His work allows him to take the pulse of businesses. The business mediator offers a mediation service accessible to all economic players, both public and private. In the event of a dispute with another company or administration, it is possible to contact them. Pierre Pelouzet, summarizes his mission on franceinfo: “Ensure that companies among themselves, or between companies and public actors, rather than going to court, move towards dialogue”. A service which depends on the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, which is free and confidential.
The business mediator publishes its annual report on Thursday March 21. And according to this latest report, more and more companies are contacting the mediator. THE “topic number one” what remains is the payment delays, the deadline for which in 2023 is approximately “12-13 days”according to Pierre Pelouzet. “Today, VSEs and SMEs have difficult, tight cash flow. So it is really not the time to see payment terms start to rise again. On the contrary, it is the time for major accounts to pay attention to their suppliers, help them, support them by paying them as soon as possible”he explains.
franceinfo: The number of disputes exploded just after Covid. What is the outcome for 2023?
Pierre Pelouzet : Yes, absolutely. We talked about the world before and the world after. We experienced it and we see it in the figures today. It’s quite fascinating when you watch.
“In the last four years, we have done twice as much mediation as in the previous ten years.”
Pierre Pelouzetfranceinfo
That is to say that today, we have had a lot of economic shocks (Covid, inflation, raw materials, energy) and that has sparked a desire for dialogue, a desire to talk to each other , in any case much more than before. Companies turned to us saying: I can no longer speak to my customer, I can no longer speak to my supplier, I can no longer speak to my lessor. I need you to help me and create this discussion so that we can emerge with confidence, from the top, from our difference.
Which sectors are most affected? ?
These are really all sectors. In fact, our purpose is rather to help small businesses, VSEs, SMEs, craftsmen who have difficulties compared to larger ones. When you are in this situation, obviously, you have not taken your major client to court, you do not want to lose him. You also can’t do anything about an unpaid invoice or a dispute over intellectual property. So, you are looking for solutions and this is where we help rebalance the dialogue. We will bring the two actors around the table and allow them to speak to each other as equals.
“It’s not because we are the boss of a small SME and we are facing a major buyer from large groups that we cannot talk to each other normally.”
Pierre Pelouzetfranceinfo
And that’s what we’re recreating, human dialogue between economic actors.
Are the ones who are reaching out to you the ones who are in the most financial difficulty?
We can be grabbed because we are in difficulty obviously, but we can also be grabbed and be fine. Even when we are going to be very careful to be well paid, it is important, just to anticipate, to avoid going as badly as possible. Besides, the message I’m sending is grab us as soon as possible. Don’t wait until you are in great difficulty to contact us. Earlier, we are seized, we can act, create this dialogue and help you find solutions.
What is the average late payment today? Have they increased ?
Late payments, indeed, are our number one subject, it represents 25% of our referrals overall. Unfortunately, we thought we were winning the battle of late payments. This is an old topic for me. I’ve been fighting about this for eleven years.
Payment terms are 60 days as a general rule and 30 days for road transport costs?
These are the legal deadlines, indeed.
“But we have always had delays since the creation in 2008 of the law on payment deadlines.”
Pierre Pelouzetfranceinfo
We managed to get down to ten days, on average late before the crisis. It was progress and it improves every year. So we said to ourselves that’s it, we put the tools in place, we’re going to get there. Unfortunately, covid happened, we left 15, 16, 17 days late. And today, we are between 12 and 13 days, it is stabilizing, or even starting to rise a little. But to give an idea, that means that 15 billion euros are in the treasuries of major public and private accounts rather than being in the treasuries of VSEs and SMEs. So you see the impact beyond the days? These are billions of euros we are talking about.
Who is the worst payer, private companies or public authorities? ?
Unfortunately, I was going to say both. It’s more a relationship of size, a relationship of strength. Unfortunately, it is the bigger ones, because it is “easier”, who pay the smaller ones worse. Without wanting to generalize, there are obviously large companies that pay very well. There are obviously large administrations, notably the State, it should be noted, which pay well. Beyond that, there are large companies that pay very poorly and there are administrations, regions or communities that pay very poorly. And that’s terrible for small businesses.
The Minister for Business, Olivia Gregoire, wants to strengthen sanctions against bad payers, and also introduce “name and shame” for communities over 3 500 inhabitants. Can it have a deterrent effect? ?
So there is a range of solutions and we have seen that this range of solutions produces effects. As I said, until 2019, it worked, we already had a bit of “name and shame”. We had what we do in mediation: the entire national process of responsible purchasing to push each actor to change their behavior. And that’s obviously what we’re playing on. Telling ourselves that we are going to strengthen all of this can only accentuate, I hope, the beneficial effect. Because now is not the time to give up. Today, VSEs and SMEs have difficult cash flow, tight cash flow.
“VSEs and SMEs pay more for their electricity and raw materials. There is inflation, so salaries are increasing, plus for some, they have to repay the state-guaranteed loans they received. All that means that the cash flow is tight.”
Pierre Pelouzetfranceinfo
So now is really not the time to see payment terms start to rise again. On the contrary, this is the time for major accounts to pay attention to their suppliers, help them, support them by paying them as soon as possible.
Knowing that when a small boss has financial difficulties, he no longer gets paid. A fifth pay less than 1,400 euros per month, according to a recent CPME study. Do you fear an impoverishment of small business owners?
Either way, they need to find a solution. So I hope that the first solution that comes to mind is to contact the mediator so that we can help them. But actually, if cash flow decreases, what happens? Either we no longer pay ourselves, or we no longer pay our workers, or we no longer pay URSSAF and we end up in a difficult situation. So it’s a situation that’s becoming untenable. Once again, awareness is needed. But I would like all the big bosses of large companies in France to have a monthly meeting with all their teams saying: where are we with payment deadlines? Are we respecting the law? Do we pay our small suppliers well? The day we pay as much attention to suppliers as we do to customers, I think we will have solved the problem.