Earlier this month we reported that the Institute of Credit Management here in the UK had produced a league table aimed at shaming companies putting suppliers at risk through the late payment of invoices.

Now - that ploy clearly didn't work - another company is coming under fire from a number of groups for imposing new terms on suppliers that appear symptomatic of the current credit environment.

Alliance Boots has said that it will pay its suppliers up to 105 days after billing and (if that wasn’t enough) will then charge a 2.5 per cent “settlement fee”. It’s enough to make the eyes water, and despite Alliance Boots claiming that their procurement standards “are in line with those of other groups of similar size and scale”, the news will come as a hammer blow to suppliers who are coming under increasing pressure as times get tough.

A clearly unhappy Phil Orford, the chairman of the Forum of Private Business, said the “practice of large retailers abusing their buying power continues to have a very negative impact on smaller businesses.”

But despite the criticism one thing seems assured -  Alliance Boots won’t be the only large company to put the squeeze on their suppliers in the coming months.