Press Release
Council improves payment times
Most companies/organisationsoperate a system whereby an approved invoice is paid out when its due date comes around. The Shetland Islands Council have until now operated the same system. However starting over the next few weeks we will endeavour to pay all invoices on the Payment Run following the date the invoice is approved regardless of the companies’ own terms.
This is part of ongoing initiatives to improve the turnaround time for invoices. A few years ago a mid week Payment Run was added to our Monday run and more recently new systems have been developed to improve the flow of invoices around the Council. This involves invoices being scanned centrally in Finance and electronically routed to Service Areas for approval. This makes it easier to keep a track of invoices, cuts down on paper and speeds up the overall process.
As there are 2 payment runs a week (Monday and Wednesday) companies should have to wait no longer than 3 working days after approval for their payment to be processed. Over the past 10 years the Council has improved the percentage of invoices paid within 30 days from 78% in 1999/00 to 87.1 in 2009/10.
The impact of this will be positive on suppliers, and in particular small businesses. However, partly due to historically low interest rates, this will not have a significant impact on the SIC.
Head of Finance Graham Johnston said “The Council is keen to look at improving its systems wherever possible, to improve efficiency and reduce bureaucracy, and this is a further example of that”.