14 Oct 2013
Invoicing errors could be costing small businesses some £3.7bn every year, according to a new study from software provider Exact.
In a nationwide survey of 450 SMEs, 20% of the firms questioned admitted that they had failed to invoice for goods or services at least once.
Of this figure, 12% revealed that they had forgotten to invoice for a job worth between £5,000 and £10,000, while 6% said they had failed to bill for work worth more than £10,000.
It is thought that poor internal systems and processes are largely to blame for the invoicing oversights.
The study also examined the main areas of concern for today’s small and medium-sized business owners. Some 31% said the biggest cause of stress was winning new business, while 23% said they were worried about finance issues such as cashflow, debtors and business planning.
Commenting, Hartmut Wagner, managing director of Exact, said: ‘We don’t want to blow this issue out of proportion but these findings do highlight that many SMEs who are eager to grow are not doing themselves any favours, particularly with so many of them expressing concern over their cashflow’.
