Follow up what customers owe

Collecting on time starts with knowing who owes what, and for how long. The Receivables workspace gives you the day’s picture, the ageing report shows how late each customer is, and a customer statement gives the customer the same figures you see.

Check the workspace

Go to Receivables ‣ Workspace. Across the top, Outstanding is what customers owe on posted invoices, Overdue what is past its due date, Unpaid how many invoices are still open, and Received what has come in through payments.

Panel	What it shows
Needs attention	Overdue invoices, Draft invoices, Draft credit notes and Draft receipts. Click one to open the list it counts.
Quick actions	New invoices, credit notes and payments, and the lists.
Aging by customer	Each customer’s open balance by how late it is. View all opens the full report.
Recent invoices and Recent receipts	The last eight of each. Click a row to open it.

Find overdue invoices

1. On the workspace, click Overdue invoices under Needs attention.
2. Read Outstanding for what is left on each invoice, and Due for how late it is.
3. Open an invoice to see its lines, and its Related tab for the payments and credit notes already set against it.

The invoice list opens showing only overdue invoices.

Age receivables by customer

The ageing report sorts each customer’s open invoices by how long they are past their due date, so you can see who is slipping.

1. Go to Finance ‣ Reports and open the Receivables tab.
2. Click AR aging.
3. Pick the As of date, and click Run.

Each customer has one row, in your subsidiary’s currency: Current for invoices not yet due, then 1 - 30 days, 31 - 60 days and Over 60 days past due, and their Total. Print prepares the report as a PDF.

Note

The report ages invoices only. A payment or credit note not set against an invoice is not taken off, and each invoice shows what it owes today, even when you pick an earlier As of date.

Give a customer their statement

A statement lists everything posted to a customer’s account over a period, with the running balance, so the customer can match it against their own books.

1. Go to Finance ‣ Reports, open the Receivables tab and click Customer statement.
2. Pick the Customer, and the Date range to cover. The range starts at the beginning of the year.
3. Click Run.
4. Click Print to prepare the statement as a PDF to send to the customer.

The statement opens with the customer’s Opening balance, then lists each posted invoice, payment and credit note in date order with its Debit, Credit and running Balance. Its totals show Total invoiced, Total paid and the Closing balance they owe at the end of the range.

Tip

Send the statement before you chase an overdue invoice. Most disputes, such as a payment the customer made but you have not recorded, surface when they compare it with their own ledger.