ABSTRACT
It is by no means uncommon for large companies to use their muscle to retain money in their account when it is due to a smaller company that lacks any means of demanding payment. I worked as a design consultant to a large civil contracting company. Although our invoices stated that payment was due net cash monthly account, the civil contractor did not pay on time. When an invoice had remained unpaid for three months I went to see the contract manager. He apologised and said that he had authorised payment of the invoice two months ago. Together we went to see the Accountant. He asked for details of the invoice, checked his records and opened the top drawer of his desk. I was surprised to see it was full of cheques. He flicked through them quickly, pulled one out and handed it to me. It was for the full amount of our invoice, signed … and dated two months earlier.
