From banking ezine The Sheet:

Businesses were taking eight weeks on average to pay their trade
debt as of June 2005, up from an average seven weeks a year ago.

Data for 2005 for the “Australian Trade Payment Analysis,” an annual
series compiled by Dun & Bradstreet, shows that the typical trade
payment is now made in twice the one-month period that D&B regards
as the standard trading terms.

D&B Australia chief executive, Christine Christian, said the
increase in the time businesses were taking to pay other businesses “is
of real concern. It’s generally the lead indicator when it comes to the
economy; generally the first sign that things are softening when cash
flow gets a bit tighter.”

Christian said that “even though sales look pretty good, margins and profits are where most businesses are struggling.”

The blow out in trade payment days reverses a trend, evident since the
introduction of the goods and services tax in Australia in 2000, for
businesses to speed up their payments as creditors chased each other
for timelier payments to meet monthly and quarterly tax payment cycles.