Letter from the table: The invoice was paid; the cost remained

RC/CF/2026/T.8 | 13 March 2026

To the Cashflow Council,

I am writing from Vancouver with dates and amounts from my own records. I support a 15-day payment standard, but my stance is amend. The standard should say exactly when the clock starts and what a buyer must do if it says an invoice is disputed. Otherwise, a buyer can keep a small supplier waiting simply by keeping the invoice in an internal queue.

On 3 November, I completed a project for a larger organization and sent an invoice for CAD 4,860. The written terms were net 30. I had completed the work, submitted the invoice through the buyer’s required process, and kept the submission confirmation. Under those terms, payment was due on 3 December.

On 5 December, I sent a reminder and checked that the invoice had reached the right place. I followed up again on 12 December. The online status still showed the invoice as being processed; I had no notice identifying an error or disputing any part of the amount. I called and emailed the accounts-payable contact. I also asked for a firm payment date so I could plan my own bills. I did not receive a date I could rely on.

The money was not an abstract receivable. In December, I drew CAD 3,500 on my business line of credit to cover operating costs while the invoice remained outstanding. The January statement showed CAD 41.78 in interest. That is one recorded charge, not a claim that this single invoice caused every dollar of borrowing cost. But the timing is plain in my records: the invoice was overdue, cash was short, and borrowing had a price.

The payment arrived on 16 January: 74 days after I invoiced and 44 days after the due date. By then I had spent weeks checking the portal, sending reminders and keeping the amount available in my cash forecast. The principal came in. The lost time and the uncertainty did not come back with it.

My experience is in British Columbia. For an ordinary commercial invoice like this one, the agreed payment term was the starting point I could use; I was not relying on a general province-wide 15-day rule for every business invoice. I also looked at the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal’s small-claims process, which can deal with many claims of up to CAD 5,000. But pursuing a claim is not a practical way to make routine payment discipline happen, and it would not give me back the weeks spent waiting. I did not add a late-interest term to this invoice, so I had no simple contractual charge to apply automatically.

That is why I support the Council’s proposed direction: large buyers should pay small suppliers within 15 days of an undisputed invoice, late interest should apply automatically, and buyers should publish their payment times. I ask you to amend the draft in three connected ways.

• Start the 15 days when the buyer receives the invoice through its required channel, not when someone later enters it into an internal system. Require a dated receipt or a clear way for the supplier to verify delivery.

• If the buyer disputes an invoice, require it to identify the specific amount and reason promptly and in writing. Pay any undisputed portion within the 15-day period. A blank status such as “processing” should not stop the clock.

• Make interest automatic after the deadline, without requiring a small supplier to chase it, and require published payment-time figures to explain how disputed invoices and partial payments are counted.

These details matter because the rule has to work inside the process that buyers already control. My invoice was not marked disputed; it was simply left waiting. A standard that only covers invoices a buyer has formally accepted could reward silence. A standard with a receipt timestamp and a narrow, documented dispute process would make the obligation visible to both sides.

I am not asking the Council to treat every late payment as deliberate. I am asking it to design the standard for the situation where the supplier has done the work, sent the invoice correctly and still cannot tell whether the buyer has a real issue or has just not processed it. Fifteen days is meaningful only if a small business can tell when those days begin—and if a buyer cannot pause them without explaining why.