Getting paid on time by large companies

Find the payment run date, get a PO number before you invoice, and send to accounts payable rather than your contact.

Large organisations do not pay late out of malice. They pay on a process, and an invoice that does not fit the process falls out of it silently.

Three things get you paid: a purchase order number on the invoice, delivery to the accounts payable address rather than the person who hired you, and knowing the payment run date so you invoice before the cut-off rather than the day after.

Ask all three before you start work. "Who should I send the invoice to, and is there a PO?" takes one message and saves weeks.

Set it up before the first invoice

Large organisations have a supplier onboarding process, and it takes weeks. Starting it after your first invoice is overdue is the most common way small suppliers lose two months.

Four things to get in writing at contract stage: the legal entity to bill, whether a purchase order is required and what it is, where invoices must be sent, and their standard payment terms. All four are answerable in a single email and each one, missing, can stall an invoice indefinitely.

The purchase order is not optional

In most large companies, no PO means no payment, and the rejection is automated. Your invoice does not go into a queue — it goes out of the system, silently, and the first you hear is when you chase. If a PO is required, get the number before you start work, put it on every invoice, and never exceed its value without a revised one.

Three people have to act

Your contact approves it, a processor enters it, and a payment run releases it. A delay at any of the three looks identical from outside, and each needs a different chase.

So ask where it is rather than asking for payment: "Has invoice 1043 been approved yet, or is it still with you?" That single question routes your effort correctly and stops you sending firm reminders to someone who approved it a month ago.

Payment runs are the real calendar

Their terms say 30 days; their payment run is the 25th. An invoice arriving on the 26th waits for the following month regardless of what the terms say. Ask when the run is, and time your invoicing to land comfortably before it. That is often three weeks of difference, permanently, for no negotiation.

Get onto the portal early

Many now require submission through a supplier portal, sometimes operated by a third party and occasionally with a fee attached. Registration needs bank details, tax documents and verification. None of it can be rushed at the point an invoice is due.

Do not accept terms you cannot fund

Sixty and ninety-day terms are common and are a genuine financing cost to you. It is legitimate to negotiate, and easier before the contract than after: shorter terms, a deposit, or staged payments. Many large buyers have prompt-payment arrangements for small suppliers that are never mentioned unless you ask.

Several jurisdictions also have statutory protections for small suppliers and public-sector payment deadlines. Knowing they exist changes the tone of a late-payment conversation. Late payment charges covers the statutory interest position.

Be precise, always

Large organisations process on matching. Names must match the supplier record exactly, amounts must match the PO, references must be present and correctly formatted. A small inconsistency that a person would ignore is what a system rejects on. Precision here is not pedantry — it is the difference between thirty days and ninety.

EstimateBill tracks what is unpaid, reminds you on the due date, and writes the follow-up message for you in three tones. See how the reminders work.