Cash & Liquidity
Supplier Payment Cycle Time
Average days to settle supplier invoices against the 30-day MFMA requirement.
The 30-day rule as a hard compliance line
Section 65 of the MFMA requires creditors to be paid within 30 days, and persistent late payment is both a recurring AGSA finding and a direct cause of supplier distress and litigation. Measuring average days-to-pay against the 30-day requirement turns a compliance obligation into a monitored metric. AuditPro Core tracks the payment cycle to invoice level so breaches are caught and explained before they accumulate.
The Numbers
AuditPro Core renders this view from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records. The figures below are illustrative sample data.
Average Cycle Time
37 days
▲ above 30-day rule
Invoices Within 30 Days
68%
▼ target 100%
Invoices Settled
14,820
year to date
Interest Claims Paid
R 2.1 m
late payment
Average Payment Cycle by Month (days)
Cycle Time by Stage
| Process Stage | Avg Days | Bottleneck |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice receipt to capture | 6 | Manual routing |
| Capture to verification | 14 | GRN matching |
| Verification to approval | 9 | Delegations |
| Approval to payment run | 8 | Cash availability |
Figures shown are illustrative sample data for demonstration. AuditPro Core renders these views from your own tenant's live, tamper-evident records.
The 30-day obligation
The clock starts on receipt of a valid invoice and the obligation is unconditional. Treating 30 days as a target rather than a legal limit is itself a compliance weakness.
Cycle-time measurement
Average days-to-pay summarises performance, but the distribution matters more: a good average can hide a long tail of severely overdue invoices that drive the real harm.
Process bottlenecks
Late payment usually stems from delays in goods-receipting, approval or query resolution rather than a lack of cash. Locating the bottleneck is what enables a fix.
Reputational and legal risk
Chronic late payment damages supplier relationships, invites interest claims and can constitute fruitless expenditure where penalties result.
How AuditPro Core Bridges the Gap
- Invoice-level tracking: days-to-pay is measured per invoice, exposing the overdue tail behind the average.
- Threshold alerts: invoices approaching or breaching 30 days are flagged for payment.
- Bottleneck analysis: delays are attributed to receipting, approval or query stages.
- Audit-ready export: the cycle-time record supports the MFMA Section 65 compliance position.
Key Takeaways
- The 30-day rule is a legal limit, not a target.
- Averages hide the overdue tail that causes the real harm.
- Late payment usually reflects process delays, not cash shortage.
- Chronic lateness risks interest claims and fruitless expenditure.
See This on Your Own Data
AuditPro Core renders this dashboard from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records — every figure traceable to source.