Friday payment depends on your customer selling something first
Assess a payment promise expressly dependent on a future asset sale without treating that sale as received funds.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
The date comes with a condition
A hypothetical customer promises to pay an overdue $50,000 account on Friday if a vehicle sale settles first. The supplier hears the date and schedules its own bills around the expected receipt. The important detail is the condition. An anticipated sale and cleared proceeds are different events, and the customer's expectation does not establish when your payment will arrive.
Ask what stage the customer says the sale has reached and whether anything remains unresolved. Request a clear explanation of the proposed payment timing without demanding unrelated private records. Record the response as the customer's statement. Do not imply that a buyer's interest, a signed document or a screenshot proves that funds are available to pay your account.
Business.gov.au suggests discussing a payment date or schedule with the customer. Ask what payment is proposed if the sale is delayed and whether any amount can be paid independently of it. A backup proposal is still a proposal until appropriately agreed and performed. Obtain advice where accepting revised terms could affect recovery rights or an existing formal process.
Show the expected receipt with its stated condition rather than presenting it as certain cash. In the hypothetical example, prepare a view that excludes the receipt so you can see which bills remain unsupported. This is a planning exercise, not a finding that the customer will default. Avoid replacing one unsupported promise with an assumed borrowing arrangement of your own.
If Friday passes, ask whether the sale failed, settlement moved or the customer received money but did not pay. Those situations call for different questions. Update the account notes with what is known and what remains unverified. Do not repeatedly move the expected receipt date without recording the changed explanation and reassessing the practical recovery position.
Consider the debt documents, any dispute, the customer's response and the cost of continued delay with an adviser. CRP can help review suitable recovery options. The aim is to stop an uncertain external transaction from silently controlling your own commitments while still dealing fairly with the customer and acknowledging any payment that actually arrives.
