--- title: "Credit information is six months old: when should a customer be reassessed?" canonical: https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/outdated-credit-information-customer-review/ lang: en alternate: https://www.billabex.com/fr/blog/information-solvabilite-perimee-reevaluation.md updated: 2026-10-11 index: https://www.billabex.com/llms.txt --- # Credit information is six months old: when should a customer be reassessed? Sales is preparing a substantial new order. The customer file contains a six-month-old credit report with a favourable assessment. Should you request a new one? The answer depends as much on changes in your exposure as on the date printed on the document. Older information can still inform a limited decision. Conversely, a report downloaded this morning may rely on accounts from several financial periods ago. Before accepting the next commercial commitment, identify the underlying economic dates, subsequent events and the amount your business may have to carry before payment arrives. ## Separate the file date from the dates of the facts Retain at least three reference points: when you consulted the document, when the analysis was prepared and when its principal underlying data were measured. A renewed report without new financial information does not make the balance sheet more recent. In a fictional example, a team consults a report on 1 September 2026. It was prepared on 1 March 2026 and its latest analysed accounts closed on 31 December 2024. The report is six months old; the accounting snapshot is approximately twenty months old. Describing the whole document as a recent assessment hides that distinction. Ask what newer information supplements those accounts: interim figures supplied by the company, recorded events or payment observations. Such information can enrich the analysis without making every figure current. A useful decision note explains the limits of each source rather than assigning one freshness label to the entire file. ## Understand the normal delay in published accounts For a French SARL, Service Public describes approval within six months of the financial year end, followed by filing within two months of approval when submitted online. Eligible companies may also keep certain documents confidential. Rules differ by legal form. [Annual accounts filing, SARL section](https://entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/vosdroits/F31214). Consider a fictional SARL closing on 31 December 2025, approving its accounts on 30 June 2026 and filing electronically on 28 August 2026. At filing, those accounts describe a year-end position almost eight months old. That does not make them useless or irregular. It means they cannot alone describe September's cash position. If accounts are not publicly visible, investigate the searched entity, timing, possible confidentiality and whether filing is actually missing. The search result should not automatically become proof of insolvency. A specific request for relevant information from the customer is more informative than a conclusion drawn from one empty results screen. ## Establish what the assessment actually measures Banque de France describes its rating as an assessment of the ability to meet financial commitments over one to three years, with annual updating. Access is regulated and confidential. It is neither freely available to every supplier nor a guarantee that a particular invoice will be paid on a particular date. [Understanding Banque de France ratings](https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/a-votre-service/entreprises/comprendre-cotation-indicateur-dirigeant). The useful question for any commercial report is similar: what horizon does it address, for which entity, using which sources and update date? Two assessments using the same adjective may measure different risks. Do not assign a numerical probability unless the provider's method supplies it and explains the relevant event and population. Check whether the document concerns the contracting customer, a parent company or a consolidated group. A healthy group position does not by itself establish that the debtor subsidiary has the required funds. The distinction between [payer and customer](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/payer-versus-customer-entity-mapping/) helps avoid transferring an assessment from one entity to another without justification. ## Recalculate exposure before deciding how fresh information must be A company's finances can be unchanged while your own risk has grown substantially. The trigger is then the size or duration of the new commitment, rather than deterioration in the customer. Consider an entirely simulated scenario. All amounts use the same basis, including applicable VAT, and are denominated in euros. Your business holds €40,000 of unpaid invoices and €20,000 of work already completed but not yet invoiced. A proposed new delivery represents €50,000. A €10,000 advance for that new delivery has already been received and is available; it has not been deducted from the other amounts. Assuming all work is invoiced and the new delivery takes place before further customer receipts, projected exposure is €40,000 + €20,000 + €50,000 - €10,000 = €100,000. Against a previous internal limit of €60,000, the difference is €40,000. That limit is hypothetical, not a credit standard. | Simulated component | Amount | | ------------------------------------------ | -------: | | Invoices still owed | €40,000 | | Completed work not yet invoiced | €20,000 | | Proposed new delivery | €50,000 | | Advance received, deducted once | -€10,000 | | Projected exposure before further receipts | €100,000 | Checking a recent report does not by itself resolve the excess. Decide who can approve this exposure and under which conditions. If changing an existing contractual commitment is contemplated, review the contract; an internal rule does not permit arbitrary suspension of promised performance. The timing assumption also deserves scrutiny. A receipt arriving before the new delivery would change the peak amount. A promise that has not yet resulted in cash should remain an assumption, rather than silently reducing exposure as though payment were already available. ## Combine published events with your payment experience BODACC provides access to published registry notices and a free alert service based on selected criteria. A notification can prompt a review between periodic assessments. Read the exact nature of the notice and establish that it concerns the correct company. [Official BODACC search and alert service](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/R20462). No announcement is not a certificate of financial health. Equally, a registered office change does not necessarily indicate financial trouble. Ask what the event changes in the facts supporting the previous decision. Your own history provides another source: kept or broken promises, new extension requests, documentary disputes and changes in the payment route. Classify these events before interpreting them as deteriorating creditworthiness. A delay caused by your incorrect invoice means something different from an explicitly stated inability to pay. [Assessing the reliability of payment promises](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/cash-forecast-payment-promises-confidence/) helps preserve that distinction. Avoid circulating unsupported explanations as established facts. “Payment has not arrived” is an observation. “The customer has lost its financing” requires a source. A review can remain cautious without turning incomplete information into an allegation about the business. ## Make the review proportionate and date the decision An unusual order, increased customer concentration, a missed payment commitment or a documented event can trigger reassessment. You do not always need to repeat the entire analysis. Identify what is missing for the specific decision: accurate exposure, funding for an operation, payment timing or interim financial information. Write the decision in verifiable terms: authorised amount, affected orders, assumptions, owner and next review point. A bare “customer approved” label without limits or an effective date becomes difficult to interpret when the next order arrives. Test the consequences of a delay for your own cash position too. The [largest-customer payment stress test](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/largest-customer-late-payment-payroll/) connects the commercial decision to your outgoings. The same receivable can be manageable for one company and create an immediate shortfall for another. The [Billabex customer view](https://www.billabex.com/en/product/customer-view-360/) helps assemble the operational context of the case. It does not replace a credit assessment or credit decision. The objective is for every new commitment to rest on information whose age, meaning and limitations are understood, alongside exposure that an authorised decision-maker has actually reviewed. ## Sources - Service Public Entreprendre, annual accounts filing, SARL section, verified 11 June 2025. - Banque de France, rating purpose and access, accessed 7 September 2026. - Service Public / DILA, BODACC search and alerts, verified 10 October 2025.