4th August 2009, 03:42 PM
On a slightly different tack. I wonder what the circumstances are for some of the organisations that might/have gone under. In many cases that I have seen it has not been the profitability of the companies that was in question, it was cashflow or just plain not-getting-paid.
The way most commercial bodies work often means that they pay out for staff, plant etc etc up front, invoice when the submit the report and then wait to be paid (30 days if you're lucky - but usually far longer and sometimes never). On bigger jobs, clients expect you to at least suggest staged payments, but for a small organisation a make or break amount can be a couple of grand. And in small organisations, the company overdraft can be guaranteed on people's houses...... (Limited company or not, most banks won't lend unless you put something up as a guarantee).
So, on the post-ex side, it may well be that this money has never been received by the organisations involved. At least not in its entirety.
The way most commercial bodies work often means that they pay out for staff, plant etc etc up front, invoice when the submit the report and then wait to be paid (30 days if you're lucky - but usually far longer and sometimes never). On bigger jobs, clients expect you to at least suggest staged payments, but for a small organisation a make or break amount can be a couple of grand. And in small organisations, the company overdraft can be guaranteed on people's houses...... (Limited company or not, most banks won't lend unless you put something up as a guarantee).
So, on the post-ex side, it may well be that this money has never been received by the organisations involved. At least not in its entirety.