How to Get Paid Faster

Here is how to shorten both halves.

Measure the whole cycle first

Not debtor days. The full time from finishing the work to the money arriving.

Break it into four parts.

Work finished to invoice sent.
Invoice sent to invoice approved by the customer.
Approved to due date.
Due date to actual payment.

Most owners assume part four is the problem. Parts one and two are usually larger, and both are yours to fix.

Part 1. Invoice the day the work is done

The clock does not start until the invoice exists.

Companies that invoice monthly in arrears have built a 15-day average delay into their own process before the customer does anything.

If you invoice on completion, you have shortened your cycle by two weeks at no cost and no negotiation.

Part 2. Remove the reasons to query it

An invoice that gets queried does not get paid, and the clock restarts.

The usual causes are all avoidable. No purchase order number where the customer requires one. Wrong entity name. Description that does not match what was agreed. No supporting timesheet or delivery note. Missing TRN.

Ask each significant customer what their invoice needs to contain and what their approval process is. Then match it. This single conversation removes most queries.

Part 3. Agree terms deliberately

Terms should be a decision, not a default your software chose.

Shorter terms for new customers. Deposits for large jobs or first-time work. Staged payments on anything running more than a month.

A deposit is normal in the UAE and asking for one is not a sign of weakness.

Part 4. Chase before the due date, not after

Call two days before payment is due to confirm the invoice is approved and scheduled.

This is not chasing. It is confirming, and it catches the query you did not know existed while there is still time.

Once an invoice is overdue you are in a queue with everyone else. Before it is due you are the only one talking to them.

The uncomfortable ones

Stop working for customers who consistently pay at 90 days when the terms are 30. You are financing them, and the margin rarely covers it.

Charge for the second delivery of the same information. It stops happening.

And check a new customer's ability to pay before the first large job, not after the first missed payment.

What not to do

Do not fund a cash gap by delaying VAT or Corporate Tax. That converts a cash problem into a compliance problem.

Do not discount for early payment without doing the arithmetic. A 2% discount for paying 30 days early is an expensive way to borrow.

The one-hour exercise

List your ten largest unpaid invoices. For each, write the date the work finished and the date you invoiced.

The gap between those two columns is the cheapest cash improvement available to you, and it requires nobody's agreement but your own.

Where we fit

We produce debtor ageing as part of bookkeeping and can tell you where your cycle is actually losing time.