site.bta Bulgarians Are among Most Unpunctual Payers in Europe, Collector Company Survey Shows

Bulgarians Are among Most Unpunctual Payers in Europe, Collector Company Survey Shows

Sofia, September 19 (BTA) - Bulgarians are among the most
unpunctual payers in Europe, the data from the annual Payment
Practices Survey 2014 of EOS Groups show. The survey was
conducted in the spring of 2014 among 2,600 companies in 12
countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Germany,
Spain, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and France.

Payment of an average 25 per cent of Bulgarian companies'
invoices is delayed and they write off as uncollectable another
5 per cent. Business clients are considerably more irregular
payer than end users with 28 per cent of delayed invoice
payments compared to 20 per cent of end users.

The survey shows that the trend in Europe is similar, the
Chairperson of the Association of Collector Agencies in
Bulgaria, Raina Mitkova, thinks.

The average period of delay for payments in Bulgaria is 29 days
compared to an average of 27 days for all Europe. In Bulgaria
the largest share of delayed and written off receivables was
registered with companies in the sphere of trade (37 per cent),
followed by the services sector (30 per cent).

The survey does not reflect the fact that Corporate Commercial
Bank (Corpbank) suspended operations in June, but this did not
increase the workload of collector companies, Mitkova said.

The main reason for delayed payments is lack of cash, followed
by the impossibility to receive bank funding and no access to
European funds, Mitkova said.

Business in Bulgaria is becoming increasingly skeptical of the
financial culture of debtors. While last year some 15 per cent
of company representatives said they were pessimistic about the
timely payment of invoices, now 24 per cent of them think their
receivables will be delayed.

The companies report a deterioration of payment policy on the
part of end-clients in Bulgaria. The share of the people who
have consciously refused to pay their obligations has increased
threefold in one year, Mitkova said. About half of the companies
with problems in collecting their receivables turn to lawyers
or collector companies.

Private companies are most active in collecting their
receivables while SofiaТs heating utility, for example, does not
work with collector companies. However, the energy distribution
companies, telecoms and the Sofiiska Voda water utility
regularly resort to the services of such companies.