Is Your Billing Process Delaying Payments? Four tips to better use your invoices to get paid faster.

Apparently, the check isn't in the mail for many U.S. businesses. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found that 40 percent of small-business owners reported up to one-third of their receivables more than 60 days delinquent.

Part of the problem is the invoices themselves, says Christian Lanng, co-founder and CEO of Tradeshift, a Denmark-based online business network that offers free invoicing tools. Often payment gets delayed because of incorrect or missing details, company information or other mistakes, he says, adding, "Format matters. Make invoices clear and professional. They should be easy to read and uniform."

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