When fires raged through California last summer, Cross Petroleum provided fuel and emergency equipment to the California Forestry & Fire Protection Dept. The bill came to $300,000 last August, but Cross, a family-run outfit in Redding, hasn't seen a dime yet. The state of California has stopped paying many bills because of its fiscal crisis. Businesses also are taking longer to pay Cross' bills. That's squeezing the company hard because it has to pay its petroleum suppliers within 10 days. "If it takes us five more days to collect, it eats right into my bottom line," says Vice-President Jimm Cross.rnThe issue is by no means limited to the Golden State. A surge in unpaid bills has slammed companies across the nation, from small law firms to big technology suppliers, forcing them to get tough on customers or face their own cash crunch. According to a February survey of more than 1,000 corporate credit managers by the Credit Research Foundation (CRF), 78% have witnessed a slowdown in business-to-businessrncustomer payments. Companies that saw an increase in accounts receivable as a percentage of sales last year include blue-chip names such as Nordstrom, Sara Lee, and Estee Lauder, according to a review of financial data from Standard & Poor's Compustat.
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