A friend is having problems being paid for services rendered to a nonprofit. Conclusion? Don't work for nonprofits, right?
In my experience, ta-da: wrong.
Having submitted invoices to many entities over the years -- everything from mega-corporations to city governments to tiny nonprofits -- the record holder for difficulty in being paid belongs to the big companies.
Back in the late 1980s, when Digital Equipment Corporation was the major employer in the cosmos (exaggeration, merely the universe), we were having problems being paid. So I decided to do a flow chart of the process. It took 19 separate signoffs. Other consultants started calling me for advice on how to be paid by DEC.
I guess that explains why Digital went out of business. Howevuh...while some companies are very efficient, I've found it equally difficult with other big firms. The invoice submission process is a fine art (or really bad art) with ridiculous quirks that make slow nonprofits look like comets in comparison. The most ridiculous? Having to send paper copies of invoices -- you know, that stuff over in the pile in your paperless office -- to global enterprises. And then being told the paper copy, sent by overnight delivery service, was never received because Accounts Payable "never heard of" the person who signed for it in their Receiving Dept.
Meanwhile, I hope my friend is paid soon.