Every year, the Choose France summit celebrates our country’s appeal. It brings together the world’s leading investors around a common goal: to boost investment in France, encourage innovation, and support economic growth.
But for a country to be truly attractive, rolling out the red carpet is not enough. A reliable economic environment must be guaranteed. And at the heart of this environment, one often underestimated issue deserves our full attention: cash management, and more specifically, accounts receivable.
From the macroeconomic picture… to microeconomic reality
Choose France evokes the major balances: taxation, political stability, energy transition, industrial relocation, etc.
But behind the big announcements and billions of euros of investment intentions, there is a much more concrete reality: French companies must be solid, profitable, and capable of generating cash.
But even today:
- In France, 25% of business failures are linked to late payments.
- The average payment period between businesses is 44 days, which is higher than the European average.
- The hidden cost of manual reminders, customer follow-up, and debt collection is often underestimated, particularly in SMEs.
These dysfunctions are not just a management problem: they hinder investment, slow down growth, and reduce competitiveness.
Cash as a lever for attractiveness
An investor looking to make a long-term commitment in France considers:
- the financial health of companies,
- their ability to grow without excessive leverage,
- the fluidity of their operating cycle.
And all of this depends on healthy cash flow. At CashNow, we believe that economic attractiveness also depends on companies’ ability to get paid on time.
It is a lever for economic sovereignty, sustainability, and competitiveness.
A French SaaS solution designed for operational cash flow
CashNow is a 100% SaaS solution, developed in France, that helps finance, sales, and operations departments to:
- Automate customer reminders with personalized scenarios.
- Identify the risk of unpaid bills using data and behavioral scoring.
- Align finance and sales around a common goal: smooth cash collection.
- Accelerate the cash conversion cycle without damaging customer relationships.
In a nutshell: securing one of the company’s main assets—its accounts receivable.
What Choose France doesn’t say (but investors know very well)
An attractive country is not just one that attracts digital giants or pharmaceutical companies.
It is a country in which SMEs and mid-cap companies are robust enough to be partners, suppliers, or customers of these large groups. And this robustness depends, in particular, on controlled cash flow, anticipated late payments, and an embedded cash culture.
Choosing France also means choosing companies that are cashing in
By contributing to the financial strength of our companies, CashNow acts where real attractiveness comes into play: on the ground.
Not in gilded salons, but in ERP systems, reminder tables, calls to accounting, commercial negotiations, and DSO indicators.
Because the real driver of sustainable investment is trust. And that trust comes through cash.
Choosing France is good. Choosing companies that are profitable is better.
To go further:
- 2024 Payment Delay Barometer – Altares – https://www.altares.com
- Late payments in France: causes and consequences – Banque de France – https://www.banque-france.fr
- Choose France 2024 – Official summary of the event – Presidency of the Republic – https://www.elysee.fr
- Business failures: sector analyses – Coface – https://www.coface.com/fr/Etudes-economiques-et-risque-pays
- Guide to managing accounts receivable – Médiation du Crédit / Bpifrance – https://mediateur-credit.banque-france.fr
