The report of the inquiry by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, and other agencies, into payment times for small business has confirmed widely held views of patterns of delayed payments - with many larger firms holding back from paying small businesses for up to 120 days. As the report noted: "there has been a growing trend in payment practices, particularly amongst large Australian and multinational businesses, to extend payment times. The growth in extended payment times is partly linked to the practices of multinational businesses who apply global policies to improve their working capital efficiency.  "Extending payment times for suppliers effectively uses the businesses in the supply chain as a cheap form of finance." This slows down the flow of cash through supply chains which limits the growth of businesses as they have more capital tied up in financing their operations and raises costs for businesses which are financing longer trade credit to their customers. Some highlights from the background analysis backing the "Payment times and Practices Inquiry - Final Report" by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and other agencies show that:  almost one in two businesses have over A$20,000 owing to them due to late payments; 14 per cent of businesses have over $100,000 owing to them; over half of respondents said that large/multinational businesses 'always' or 'frequently' made late payments, followed closely by 45 per cent of respondents reporting similar behaviour by medium sized businesses and 37 per cent reporting small businesses; Government is not immune, with 21 per cent of respondents saying Australian Government departments and agencies 'always' or 'frequently' made late payments, followed by 20 per cent of state/territory departments and 16 per cent of local governments/councils; and the Australian Government's latest Pay On-Time Survey reported that 97 per cent of invoices were paid on time (i.e. within 30 days), suggesting "a disconnect between government payment times and payment time expectations from the business community," the ASBFEO report said.  The ASBFEO report made ten recommendations, including that the Australian Government lead by example and adopt a 15 business day payment time by July 2018. It said all levels of government should consider adopting this, and push the approach out to its head contractors along with all its agencies and entities.  It also wants larger businesses (ie , the top 100 listed on the ASX plus multinationals) to publish payment times, with performance matched against best practice benchmarks.