Industrial purchasing and its process
Power and mining contractors are paid against an audited process, and an invoice missing a purchase order reference or an HSN code waits another cycle. Because a contractor here often supplies more than one works, the bill also has to say which site the material went to, or it sits unmatched at their end while your money waits behind it.
Gate records that have to match
Material entering a plant or colliery compound is logged by their store as well as yours, and the two reconcile at month end. When their store and your delivery record disagree by one trip, the argument is settled by whichever side can produce the date, the vehicle number and the name of the person who signed for it, which is worth more than the memory of the driver who made the run.
Township retail alongside
The colonies around the works bring steady counter trade in hardware, sanitaryware, paint and electrical. That is a thirty-second cash bill rather than a referenced invoice, and running both from one system is what stops a shop keeping a bill book and a register that stop agreeing.
Long payment cycles from large buyers
A contractor working for a large operation is paid when their process releases it, which is rarely quick. The figure worth watching is not what the township counter takes in a day but how much of the shop capital is parked with three or four industrial accounts at once, which is what an ageing view shows and a running total hides.