Atradius publishes reviews of international corporate payment practices in their “Payment Practices Barometer” which cover many corporates in multiple countries in each region, e.g. the recent Asia-Pacific Barometer report covered 1,646 interviews. The results for the October 2015 Survey results for Asia Pacific revealed important trends about payment habits world-wide: 

Proportion of sales made on credit to total B2B sales of respondents

Source & Copyright©2015 - Atradius

Average payment terms - longest in Asia-Pacific 

Both domestic and foreign B2B customers of respondents in Asia Pacific are given an average of 33 days from the invoice date to pay for goods and services purchased on credit (the Americas: 28 days; Europe: 32 days).

Ovederdue B2B invoices - least in Asia-Pacific 

90.2% of the survey respondents in Asia Pacific (down from 97.5% in 2014) reported having experienced late payment of invoices from their domestic and foreign B2B customers over the past year (94.7% respondents in the Americas and 92.8% in Europe).

Average proportion of B2B invoices unpaid 90+ days after due date

Source & Copyright©2015 - Atradius

Average payment delay - shortest in Europe

Domestic B2B customers of respondents in Asia Pacific settle payment on past due invoices, on average, not later than 25 days after the due date (compared to 30 days in the Americas and 22 days in Europe). Foreign B2B customers make their overdue payments, on average, 28 days after the invoice due date (the Americas: 37 days; Europe: 20 days).

Domestic B2B customers of respondents in Asia Pacific settle payment on past due invoices, on average, not later than 25 days after the due date (compared to 30 days in the Americas and 22 days in Europe). Foreign B2B customers make their overdue payments, on average, 28 days after the invoice due date (the Americas: 37 days; Europe: 20 days).

Uncollectable accounts - most in Americas

An average of 2% of B2B receivables of respondents in Asia Pacific was reported to be written off as uncollectable (the Americas: 2.2% and Europe: 1.2%). After an average 1.4 percentage point decrease in 2014, the above mentioned rate increased again slightly (less than 1 percentage point) at the beginning of this year. By industry, uncollectable domestic and foreign B2B receivables in Asia Pacific stem mostly from the construction, consumer durables, electronics and business services, and overall services sectors.

Read more in “Atradius Payment Practices Barometer - International survey of B2B payment behaviour Survey results for Asia Pacific” see here. Recommended.