[jhpaul]

I had a similar experience at a mid-sized nonprofit. We would get generous pricing from vendors with reasonable terms, then the next time around I would find we were 5 months late paying them. The internal answer was "cash flow" and "well we wouldn't want to pay them too quickly", or worse "they shouldn't be complaining, they got their check much faster than X"

[hef19898]

Clever use of your payment terms is a valid strategy. Not respecting the agreed upon payment terms is bad business behavior, using cash flow as an excuse is just lazy. Or worse, a clear sign of financial trouble.