I can’t remember ever having seen the word “oops” in an annual report. But there are plenty of times it should have appeared. Most recently in the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s missive.
The GCA was set up to police the way supermarkets treat their suppliers. One of their biggest bugbears is timely payment. Can you guess where this is going?
Yes, although the GCA — led by Christine Tacon — says it processed and approved its invoices within 30 days of receipt, and 100% of the undisputed ones within five days, it can’t be sure they were actually paid on time.
There’s the first oops.
The GCA is falling back on the tried and tested practice of passing the buck. It says it outsourced the actual payment of the invoices to the Competition & Markets Authority, which recently installed a new finance system. Causing delays.
There’s the second oops.
New systems are prone to teething. But here’s the question: Would a supermarket that has been paying its suppliers tardily get away with blaming outsourcing in the wake of a complaint to the GCA? Now this has come out they’ll try.
What’s that word again?
