Making sure you get paid promptly every time, without fail, is about more than just issuing invoices promptly (although that can help).
There are several ways to increase your chance of receiving payment in full and on time - and here are some of the main points to consider.
Business overdrafts have been called the 'hidden credit crunch' following the news that while traditional bank business loans have fallen 9% in the past two years, the banks have called in 23% of overdrafts in the same period.
The figures come from a report by finance providers LDF, who say traditional bank business loans fell from £187 billion to £170 billion in the two years to March 2014, while overdrafts fell from £18.2 billion to £14.1 billion.
An unpaid invoice is a nightmare we would all prefer to avoid, but you're not necessarily just at the whim of your customers when it comes to whether or not you get paid on time.
It's also important to make sure you are invoicing properly - from the moment you take on a new customer, to how you deal with late payments - so you don't lose a single penny through your own fault and poor admin procedures.
EU legislators have been working for two years on a 'right to be forgotten' - specifically, the right to request that information about your past should be removed from the Internet, or made inaccessible when people search for your name on a search engine.
But this week, the Court of Justice of the European Union seemed to find a 'right to be forgotten' already in European law, in a preliminary ruling relating to a case brought by a Spanish man against Google and its Spanish subsidiary.
Read more: Google privacy ruling: Should bad debtors have the 'right to be forgotten'?
We often warn that late payment can be more than just an inconvenience for many small firms, as the interruption to cash flow can put them at risk of failing to pay their own debts, bills and invoices - potentially leading to insolvency.
Now newly published figures from R3, the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, show the extent to which this is the case, with late payment cited as a major or primary factor in the failure of one in five companies in the past year.
Read more: Unpaid Invoices to blame for a fifth of SME failures
Late payments to SMEs must not be an acceptable way for big businesses to boost their own profits, according to business secretary Vince Cable, who is taking action to improve the transparency of corporate payment practices.
In a recent government consultation, the majority of respondents voted in favour of disclosure as a means of tackling late payments - and the government is now planning to require publication of payment practices by large companies.
The Prompt Payment Code will also be strengthened, with signatories held more accountable for their actions - although it is worth remembering that this is currently still a voluntary initiative.
Read more: Cable: Big businesses have profited 'for long enough' from late payment
Whether you're in business on your own, or part of a company, it's essential to protect your income - and one of the greatest areas of risk is when you extend a line of credit to a customer.
Remember, any time you carry out work, or provide goods or services, without taking payment upfront, you effectively become a creditor.
That means you need to think carefully about several different factors, for instance:
If you're a Guardian reader, you may have seen Safe Collections' collections and partnerships manager Adam Home quoted in a Guardian Professional article on May 12th.
Tim Aldred's piece looked at the case for credit control teams as a way for businesses to safeguard their cash flow and, ultimately, to stay in business by avoiding late payment.
Adam was happy to share his ideas with Tim for the piece that you can find here: "Does your business need a credit control team?" ((c) Guardian News & Media Ltd) and we're going to expand on some of those points below.
Read more: Hitting the Headlines: Safe Collections in the Guardian
