How fast will a big customer really pay you? Using payment times reports

Landing a large corporate or national customer feels like the break a small business has been working towards. The purchase order is bigger than anything you’ve handled, the name looks great on your website, and the work is steady. Then the first invoice goes out, and the cash doesn’t come back for weeks longer than the terms said it would.

That gap between doing the work and being paid is predictable — and increasingly, it’s public. Before you sign, you can look up how quickly many large businesses actually pay their small suppliers, and plan your cash on that number rather than on hope.

What is the Payment Times Reporting Scheme?

It’s a Commonwealth scheme that, in its own words, aims to improve payment times for Australian small businesses. Large businesses report how long they take to pay their small business suppliers, and those reports are published on a public register.

Following reforms in 2024, the reporting requirement applies to large businesses with annual consolidated revenue of $100 million or more under accounting standards. The reforms also introduced two labels on the register:

• Fast small business payers — entities that pay small business suppliers within 20 days.
• Slow small business payers — reporting entities in the slowest 20 per cent of payers overall or within their industry.

The register also lets you compare payment times reports and industry statistics, which is useful for seeing how a customer stacks up against its peers.

How do you use the register before signing a contract?

1. Search the customer’s name on the Payment Times Reports Register. Large groups may report together, so try the parent company if the trading name doesn’t appear.
2. Note whether it’s listed as a fast payer. A fast-payer listing is a good sign; absence doesn’t necessarily mean slow, but it’s a reason to ask more questions.
3. Look at the reported payment times and how they compare with the industry.
4. Read the customer’s standard terms in the contract and compare them with the reported behaviour.
5. Ask the customer’s accounts team how invoices are approved, what information must be on them, and when payment runs happen.

The goal isn’t to judge the customer. It’s to replace “30-day terms” with a realistic number of days you’ll be carrying the cost of the work.

How do you turn payment times into a cash plan?

Once you have a realistic payment period, the cash gap becomes simple arithmetic.

Illustrative figures only. A cleaning contractor wins a contract with a large retailer worth about $60,000 a month. Wages, super, consumables and vehicle costs run at about $48,000 a month, paid as they fall due. The retailer’s terms are 30 days from invoice, and its reported behaviour suggests payment typically lands a little after that.

Month	Costs paid out	Customer receipts	Cumulative gap
1	$48,000	$0	–$48,000
2	$48,000	$0 (month 1 invoice not yet paid)	–$96,000
3	$48,000	$60,000	–$84,000
4	$48,000	$60,000	–$72,000

The contract is profitable, but it needs close to $100k of working capital before it pays for itself, shrinking steadily after that. Knowing that on day one — rather than discovering it in month two — is the difference between a smooth start and a scramble.

What if the customer pays slower than reported?

Build in a buffer. Invoices get rejected for missing purchase order numbers, approvals sit with a manager on leave, and payment runs may only happen on certain days. business.gov.au’s cash-flow guidance recommends automating invoicing, sending invoices earlier and chasing outstanding payments — all of which matter more with a large customer whose processes you don’t control.

Practical habits that shorten the gap:

• Get the customer’s invoicing requirements in writing — purchase order numbers, contact names, supporting documents.
• Invoice on the day work is completed, not at month’s end.
• Diarise the expected payment date and follow up the day after it passes.
• Keep a single contact in the customer’s accounts team.

How should you fund the gap?

Plan the funding before the contract starts, while your statements still look like they did before the new costs began. Options include:

• A line of credit sized to the peak gap, drawn only when needed. It suits recurring gaps like the one in the table.
• An unsecured business loan for trading businesses, typically $5k to $500k and sized on turnover and bank statements.
• A property-secured loan where the gap is larger or you want a longer runway — $20k to $5m against residential or commercial property.

The guide to raising business cash fast ranks every option by how quickly it can move, and the unsecured page explains how limits are sized. If you’d like a real person to size the gap with you, start a 60-second enquiry.

Does a big customer help you borrow?

It can. A signed contract with a large, reliable payer is evidence of future income, and a lender weighing a short-term facility will be interested in how and when that customer pays. The payment times record adds weight to your story: you’re not guessing when the money arrives, you’re pointing to a public record. What lenders still need is the usual set — bank statements, ID, your ATO position and a clear plan. The 24-Hour Funding Clock shows how quickly funding could realistically land once you’re ready.

Illustrative example: two contracts, one decision

Illustrative scenario only. An electrical contractor is offered two maintenance contracts of similar value. One customer is listed on the register as a fast small business payer. The other has reported payment times well beyond its stated terms. The contractor accepts both, but prices the second a little higher to reflect the longer cash gap, arranges a line of credit sized to that gap before starting, and invoices both customers on completion of every job. By the third month both contracts are self-funding — with no late-night cash panics along the way.

What else should you check before signing with a large customer?

Payment times are one piece of the picture. Before you commit, it’s also worth confirming:

• Invoice requirements — purchase order numbers, approval contacts and the format the customer’s system accepts. A rejected invoice restarts the clock.
• Payment run days — some large businesses only pay on set days each week or month, which can add days to any invoice that just misses a run.
• Variations and disputes — how extra work is approved and how disputes are raised, since disputed amounts are usually held back.
• Onboarding time — how long it takes to be set up as a supplier. The first invoice can’t be paid until you’re in the system.
• Termination and volume clauses — whether the customer can reduce volumes at short notice, which affects how much working capital you commit.

Each answer turns into days on your cash plan. Together they tell you how much funding you need, for how long, and how comfortable you’ll be carrying it.

Win the contract, then fund the gap calmly

A big customer is worth having, and the gap before they pay is a normal cost of doing business with them. Planning for it early turns a risk into a line item. If you’d like to talk through funding for a new contract, the enquiry takes about 60 seconds and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. Your details stay with one team rather than being handed around a list of lenders, and a real person looks at the contract, the customer’s payment pattern and your cash flow together. Please fill in the form accurately — especially the amount and when you need it — so you’re matched with the right option first time.

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