Pay your dues

2008-10-02 12:20

Georgina Guedes

Money makes the world go 'round. The big people have it, the small people want it, and it's probably this imbalance that creates a vacuum that keeps everything in motion. A little over a year ago, I went from being a representative of the big people to being a small person who is now dependent on payments from the big people.

Being on the other side of the equation has taught me a lot about the world. I am pleased to say, though, that if I reflect back on my time with the big people, I was always aware of the importance of looking after our suppliers, especially if they were small companies, or single-person units.

The payers and the non-payers

I worked at the helm of two publications, which made me into the person who, while not able to write or even approve the cheques myself, was the primary contact for suppliers who wanted to get paid.

I never, ever made it not my problem if there was one. The one company I worked for was one of those that spent a lot of time robbing Peter to pay Paul, and so, understandably, people were seldom paid on time, and I had to deal with Peter complaining to me every month.

I don't know how much difference it really made, but I would take the copy of the invoice down the passage to the accounts department, spend some time chatting to the ladies there to see at what stage of payment it was, see if by flirting wildly with someone who shared my birthday I could process things a little faster. Once or twice, I seem to remember that I did manage to extract a cheque and present it to the MD for a signature, and it was those little victories that now allow me to grow impatient with other organisations that don't do the same.

The other company always paid on time. In fact, as we closed each publication, the accounts department would tally all invoices it had received, and actually follow-up with those suppliers who hadn't sent theirs through in time for the payment run. This company was a delight to work for, as I didn't ever have to commission work with the future echo of non-payment complaints ringing in my ears.

And on not one but two noteworthy occasions, one of our regular suppliers asked if there was any way that we could pay her early, because she was strapped for cash. I took her request to our MD, and was fair gobsmacked that he acquiesced - both times.

Payment karma

As a result of what I think is a fairly clean record, save for a couple of smears that were out of my control, I've had the good karma to be rewarded with clients that pay me on time now that I'm a freelancer. Of course, there are exceptions, but they aren't my regular clients (thanks guys, you know who you are - and Media24 can be counted among them).

Unfortunately, it takes only one bad apple? In the past six months, both my husband and I have been on the non-receiving end of payments from big corporations. The corporations were not Lehman Brothers, so even in these tight financial times, I think it can be assumed that they still have the cash.

What's been funny (funny weird, not funny ha ha) about these three non-payments is that they've all been put down to exactly the same excuse - the person responsible for processing the payment has left the company.

Now, I might be being naïve, but surely one of the most vital things that you do when you're leaving a company is create a handover document. And surely, when an accountant or administrator is leaving your employ, you insist that they prepare such a handover document?

I know that accounting is a fairly finicky department with lots of loose ends, but in my not-very-financial brain, there seems to me to be an idea that there would be some sort of accounting software, one page of which could be dedicated to "accounts unpaid", which should be easy enough to hand over.

Of the three companies that owe us money, two have finally come through - three and five months late, respectively. The other has finally presented me with the name of the person to whom I should resubmit my invoice. So, we're getting somewhere.

But if you're a boss, or an accountant, or someone who's about to leave a company, and you've read this column, please think about the fact that while R5 000 going out of your finance department may seem like an insignificant amount that can be dithered about and chased down for months on end, for freelancers like me, it can mean the difference between payment and non-payment of our bonds, medical aids and insurance at the end of the month - payments that as a company I'm sure you honour every month, because the ramifications of not doing so are far-reaching.

Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. Anyone who pays on time should feel free to contact her.

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