QUINCY, Mass. AND BOCA RATON, Fla. – January 15, 2010 – Cortera™, a community-driven business credit bureau, announced the publication of its December 2009 Small Business Index™ (SBI) report, a monthly index of accounts receivable (A/R) activities covering businesses with less than 500 employees (the Small Business Association definition of a small business). Measuring payment activities of more than 200,000 small businesses, the Cortera November 2009 SBI™ showed small businesses payments (to their vendors, suppliers and other business partners) stabilizing over the past month. During the same period the rate of payments made by big businesses have slowed slightly, closing what had been wide gap that had developed during the height of the recession.
As previously reported, this payment behavior is a primary factor in establishing favorable credit ratings, which are essential for securing loans from lenders and optimal terms with suppliers.
“While the precise cause remains uncertain, we’re seeing less volatility and less delinquency when it comes to small business payment behavior,” said Jim Swift, president and CEO of Cortera. “The big questions now are whether the system has sufficiently cleansed itself of the drag caused by the most delinquent players, how much risk remains, and whether current levels represent a kind of new normal. Given continued economic uncertainty, we’re watching closely to see whether Main Street businesses can maintain such consistency over the next few months.”
The Cortera SBI tracks late payments against agreed upon terms, measuring late accounts receivable measured in days beyond terms (Average DBT) for businesses with less than 500 employees, comparing this data with equivalent A/R metrics for large companies (greater than 500 employees) and all businesses.
About Cortera
In a sea of business information providers, Cortera is different. With over 15 years of experience serving finance professionals, Cortera combines premium business information and innovative tools with a fresh community approach to commercial credit. It represents the first community for small business credit reporting and a fundamentally new way to capture the collective insight of millions of financial transactions. As a result, small businesses can make smarter, informed decisions to ensure optimal cash flow while attracting more favorable payment terms from existing and potential business partners. Free credit reports on millions of businesses are available at http://start.cortera.com.
For more information on Cortera, please visit http://www.cortera.com.
Media Contacts:
Craig VerColen
VerColen Communications
craig@vercolen.com
617-599-2180
Alex Coté
Cortera
857-403-1370
"Cortera has the potential to reinvent the credit reporting industry by bringing the credit community approach to the Web and thus delivering the kind of insight not possible with traditional credit bureau approaches alone."
"It is very gratifying when your VP of Finance comes out of his office to congratulate your team on their improved metrics. Our partnership with Cortera has really helped us to achieve these results."
