58% of small Irish businesses say they get paid late, according to a poll from small business support platform Enterprise Nation.
37% of these companies said they are paid late on a regular basis.
Over half said that one fifth of their invoices go beyond their terms, while a further 29% said up to 40% of their invoices are paid late.
"Now is the time that we need to build supports around small businesses and it's disheartening to see that the majority are impacted by late payments," said Emma Jones, Founder of Enterprise Nation.
"If small businesses are to survive the current headwinds, we call on larger enterprises to review their payment practices to ensure that they're paying their smaller suppliers within terms."
Meanwhile, the findings show that 83% of entrepreneurs plan to borrow in the next twelve months.
47% plan to borrow €10,000 or less, with a further 29% planning to borrow up to €30,000.
Inflation, energy costs and operational costs are the biggest challenges facing small businesses as growth expectations and sales dwindle.
The research shows that growth expectations for the next quarter have dropped significantly again.
15% of those surveyed said they expect to grow in the run up to Christmas, down from 38% in the last quarter. 45% of businesses expect to shrink.
Long term growth expectations are down 10% to 45% from just over half in the second quarter.
