Letter from the table: Do not let a small dispute stop the whole invoice

15 July 2026
To the Cashflow Council

Pay what is not in dispute

I support the 15-Day Pay Standard. I oppose one part of the proposed wording: that a large buyer must pay within 15 days of an “undisputed invoice.” I understand why that phrase is there. A buyer should not have to pay for work or quantities it has a genuine reason to challenge. But if the invoice is treated as one indivisible thing, a small disagreement can hold up the whole amount. The clause needs to say plainly that a dispute over one part does not pause payment of the rest.

Here is what happened to me this year. On 4 March, I sent an invoice for RM8,400, under written terms that set 3 April as the payment date. The work had been accepted. On 31 March, the buyer’s accounts-payable contact questioned RM600 of the invoice, saying the recorded quantity for that part did not match its records. I replied with the supporting documents and asked that the remaining RM7,800 be paid on time while we checked the RM600.

Instead, I was told that processing was paused for the entire invoice until the review was complete. I sent the documents again on 18 April. The RM7,800 arrived on 6 May. The remaining RM600 arrived on 27 May. I am not saying the buyer had no right to question that line. I am saying that the question about RM600 should not have kept RM7,800 out of my account after the agreed date.

The delay mattered in ordinary, unremarkable ways. I had to keep money available for my own commitments while waiting, and I spent time following up instead of doing other work. I did not want to damage a business relationship by escalating every message. So I kept the emails, sent the records requested, and asked more than once for the undisputed amount to be released. That did not change the buyer’s process.

There is a local context here. This was an ordinary commercial invoice, not a construction contract. Malaysia’s Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 provides an adjudication route for payment disputes under construction contracts; it was not a route available for this invoice. Nor was I relying on a general statutory 15-day payment deadline for this kind of transaction. The written payment term mattered. That is exactly why the Standard should be precise about what happens when only part of an invoice is challenged.

“Undisputed invoice” sounds simple until a buyer disputes one line and treats the whole document as disputed. A buyer could, in effect, make the 15-day clock depend on its own review process. A small supplier might not know whether to accept the pause, keep asking for the uncontested money, or risk a relationship by insisting. I do not think that is the result the Council intends.

I propose this replacement wording:

“A large buyer shall pay the undisputed portion of an invoice within 15 calendar days of receiving it. If the buyer disputes any portion, it shall notify the supplier in writing within five business days of receipt, identify the amount disputed and give specific reasons. The buyer shall pay the undisputed portion by the original due date under this Standard. A dispute about part of an invoice shall not delay payment of the remainder.”

The five-business-day notice gives the supplier an early, useful explanation rather than a vague hold. Naming the disputed amount makes it harder for a small question to become a blanket reason not to pay. The deadline for the uncontested portion is the same clear 15-day rule that the Standard is trying to establish. The buyer still has room to investigate the portion it genuinely disputes.

I would also ask the Council to make clear in its guidance that a buyer cannot create a dispute simply by marking an invoice “under review.” The notice should identify the line, amount and reason. If the buyer needs evidence, it should ask for it promptly and keep paying the rest. My episode would have been different if the RM7,800 had arrived on time. The RM600 could then have been discussed without making the entire invoice wait.