Since the beginning of the year, businesses with 50 to 499 employees have improved the most when it comes to paying their bills on time, according to Experian.

These midsize firms have seen a 2.7% decrease in the average days they have paid their bills beyond their contracted terms, according to data from Experian's Business Benchmark Report, released today. Although flat overall in the first half of the year, in the second quarter, smaller businesses, defined as those with 20 to 49 employees, have begun showing improvement, decreasing their average days beyond term by 1.8%.

Large businesses, defined as those with more than 1,000 employees, were the most delinquent. The firms paid their bills 24.2% slower than they did at the beginning of the year, Experian's data showed.

The utility and retail sectors improved the most when it came to avoiding delinquent payments.

The Mid-Atlantic states, New England and the Northwest also topped the list in the least average days beyond term. Experian also found New York, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania were the only states with the largest metropolitan areas that stayed below the national average of nearly 10% DBT and also showed improvement in their payment performance in the second quarter.