You have one final course of action at your disposal: report them to Dun & Bradstreet and/or other credit agencies and bring a court action against them. Send your client a certified return receipt letter and email explaining the procedure you will use should they not respond, while expressing your unhappiness in a professional manner in taking these steps and at losing their future business.

You may not want to take these final steps, but again, remember what is at stake here—your business and your livelihood. Even the worst experiences can teach valuable lessons that will help in making the right decision the next time you are tempted to offer terms or you let an invoice go for too long.

I can’t stress enough just how important it is to document every phone call, personal conversation, email and communication of any kind with your client! Include the date, time and a brief overview of the communication. Document, document, document!

Each State has its own regulations regarding what tactics you can utilize to legally collect a debt owed to you as a first party collector. Check your State statutes on line. If you are doing business in the State of Florida, you may find information and forms here http://www.flofr.com/Finance/

Setting boundaries for your clients and being up front with them about how you expect to be treated will generally eliminate the need for having to go to these extremes. But, on the contrary, if you continue to offer terms to your clients without any boundaries you can be sure to expect slow payments and eventually no payments at all.

If you implement your new AR policies and clean up your past due accounts you can rest assured you will NOT be singing the AR Blues anymore and instead, you can focus on making your business all you dreamed it could be.

_{Fred Daus is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Fredrick James Accounting, Tax & Consulting. He is a member of National Society of Accountants and the National Society of Tax Professionals and has been helping clients save money and grow their income since 2001. Fredrick James is an innovative, full service accounting firm in Clearwater, Florida with a focus on providing outstanding service, tax savings and financial growth to clients in the Tampa Bay area,  Nationwide and around the world. Visit our website www.FredrickJames.com or call 727-230-0716 for more information.}