I believe you are asking how to collect a past-due account from a business, who owes you money. You have a couple of avenues to collect. You can try letters, phone calls, emails. You can hire an outside agency to collect on your behalf. You can hire an attorney to collect on your behalf. You can report the debt to the three credit reporting agencies (there is a fee involved). You can always sue them in court. Once you have a judgment, you have more options such as seizing bank accounts and assets. In addition, judgments are reported to credit reporting agencies for free.

The best way to determine if a business is closing is to search the bankruptcy filings. You can search all federal dockets through PACER (Register here http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/). In addition, you can search the Pennsylvania Department of State's corporate register. All businesses (except solo proprietors) are required to register with the Department of State prior to conducting any business in the state. Those same businesses are required to notify the state if they are dissolving. (Visit http://dos.state.pa.us to search the business filings.)

If the business is a corporation, it is required to run a public notice in the newspaper that it is dissolving. Most newspapers offer an online version of its public notices. The newspapers in Pennsylvania have reportedly collaborated to form http://pa.mypublicnotices.com You can search this site for any public notices about your client.

Good luck.

Sharmil McKee | Business Lawyer | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania