Uneven cash flow stemming from late payments and limited access to funding is more than a bump in the road for small and medium-sized businesses; it’s an impediment to healthy operations and strong growth. Consider these details from small and medium-sized businesses in the 2025 Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report:
Late payments are widespread. Over half of US small businesses report being owed money from unpaid invoices.
The debt burden is high. These businesses are owed an average of $17,500 in unpaid funds, and 47% report having invoices overdue by more than 30 days.
Cash flow suffers. Businesses heavily impacted by overdue invoices are more than 1.4 times more likely to report cash flow struggles.
When cash flow problems of this magnitude become a company’s primary concern, they affect operations and payroll and make resilience and growth nearly impossible.
“If your accounts receivables and your accounts payable data is messy, late, inconsistent or poorly categorized, your forecast becomes a very confident guess at best,” Bill Kleyman, CEO of Apolo.us, said in a recent webinar sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks.
Data reveals that the impact of overdue invoices extends far beyond the bank account. These late payments are linked to operational hurdles that can stall business momentum, including:
Businesses more affected by late payments are more likely to report difficulty hiring skilled workers.
Impacted businesses are also more likely to have raised prices recently. The average increase is 16%.
Financing and credit. Companies dealing with a higher volume of late payments report higher usage of credit cards, loans and lines of credit. And those most burdened are more likely to report an increased reliance on credit cards.
Balances run higher too. These businesses carry average credit card balances that are 1.5 times higher than those less affected.
Redefining financial management for SMBs: Automation, integration and data-driven insights
The solution is a connected financial management system that lets business owners proactively manage the business finances instead of letting the finances manage the business. “A financial system ready for 2026 must move beyond basic record-keeping to become a ‘refinery’ for data,” Kleyman said. “Automation is the resiliency multiplier. … This is how a finance organization could become faster and safer at the same time.”
He refers to a good system as the “engine room” that delivers intelligent payments, automated bill management, instant cash flow clarity and predictive forecasting.
A system that embeds AI to allow for continuous operations rather than batch processing is a game changer. “This is how you move from a cash position of last Friday to a cash position that updates you as the money moves,” Kleyman said, noting that it makes the important cash flow data connections that help owners “predict what to do next most effectively.”
Business owners also should expect a connected financial management “engine room” to offer:
Real-time payments: Electronic billing and digital accounts receivable, which can bring money in four times faster than paper billing.
Event-driven data pipelines: Moving away from daily or weekly batch processing updates to real-time analysis of payroll, invoices and bank moves, with alerts about inconsistent payment patterns to allow for earlier follow-ups.
Operational discipline and development: Implementing rapid rollbacks and automated validations so that the finance team can test small changes without breaking the entire ledger.
Embedded business funding access: Allowing businesses to act on cash shortfalls or new opportunities when they arise so they don’t get behind in expenses or payroll.
The benefits of access to business funding
Turning to capital infusions can be a smart strategy to aid cash flow issues — but only when done wisely. Intuit found that business owners who use business funding like a business loan or a line of credit, rather than personal financing, typically have a stronger cash flow and better profitability, two drivers of success and continued growth. It also helps them protect their personal finances, build a stronger, more credible company, simplify taxes and scale the business without putting personal savings or credit at unnecessary risk.
Choosing a financial management program that unifies accounts payable, accounts receivable and capital access streamlines finances and maintains organizational resilience. For example, businesses with zero to 100 employees with better access to financing saw up to 30% higher revenue growth and 4% higher employment growth when working with top-performing banks, according to the 2025 Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report.
“By planning ahead and accessing the right funding, small business owners have the flexibility to seize bigger opportunities, the breathing room to make smarter business decisions, and the foundational security to truly enjoy operating their business,” CohnReznick Advisory LLC portfolio manager Jessica A. Schatko says, noting that she has tapped financing through QuickBooks Capital, part of the QuickBooks money platform. “Identifying strategic sources of capital is a crucial investment in long-term success.”
Zak Volz, owner and general manager of Grandview Enterprises LLC, says having a clear strategy and disciplined integration plan from the QuickBooks money suite made it easier to get a smart loan via QuickBooks Capital. “For us, it turned what could’ve been a five-year growth plan into a single strategic leap, allowing us to grow through acquiring another business,” he says.
Gaining financial confidence in evolving times
Implementing an interconnected, digitized “engine room” for financial management that offers cash flow mastery, clarity and predictive assistance can free business owners from manual financial tasks and enable them to make proactive rather than reactive decisions that affect the bottom line. Statistics from an Intuit report show that 45% of small businesses that manage eight or more areas of their company with digital tools saw sales growth, compared to 30% growth for those using fewer digital tools.
And in the midst of today’s evolving economy and financial operations, a connected, end-to-end system not only makes daily money movement smooth but gives small business owners financial confidence.
Intuit’s QuickBooks money products include the integrated QuickBooks Bill Pay (AP), QuickBooks Payments (AR), QuickBooks Capital (Funding), which work together to provide seamless money movement within one ecosystem. For more information, explore QuickBooks money offerings via quickbooks.intuit.com/money and learn how integration saves time, reduces uncertainty and fuels growth.
Terms and conditions apply. Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
