their supply chain.

It is the opposite of late payment, to which the European Union's Late Payments Directive and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the United Kingdom are directed. Prompt payment may also be contrasted with excessively long or grossly unfair payment terms, such as payment terms in excess of 60 days, even where such terms are honoured by the business making payment. Other terminology adopted to express this discipline includes "fair payment", for example in the construction industry,[1] and "responsible payment", a term used by the UK Government when countering what was seen as a "late payment culture".[2]

  1. ^ Bingham, T., Fair Payment under NEC 3 Construction Contracts, published 9 August 2010, accessed 28 November 2020
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference resp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).