It's no secret that businesses around the world have beenhoarding cash since the Great Recession. On the surface, thismakes sense. Money in the bank is readily available when it'sneeded for investments, and it can serve as a financial buffershould hard times hit again. However, many companies accumulatecash by squeezing their suppliers—a practice that a recent surveysuggests may undermine the stability of the economy overall.

The study was completed by MasterCard and e-invoicing providerBasware. It polled 1,015 finance decision-makers with a view ofboth accounts receivable and accounts payable. Respondents weredistributed roughly equally across 10 countries, including theU.S., Australia, the U.K., Germany, and six other Europeannations.

Among these respondents, almost half (48 percent) said theircompany has more cash in the bank today than it had a year ago.Only 11 percent said their company's cash position has weakened inthe past year. Businesses that are cash-rich have used a variety oftools to reach that state.