I'm a CPA which makes me call baloney on this as an excuse. Anytime I have seen (or worked) somewhere with really high turnover in finance groups a prick at the head of the department (or higher up) is a big part of the problem. Those pricks don't move. A $27,000 invoice doesn't go unpaid for almost a year simply due to turnover of staff. An invoice that size gets escalated to the head of the department pretty damned quick.
Because it is only the one vendor we have heard of it seems like there is something suspicious going on.
Anyone who pays any attention to the job market for accountants in Edmonton is aware of the high turnover with the Oilers. Covid is an exception. But any other time I have looked at the accounting job boards in the past decade in Edmonton there has been a posting of some kind with OEG.
fwiw I do know people who have worked in the finance department for the Rexall group. That sounds like a pretty crap organization to work for as an accountant.
As someone who has worked in hotels for 30 + years and has had to chase down money from some of the biggest companies in the world--yes, things do fall between the cracks and as for the magicallly $27K bills always get paid right away? no they do not. I assume my first post got deleted because I named two companies I had to chase for nearly a year to get payments well over 27K.
The bigger the companies the bigger the boondoggle of getting paid some times. I love dealing with smaller companies, because I usually would get the money within 30 days, Many companies have a system in place that once the bill is over a certain amount it gets moved higher up the food chain to either have the CFP or COO sign off on the payment.
In dealing with one of the largest companies in the world, my record is 18 months trying to get payment for an exclusive use of the hotel where I was front of house manager. The problem was from their side. they did not dispute the charges, they were just not sure which department was supposed to pay the use of the hotel