New Zealand businesses are taking longer to pay their bills.
Dun & Bradstreet's latest analysis of payment terms shows businesses took an average 46.2 days to pay in the three months to September, more than two weeks longer than the standard 30-day term.
That is four days more
than the average at the same time last year, and almost a day longer than three months ago.
Companies with up to five employees were the worst payers, taking 50.1 days to settle their accounts - 5.7 days longer than in the September 2007 quarter.
D&B New Zealand general manager John Scott said the figures were evidence that the recessionary climate and continued fallout from the credit crisis were affecting business. Companies were under cashflow pressure so were holding on to their money.
"Everything starts locking up and it's exactly what we don't want.
"The next stage we will see is more businesses failing, because they cannot meet all their requirements, they can't service any more debt because the banks won't necessarily lend to them, so as a result they can potentially fall over."
Scott said the figures had reached levels seen in 2001, around the end of the last downturn.
But it was worse across the Tasman - Australian businesses were taking on average 10 days longer to pay than their New Zealand counterparts.
Liquidator Damien Grant, of Waterstone Insolvency, said rather than dealing with their fundamental issues and laying off staff or closing branches, businesses were stretching things out by not paying their taxes or their creditors.
This was why unemployment had not spiked yet.
