More than a quarter of East Anglia small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are in the dark about how much money they are owed in unpaid invoices, research by funder Bibby Financial Services has indicated.

In total, 29% of SMEs were unable to say how much they have outstanding while of the businesses that did know nearly one in five (19%), said they were owed more than £20,000 and 7% were owed in excess of £500,000.

Sharon Wiltshire, managing director for Bibby Financial Services in East Anglia, believes the findings highlight ongoing difficulties small businesses face in managing credit control.

She said: “Having a robust credit control process in place, and being able to chase invoice payment is the key to effective cashflow management which is critical for any business.

“But many small businesses – particularly those with few or no employees – cannot effectively manage outstanding payments because they are focused on developing new business and fulfilling existing orders.”

Bibby says that the findings of the study - conducted among 1,000 UK SMEs during the third quarter of 2014 – represent a barrier to growth for thousands of small businesses throughout the country.

The issue is particularly acute in the hospitality sector, with two thirds (67%) unsure of the amounts owed to them. Meanwhile, almost four in 10 (39%) transport and distribution firms admit to being unclear about what was in their payment pipeline.

Sharon Wiltshire added: “This represents a significant amount of money owed to East Anglia SMEs and the value of these outstanding invoices could be reinvested into businesses in the form of recruitment or technology.”

Bibby, a specialist provider of invoice finance, suggests that more businesses should consider forms of finance that help bridge the payment gap or consider outsourcing the collection of payments to specialist providers.