Summary
Accounts receivable statistics show that more than half of B2B invoices are paid late, that late payment costs businesses billions a year in financing and collection, and that automation is the lever that moves the numbers: firms with automated AR average a 40-day DSO against 47 days for manual processes, and 62% of firms report a better DSO after automating.
- Late payments: More than 50% of B2B invoiced sales in the US, UK and Asia are overdue (Atradius, 2023).
- Money owed: The average UK SMB surveyed by Intuit was owed £27,214 in late payments in 2023 (Intuit QuickBooks, 2023). The Small Business Commissioner puts the average at £17,000 for each business affected by late payment (2025).
- Time lost: Small-business owners spend about five hours a week, roughly 10% of the working week, following up unpaid invoices (Xero, 2024).
- DSO gap: Firms with automated accounts receivable average a DSO of 40 days against 47 days for firms that have not automated (Association for Financial Professionals, 2025, citing PYMNTS).
- Paidnice customers: Paidnice customers cut their average wait for payment in half within 30 days once reminders, late fees and statements run automatically (Paidnice data).
For the full list with sources and years in one place, here is the same data as a table you can scan or cite.
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B invoiced sales overdue (US, UK, Asia) | >50% | Atradius | 2023 |
| Average late payments owed to a UK SMB (survey) | £27,214 | Intuit QuickBooks | 2023 |
| Small businesses with late payments in prior 90 days | 52% | FSB | 2023 |
| SME payments paid late | 50% | FSB | 2023 |
| Credit-sales invoices not paid on terms since 2010 | >40% | Sage / Data Foundry | 2022 |
| Extra SMB borrowing per day of delay | 1.1% (~US$278.7bn) | Xero XSBI | 2023 |
| Owner time spent following up on invoices | ~5 hrs/week | Xero | 2024 |
| Annual cost of late payments (AU / NZ / UK) | AU$1.1bn / NZ$456m / £684m | Xero | 2022 |
| B2B agreements on 30-day terms | 54% | UK DBT | 2024 |
| Average payment terms in Europe | 52 days (from 41 in 2023) | Atradius | 2024 |
| UK small-business DSO, 2010 to 2021 | 45 to 22 days | Sage | 2022 |
| Highest late-payment sectors (education / construction / manufacturing) | 69% / 63% / 63% | Smart Data Foundry | 2022 |
| Lowest late-payment sectors (financial services / accommodation) | 18% / 21% | Smart Data Foundry | 2022 |
| Late payments due to customers forgetting | 23% | YouGov / Intuit | 2023 |
| Non-payments caused by supplier cash-flow issues | 20% | Intuit | 2023 |
| SMBs not using pay-enabled invoicing | 60% | YouGov / Intuit | 2023 |
| Finance leaders who see AR as strategic | 75% | BlackLine | 2024 |
| AR teams engaging CFOs (key advisors) | 77% (16%) | BlackLine | 2024 |
| Companies increasing AR team responsibilities | 71% | BlackLine | 2024 |
| SME finance teams spending 40%+ of time on manual work | 49% | Budgetly | 2026 |
| Companies planning to upgrade AR tech | 62% | 360 TL / BlackLine | 2024 |
| Mid-sized firms with full AR automation reporting gains | 91% | BlackLine | 2024 |
| Software users: fewer overdue payments / better cash flow | 25% / 21% | Intuit QuickBooks | 2023 |
| Finance teams using automation reporting more efficiency | 85% (63% timeliness) | MineralTree | 2023 |
| Firms reporting improved DSO with AR automation | 62% | PYMNTS | 2021 |
Sources span 2021 to 2026 and differ in region and methodology. Figures are rounded as reported; check the linked source for full context.
What percentage of invoices are paid late?
More than 50% of B2B invoiced sales in the US, UK and Asia are overdue (Atradius, 2023), and half of all payments to UK SMEs arrive late (FSB, 2023). Xero Small Business Insights measures the average wait for payment across five markets, which is the outside reference to read these figures against.
| Country | Days to be paid | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 20.3 days | -4.3 days |
| New Zealand | 23.2 days | -0.9 days |
| US | 29.1 days | +1.6 days |
| UK | 29.3 days | -0.3 days |
| Canada | 29.5 days | +1.9 days |
Source: Xero Small Business Insights, June 2026. See the full data on the Paidnice accounts receivable statistics dashboard.
1. Over 50% of all B2B invoiced sales in the USA, UK, and Asia are overdue.
Atradius reports the figure in its 2023 Payment Practices Barometer for the United States. The rate is higher in some markets, with other parts of the world, with Barclays reporting 58% in the UK and parts of Asia sitting at over 60% (Barclays and Coface, 2022).
2. In the UK, SMBs surveyed by Intuit were owed an average of £27,214 in late payments in 2023.
The £27,214 average comes from 2023 YouGov research for Intuit among 2,008 owners and senior decision makers at SMBs.
3. 52% of small businesses experienced late payments from their customers at some point in the previous 90 days.
The 52% figure is from the 2023 "Time is Money" research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in the UK.
4. Half of all payments made to SMEs are paid late, with 10% paid more than 30 days late and another 12% paid 60 days late.
The same FSB study found that late payment on this scale costs UK small businesses billions annually and significantly affects their ability to invest, grow and employ.
5. Since 2010, over 40% of all credit-sales invoices have not been paid on agreed terms.
The 40% figure is based on 2022 research from Sage and The Data Foundry.
How much do late payments cost small businesses?
Late payments cost the UK economy almost £11 billion a year, and 14,000 businesses close each year because of late payments, 38 a day (Small Business Commissioner, 2025).
A UK business affected by late payment is owed £17,000 on average and spends 86 hours a year following up overdue invoices. The £17,000 figure covers only affected businesses. The Intuit figure of £27,214 comes from a 2023 survey of SMB owners, so the two figures are not comparable.
In the US, small businesses with unpaid invoices are owed $17,700 each on average, and 59% have invoices more than 30 days overdue, up from 47% a year earlier (QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report, 2026).
Late payments cost a small business in four ways:
- Borrowing to cover the cash gap.
- Staff time spent following up.
- Unfunded growth, because the cash is locked up in receivables.
- Bad debt, when the invoice is never paid.
A UK supplier can add statutory interest at 8% over Bank of England base rate plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice; a common contractual rate in the US is 1% to 2% a month (see late fee laws by US state).
What does one late invoice cost a small business?
One £10,000 invoice paid 60 days late costs a UK small business about £357, or 3.6% of the invoice, in borrowing and staff time. The cost of any late invoice is the borrowing cost of covering the gap, plus the staff time spent on it. The formula: amount owed × borrowing rate × days late ÷ 365, plus hours of follow-up × hourly cost. Use your own aged receivables for the days-late input, or the national average on our payment times page.
| Input | Example | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Amount owed | £10,000 | |
| Days late | 60 | |
| Borrowing rate (overdraft) | 12% a year | £197 (10,000 × 0.12 × 60 ÷ 365) |
| Hours of follow-up | 4 | |
| Hourly cost | £40 | £160 (4 × 40) |
| Total | £357, or 3.6% of the invoice |
What one late invoice costs you
Change any input. The default figures match the example above. The recoverable amount uses the UK statutory rate of 8% over the Bank of England base rate of 3.75% (11.75% a year, simple interest) plus the fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100.
£193 statutory interest at 11.75% for 60 days, plus the £100 fixed sum.
Estimate only. The borrowing cost assumes you cover the gap with an overdraft or similar at the rate above. Statutory interest applies to UK business-to-business invoices; the fixed sum is £40 under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to £9,999.99 and £100 at £10,000 or more.
Set the £357 cost against what the same £10,000 invoice earns in the UK: statutory interest at 11.75% for invoices that fall overdue in 2026 (8% plus the 3.75% reference rate set on 31 December 2025 and 30 June 2026) for 60 days is £193, plus the £100 fixed sum for an invoice of £10,000 or more, so £293 of the £357 is recoverable from the customer.
Customers prioritize invoices that cost money to ignore, and the fee only creates that pressure when it is charged. Paidnice sends the reminders and statements and adds the late fee or interest to the Xero or QuickBooks Online ledger automatically, which cuts the hours spent following up. Start free, no card needed.
6. How late does an invoice get before small businesses need to borrow?
Small-business borrowing rises with every day an invoice is paid late, and the borrowing need grows significantly once invoices are 7 to 8 days late (Xero XSBI research commentary, 2023).
Xero's econometrician, Cahit Guven, identified the 7 to 8 day threshold in the Xero Small Business Insights data. The borrowing has a price: covering a £10,000 invoice for 60 days on a 12% overdraft costs a small business £197 in interest.
7. How much time do small-business owners spend following up on unpaid invoices?
Small-business owners spend approximately 10% of their workday, or 5 hours a week, following up on unpaid invoices, according to a 2024 study by Xero.
The Small Business Commissioner measures the same cost per year: 86 hours for each UK business affected by late payment (2025). Both figures measure the manual time that goes into accounts receivable management.
8. How much do late payments cost businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the UK each year?
Late payments cost Australian businesses AU$1.1 billion a year, New Zealand businesses NZ$456 million a year and UK businesses £684 million a year in financing and collection costs (Xero special research report, 2022).
| Country | Annual financing and collection cost |
|---|---|
| Australia | AU$1.1 billion |
| New Zealand | NZ$456 million |
| United Kingdom | £684 million |
The Xero report draws on over 200,000 unique data points. The £684 million is the direct cost to UK businesses; the Small Business Commissioner's almost £11 billion measures the cost of late payment to the whole UK economy.
What are the most common B2B payment terms?
30-day terms are the most common B2B payment terms, covering 54% of UK payment agreements (Department for Business and Trade, 2024), while average terms in Western Europe lengthened to 52 days in 2024 from 41 days in 2023 (Atradius).
9. The 30-day payment term dominates B2B transactions, accounting for 54% of all payment agreements.
While micro businesses may offer shorter terms, and businesses in the wholesale goods sector might extend to 60 days, the 30-day term remains the dominant practice. According to 2024 late payment research for the UK Department for Business and Trade.
10. Average payment terms in Europe increased 26% in 2024 to an average of 52 days, up from 41 days in 2023.
The 52-day average is from 2024 research by Atradius, as firms across the continent seek to build stronger customer relationships and increase sales. Finland has the most lenient payment terms at 71 days, and Greece the strictest at just 32 days.
11. Between 2010 and 2021, UK small businesses halved their days sales outstanding (DSO), from around 45 days in the 2010 to 2013 period to about 22 days by 2020 to 2021.
The halving is based on an analysis of over 58 million sales invoices from over 100,000 UK SMBs from 2010 to 2021 by accounting software firm Sage (2022). This is a historical dataset that ends in 2021, not a current reading.
Which industries have the worst late payment rates?
Education (69%), construction (63%) and manufacturing (63%) report the highest late payment rates, and financial services (18%) and accommodation and food service (21%) the lowest (Smart Data Foundry, 2022). Sectors with strong financial controls and a high share of cash transactions collect fastest; sectors with public funding, disputes and long production cycles collect slowest.
12. The sectors with the highest reported rates of late payments are education (69%), construction (63%) and manufacturing (63%).
The 2022 study from the University of Edinburgh's Smart Data Foundry found the reasons were a reliance on public-sector funding (for education), the project-based nature of the work alongside a high volume of disputes (for construction), and long production cycles and sensitivity to economic fluctuations (for manufacturing).
13. The sectors with the lowest reported rates of late payments are financial services (18%) and accommodation and food service (21%).
The same 2022 study from the Smart Data Foundry found that low rates were due to the high proportion of cash or non-credit transactions in accommodation and food, and the higher level of financial controls (such as automated reminders and late fees) in financial services.
Why do customers pay invoices late?
Customers pay late most often because they forget, which accounts for 23% of late payments, and because their own customers paid them late, which drives 20% of non-payments (YouGov for Intuit, 2023). Both causes are avoidable with reminders and pay-enabled invoicing, which 60% of SMBs do not yet use.
14. Nearly 1 in 5 payments (23%) are paid late because customers forget to pay.
According to November 2023 research conducted by YouGov for Intuit in the UK, underlining the importance of having effective reminders in place.
15. Supplier cash-flow issues account for 20% of non-payments to their own suppliers, kick-starting a chain reaction of delays.
According to a 2023 study by Intuit, indicating a domino effect where late payments within the supply chain trigger further late payments at other businesses.
16. 60% of SMBs are not currently using financial management software for pay-enabled invoicing (software that makes it simple for customers to pay faster).
According to the 2023 YouGov research for Intuit.
Is accounts receivable a strategic function?
75% of finance leaders now treat accounts receivable as a strategic function, 77% of AR teams engage directly with the CFO, and 71% of companies planned to widen their AR team's responsibilities (BlackLine, 2024).
17. 75% of finance leaders have seen AR transition into a strategic function.
According to a 2024 study from BlackLine, this shift has been driven by the need to address inflation, supply-chain complexity and economic uncertainty. AR automation is at the forefront of this change, enabling teams to provide faster, data-driven insights that align with broader financial goals.
18. 77% of AR teams now engage directly with CFOs, and 16% are positioned as key advisors on business strategy.
The 2024 findings from BlackLine report that this elevated role is largely fueled by AR automation technologies that turn manual processes into actionable insights, cementing AR's place at the decision-making table.
19. 71% of companies planned to increase the responsibilities of their AR teams during 2024.
The 2024 report from BlackLine found this was a direct response to growing economic challenges, where technology can empower AR teams to handle increased demands while streamlining processes and improving cash-flow predictability.
What do accounts receivable automation statistics show?
Accounts receivable automation statistics show 62% of firms improving DSO after automating (PYMNTS, 2021), 91% of mid-sized firms with full AR automation reporting savings and less cash flow stress (BlackLine, 2024), and software users seeing 25% fewer overdue payments (Intuit QuickBooks, 2023).
20. Almost half (49%) of SME finance teams spend 40% or more of their time on manual, repetitive work.
According to a March 2026 survey of 106 Australian SME finance leaders by Budgetly, 49.1% of respondents said manual, repetitive tasks consume at least 40% of their team's time, and 86.8% said they consume at least 20%. The same survey found that nearly three in four finance leaders are interested in using AI to automate finance workflows, yet only 25.5% currently use AI-enabled finance tools. Interest in automation is running well ahead of adoption.
21. 62% of companies planned to upgrade their AR-related technology during 2024.
According to a 2024 cross-industry survey from 360 Thought Leadership and BlackLine, pointing to significant ongoing adoption of accounts receivable technology.
22. 91% of mid-sized firms with fully automated AR systems report increased savings, less cash-flow stress, and faster growth.
According to a 2024 BlackLine survey.
23. Businesses using financial management software experience a 25% reduction in overdue payments and a 21% improvement in cash flow.
Per 2023 research by accounting software firm Intuit QuickBooks. The report also found that a fifth (21%) of businesses using financial management software saw improved customer relationships due to reduced manual follow-up on invoices.
24. 85% of finance teams using automation report increased efficiency in payment processing.
A 2023 survey by MineralTree shows that 85% of finance teams using automation tools experience greater efficiency, with 63% reporting improved timeliness of payments.
25. 62% of companies report improved days sales outstanding (DSO) with AR automation, compared with those that did not automate.
According to 2021 research from PYMNTS.com, 62% of firms implementing AR automation saw measurable reductions in their DSO, speeding up invoice-to-cash cycles and improving cash-flow predictability.
How does AR automation change DSO?
Firms with automated accounts receivable processes have an average DSO of 40 days, against 47 days for firms that have not automated, a gap of seven days (Association for Financial Professionals, 2025, citing PYMNTS' B2B Payments Innovation Readiness Playbook). That seven-day gap is the industry average across every kind of automation. Paidnice customers, who automate reminders, late fees and statements on Xero and QuickBooks Online, cut their average wait for payment in half within 30 days. The gap shows what automation does on average; the halving shows what it does when every step of the follow-up runs on schedule.
What we see at Paidnice
Paidnice runs accounts receivable for thousands of small and mid-sized businesses on Xero and QuickBooks Online, and the pattern is consistent: when reminders, late fees and statements stop depending on someone remembering to send them, customers cut their average wait for payment in half within 30 days. The figures above come from different studies, regions and definitions of "late", so treat them as direction and check the year next to each one.
Venture Workspace, a coworking provider in South Africa, had more than 25% of its payments coming in late. After automating its receivables with Paidnice and tracking metrics like AR turnover and DSO, late payments dropped to under 5%, freeing up cash and time for growth.
Accounts receivable statistics: FAQ
What percentage of invoices are paid late?
Across recent studies, more than 50% of B2B invoices are paid late. In the UK, around 52% of small businesses reported a late payment in the previous 90 days, and roughly half of all payments to SMEs arrive late. The exact figure varies by region and by how each study defines a late payment.
How much do late payments cost small businesses?
Late payments cost the UK economy almost £11 billion a year, and 14,000 businesses close each year because of late payments, 38 a day. An affected UK business is owed £17,000 on average and spends 86 hours a year following up overdue invoices (Small Business Commissioner, 2025). In the US, small businesses with unpaid invoices are owed $17,700 each on average (QuickBooks, 2026). The cost shows up as borrowing to cover the gap, staff time, growth that is not funded, and bad debt.
What is the average DSO?
Days sales outstanding (DSO) is the average number of days a business takes to collect payment after a credit sale. A DSO within about 1.5 times your payment terms is generally healthy, so on net 30 terms a DSO under roughly 45 days is good. UK small businesses averaged around 22 days by 2020 to 2021 in one Sage analysis, though the figure varies widely by industry and terms.
Which industries have the worst late payments?
Education (69%), construction (63%) and manufacturing (63%) report the highest rates of late payments, according to the University of Edinburgh's Smart Data Foundry. The lowest rates are in financial services (18%) and accommodation and food service (21%), helped by strong financial controls and a higher share of cash or non-credit transactions.
Does AR automation reduce DSO?
Yes. In PYMNTS research, 62% of firms that implemented AR automation reported measurable reductions in DSO. Automating reminders, late fees and statements makes collections consistent, which is what pulls DSO down. At Paidnice, customers cut their average wait for payment in half within 30 days once collections run automatically.
What do these accounts receivable statistics mean for 2026?
These 25 accounts receivable statistics show late payment still affecting more than half of B2B invoices, while the firms that automate collections report lower DSO, fewer overdue invoices and less cash flow stress. Five patterns run through the data:
- Late payments remain a global issue, with over 50% of B2B invoices overdue, costing businesses billions annually and straining cash flow.
- Automation is transforming AR collections. Companies with fully automated AR systems report increased savings, faster payments and less stress.
- Finance leaders and CFOs are prioritizing AR strategy. 75% of finance leaders now see AR as strategic, with 77% of AR teams advising on financial decisions.
- Industry disparities are widening. High-risk sectors like education and construction face mounting challenges, while financial services thrive with strong cash-flow controls.
- Operational inefficiencies remain, with 49% of SME finance teams still spending 40% or more of their time on manual, repetitive work.
Expect automation to become a default tool for AR management, driving efficiency and improving cash-flow predictability. Businesses investing in AR will lead, while those sticking to outdated practices risk falling behind. Paidnice provides accounts receivable automation for Xero and accounts receivable automation for QuickBooks.
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