It would appear the All Black's nifty passing skills are ingrained in New Zealand's business culture, where bills can be settled far quicker than in Australia.
While the average time to pay bills in Australia has fallen to an historic low of 44.8 days, in NZ businesses pay even more quickly at an average 34.9 days.
The Dun & Bradsteet research found Australia's agriculture sector remains the fastest paying industry, while communication businesses are the slowest.
Dun & Bradstreet economic advisor Stephen Koukoulas suggests this may be why NZ has a quicker payment time on average because its agriculture industry is a larger part of the NZ economy than in Australia.
But there's a common thread between the countries encouraging faster payment times - record low interest rates, steady if not spectacular economic growth and solid company profits.
"The low trade payments times in both Australia and New Zealand, and the sharp drop around two years ago, coincided with the start of the rapid fall in inflation and interest rates," Mr Koukoulas said on Thursday.
