What is the Payment Times Reporting Scheme?
The Australian Government has introduced the Payment Times Reporting Scheme (PTRS). The scheme aims to improve payment times for Australian small businesses.
The scheme commenced on 1 January 2021. The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER) administers the scheme under the Payment Times Reporting Act 2020.
This requires Reporting Entities, mainly businesses with a total annual income of over $100 million, to report their payment times on the scheme.
The scheme will:
- increase transparency around large business’ payment performance,
- help small businesses decide who to do business with,
- create incentives for improved payment times and practices,
- help the public make decisions about the large businesses they buy from.
DISER is currently developing a Reporting Register to help small businesses understand the payment practices of the large businesses they interact with. In order to make sure the Reporting Register is effective and small business friendly, DISER are seeking feedback from small businesses and their associations.
So far, the user testing and discussions have helped to identify improvements for small businesses such as:
- Graphs to make data easy to read for small businesses.
- Data on how long it takes businesses to pay on a KPI screen.
- The functionality to compare multiple businesses head to head.
- Consider the use of explanatory pop-ups / hover points throughout the process.
- Endeavour make it simple so it isn’t commercialised and on-sold to small businesses.
DISER has a limited version of the portal for the scheme available and are looking to roll out the full portal shortly. If you would like to be involved in the user testing for the Reporting Register functionality, please contact Dejana Wiltgren on Dejana.Wiltgren@industry.gov.au. Your participation and input helps advocate for small businesses and ensure they have all the tools they need to remain competitive.