Late payment top gripe for UK entrepreneurs

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our latest poll on UK Business Forums members' biggest business bugbear.

Some 100 people took part in the survey which examined just what annoys small business owners the most. There are various nuisances out there but we narrowed it down to seven: access to finance, dealing with red tape, staff management, technology frustrations, business crime, late payment and supply and distribution.

Top of the shop was getting customers, clients and suppliers to pay up bills on time with 32% of you selecting that option. Next was securing business finance, chosen by 20% of respondents. The results in full:

• Late payment: 32%
  
• Access to finance: 20%
  
• Supply and distribution: 16%
  
• Dealing with red tape: 13%
  
• Staff management: 11%
  
• Technology frustrations: 8%
  
• Business crime: 0%

So it's clear that the old problem continues to rear its ugly head for many of you and research from the Federation of Small Businesses shows it's the big boys that are the main culprits. A report released in 2006 revealed that large companies take up to 64 days to pay an invoice.