What is DunTrade®?
Recognising payment trends
DunTrade® is a program that facilitates anonymous debtor information feeds from national and international companies in every segment. The result is a global picture on Germany’s payment performance. DunTrade® also delivers indications on current payment performance and objective trends in individual companies. D&B already collects more than 540 million reports on invoice payment every year for the program. These actual payment reports are used in calculating the D&B Paydex, an effective predictive indicator for potential liquidity problems in any particular company.
Payment reports
D&B has been evaluating actual payment reports for more than 25 years. D&B was the first company in the world to include information such as this in the business information it supplies. D&B currently leads the world market with 20 billion invoices in its global database, and Germany is no exception. We are continuing to extend our analysis of payment reports.
Trends
Comparison to payment trends in corresponding industrial segments, or the German economy as a whole, gives you an important source of orientation, allowing you to assess whether your customers are good or bad at paying compared to the average.
Analysis
Changes only really become clear after observing payment trends over a longer period. A company suddenly beginning to drag its feet on payments after years of punctual payment could be a serious warning signal. On the other hand, generally sluggish payment habits do not necessarily mean financial problems; many major companies practice long payment periods as a matter of corporate policy.
The DunTrade® Programme is based on regular monthly data exchange, and can be stopped at any time. Participation is voluntary, free of charge and absolutely confidential.
How do you benefit from DunTrade®?
The DunTrade® Programme tells you more about your own customers’ payment habits.
Is a customer paying your invoices more slowly than it pays other invoices it receives? This is the kind of knowledge you can use in your contract negotiations and internal debt-collection processes to reduce your day sales outstanding (DSO).
On the other hand, one of your customers may (still) be paying you – as a key supplier – punctually, while other suppliers only receive delayed payment. This may mean that your customer is in financial difficulty, and this might yet affect you.
DunTrade® Programme data delivers valuable information alerting you as to your existing customers’ financial situation:
- By helping you predict possible insolvency risks
- By avoiding bad debts
- By optimising your bargaining position in negotiating contracts and payment terms
- By reducing your day sales outstanding (DSO) and increasing your cash flow
Apart from that, information from the DunTrade® Programme plays a key role in calculating theD&B Paydexand preparing D&B Business Information Reports.
How do participants benefit?
Participating companies gain free information on their customers’ payment habits on the market. Data is visualised, showing:
- Anonymous trend analyses
- Important information for assessing your company’s receivables management
- Information accessible at any time. As an example, the information provided can be accessed directly via the internet or fed into your electronic ledgers using D&B data integration products
Is the data transfer secure?
All of our participant data is processed anonymously according to the statutory requirements of Germany’s Data Protection Act. You can test this for yourself at all of our credit agencies. As an example, Paydex shows the number of suppliers serving the company in question and how many payment reports have been processed. There are no references whatsoever to which supplier provided information. Apart from that, we do not store any information on private individuals.
How can you take part in the DunTrade® Programme?
Participating makes sense if you serve around 500 active customers per month. We would be pleased to give you details on participation terms. Please send us an e-mail or call us on +49 (61 51) 13 75 7 77.