Waiting on 30, 60 or 90-day invoices? How to bridge the gap

You did the work. You sent the invoice. And now you wait 30 days, or 60, or the 90 that a big customer has quietly decided is normal. In the meantime your staff want paying weekly, suppliers want paying on 14 days and the ATO wants its BAS on the 28th.

That’s the invoice gap. It isn’t a sign your business is in trouble. It’s a sign you’re funding your customers.

How big is your invoice gap?

Measure it before you fix it. Two numbers matter:

1. Dollars tied up. The total of every invoice sent but not yet paid.
2. Days tied up. How long customers actually take to pay, on average, compared with your terms.

A quick way to see the days: pick your last 20 paid invoices, note the date sent and the date paid, and average the difference. Many owners find “30-day terms” really means 45 or 50.

Your terms	What customers actually do	What it means for cash
7 days	Pay in 10–14 days	Small gap, easy to manage
30 days	Pay in 40–55 days	Roughly six to eight weeks of work funded by you
60 days	Pay in 70–90 days	A quarter’s worth of costs before cash returns
End of month plus 30	Pay up to 60 days after the job	Easy to underestimate

Put your own numbers into the cash gap calculator to see how deep the gap gets and for how many days.

Can you shrink the gap without borrowing?

Usually, at least partly. Free or cheap levers:

• Invoice the same day. Every day you wait to invoice adds a day to the gap.
• Ask for deposits. For bigger jobs, 20–50% upfront changes everything.
• Use progress payments. Long jobs should be billed in stages.
• Make paying easy. Payment links on invoices, card options, clear bank details.
• Follow up on a schedule. A polite reminder before the due date, another on it, a call a week after.
• Shorten terms for new customers. It’s easier to start at 14 days than to cut 60 to 30 later.

Our guide to getting invoices paid faster goes into the scripts and timing.

What if a customer is seriously late?

Follow a clear path: reminders, a phone call, then a letter of demand. business.gov.au’s guide to what to do when you haven’t been paid lays out each step, including free dispute help through the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. For specific late-payer situations, see our page on a customer payment delay.

Cash stuck in invoices right now? Tell us how much and for how long, and we’ll look at bridging it.

How do you bridge the gap that’s left?

Once you’ve squeezed what you can, the remaining gap is a financing question.

• A business cash line suits invoice gaps best for most businesses, because the gap rises and falls every month. Draw when invoices go out, repay when they’re paid. See business cash line.
• A short-term cash loan suits a single large invoice, such as a big contract with one long payment term.
• Invoice finance advances against specific invoices. It can work, though some products involve your customers. Ask how notification works before signing.
• Property-backed cash suits larger, longer gaps if you own property.

How much is the wait really costing you?

Waiting has a cost even when nobody charges you interest. Owners who carry long debtor days often:

• pay suppliers late and lose early-payment discounts
• miss bulk-buy deals because the cash isn’t there
• pay late fees or dishonour fees on their own bills
• turn down work because they can’t fund the materials
• spend hours each week chasing money instead of running the business

Add those up and a cash line drawn only during the gap often looks cheap by comparison. It’s also why many owners use bridging finance alongside tighter terms, not instead of them.

Which customers deserve longer terms?

Not all slow payers are equal. A large, reliable customer that always pays on day 45 is a manageable, predictable gap. A small customer who pays whenever they feel like it is a risk. Consider:

• shorter terms or deposits for new and small customers
• keeping longer terms for your best, most reliable accounts
• stopping new work for accounts that are significantly overdue

An illustrative example

Illustrative only. An IT services business in Canberra invoices around $80k a month, mostly to larger organisations on 30-day terms that average 52 days in practice. Wages and contractors are paid fortnightly. At any time, roughly $130k is sitting in unpaid invoices. After shortening terms for new clients and adding payment links, the remaining gap is covered with a cash line that’s drawn and repaid each month.

Let’s unlock the cash in your invoices

You’ve already earned the money. The question is how to use it before it arrives. Tell us about your invoices and terms; the enquiry takes about a minute and won’t affect your credit score. We won’t send your details to a pile of lenders, and a real person who understands invoice gaps calls you to talk it through.

Be accurate about turnover, typical invoice sizes and how long customers take to pay. That’s what lets us size it properly.

Bridge my invoice gap →