Companies must publish their average payment period to suppliers

Since the entry into force of the Crea y Crece Law last October 2022, many companies have a new obligation. Many companies must now publish their average supplier payment period in their annual accounts. And large companies must also include it on their website.

This is one of the measures included in the Law for the Creation and Growth of Companies, known as the Crea y Crece Law, to fight against commercial delinquency. The objective is to give economic operators the opportunity to know the payment behavior of the companies with which they are going to have a commercial relationship. This is because late payment is a major burden for many small and medium-sized Spanish companies.

Maximum payment periods

As a reminder, we would like to point out that the Late Payment Act establishes a maximum payment period of 60 days for all private commercial companies and 30 days for the public administration. However, there is still no sanctioning regime for those companies and public administrations that systematically fail to comply with these deadlines.

Which companies must publish their average payment period to suppliers

According to the regulation, “all commercial companies shall expressly include their average supplier payment period in their annual accounts”. However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has subsequently ruled that “only those entities that prepare the report in the standard form” must do so. In other words, SMEs and micro-companies that present abridged annual accounts will not be affected by these measures.

Additional reporting obligations

On the other hand, some companies have additional reporting obligations.

• Listed companies. They must publish, both in the notes to their annual accounts and on their website, in addition to their average payment period to suppliers, the monetary volume, the number of invoices paid in a period of less than 60 days and the percentage that these represent of the total number of invoices and of the total monetary amount of their payments to suppliers.
• Unlisted companies that do not present abridged annual accounts. They must publish the same information required of listed companies in the annual report of their annual accounts and on their web page if they have one.

An annual list of defaulting companies will be published.

What happens if a company fails to comply with this informative duty? For the time being, no direct sanction has been established. However, the annual publication of a list of companies that fail to comply with the payment deadlines established in the Late Payment Law is planned.

To this end, in the coming months the Government will create and regulate by royal decree the State Observatory of Private Delinquency within the framework of the State Council of SMEs.

In this annual report on the situation of payment terms and late payment in commercial transactions, the State Observatory of Private Delinquency will include the companies that are in the following circumstances:

• On December 31 of the previous year the total amount of unpaid invoices exceeds 600,000€.
• The percentage of invoices paid by the company in a period shorter than the maximum term set by the law on late payment is less than 90% of the total.
• Companies with assets exceeding €11.4 million, with a turnover exceeding €22.8 million and with at least 250 employees.

This report will be presented and analyzed at the State Council of SMEs.  Subsequently, the Government will send it to the Spanish Parliament and it will be published on the website of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.