Atradius Group, which provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide, carryout an annual Payments Practices Barometer survey in Asia-Pacific region. The 2012 survey of over 1,600 companies in Asia-Pacific (completed in November last year) results showed that:

• overall, around 30% of the total value of B2B invoices issued by survey respondents in Asia-Pacific were past due and more than 10% remaining unpaid after 90 days
• compared to the same survey period last year, there was an increase in the frequency of payment delays by domestic B2B customers due to liquidity constraints:
  • the average DSO level across the region, which at 44 days is considerably higher than the average payment term of just below 32 days
  • within the various business sectors studied, manufacturing recorded the highest DSO of more than 51 days,while financial services was the lowest at just over 32 days
• over the past year, nearly three times as many respondents experienced an increase in DSO than did a decrease
• an average of 5.3% of B2B receivables were uncollectable (compared to an average of around 4.0% in 2011)
• 47.7% of domestic trade and 42.4% of foreign trade across the region is undertaken on credit terms
• with the exception of Indonesia, 29.6% of the region's respondents are expecting deterioration in trade credit risk while only 26.0% are anticipating an improvement.
• more than half of the survey respondents in Asia-Pacific plan on checking their buyers' creditworthiness more often over the next six months.

 The average Days Sales Outstanding for the main countries in Asia-Pacific were:

Businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are clearly under-pressure.

Atradius, not surprisingly, conclude that: 'With a significant proportion of businesses expecting an increase in secured payments, cash transactions and the use of active credit management during the next six months, clearly credit management and cash flow will become a key focus for companies of all sizes throughout the region.'

Read more in the full report here.