International technology and services company, Profectus, has leveraged global AI-driven analytics platform, Sisense, to help save Australian businesses hundreds of hours in compliance time for the newly enacted Payment Times Reporting Scheme (PTRS).

Effective as of January 1 this year, PTRS requires businesses and government enterprises with an annual total income of over $AU100 million to biannually report on their payment terms and practices for their small business suppliers. These reports will then be made publicly available via the Department of Industry’s PTRS website.

The Payment Times Reporting Scheme places considerable pressure on businesses to both surface data and report on payment times swiftly and publically. Profectus has partnered with Sisense to take a highly automated and data-driven approach to this PTRS compliance, in order to save businesses time and money by:

• Submitting the reports to the Department of Industry on the organisation’s behalf, 
• Setting up reporting for multiple entities, 
• Gaining access to live remediation reporting via its Delta BI platform (powered by Sisense), and 
• Providing visibility of progress against the PTRS metrics.

“Compliance legislation is a burden to Australian businesses and can be time and labour-intensive, often involving the use of manual spreadsheets. By using technology, AI, automation and data-driven approach, we are moving this burden into an opportunity for large organisations to start thinking about how they can improve their business operation, whilst supporting the vital cash flow of the small suppliers they work with,” explains Robert Visentini, Chief Product Officer at Profectus Group.

“This reporting would otherwise be quite onerous for organisations, particularly those who operate multiple entities. By going beyond traditional business intelligence with an insights-first approach, it saves businesses hundreds of hours of time - and it actually becomes a proactive approach to improving parts of large organisations.”

Regional Vice President of APAC for Sisense, Eyal Mekler, says partnering with Profectus is a great example of how an AI-driven analytics platform can infuse intelligence into a powerful process that supports so many major Australian businesses, helping them streamlining their reporting and leveraging data more efficiently while helping with PTRS compliance.

Profectus is actively engaging with the Australian Government to discuss the report submission process, challenges in data collection and accuracy, and communicate to large organisations about upcoming timelines as the PTRS is rolled out.

For more information on the PTRS scheme click here.

What information needs to be provided in the PTRS?

• Distribution of invoices paid to small businesses paid within 20 days, between 21-30 days, 31-60 days etc
• Percentage of total AP spend that is paid to small businesses
• The range of payment terms offered to small businesses
• Details of any specific payment arrangements with small businesses
• How supply chain finance is used

Important dates:

• 17 December 2020 – ability to register eligible entities for the PTRS, and gain access to the Small Business Identification tool via the Government’s PTRS portal
• March 2021 – PTRS report format made available
• June 2021 – end of first reporting period (for organisations with financial year-end in January or June)
• 30 September 2021 – submission deadline for those organisations