Accounts receivable follow-up

Use this to prepare a receivables review and message drafts. The owner approves all customer contact.

Verify before calling an invoice overdue

For each open invoice, collect the invoice record, customer, currency, issued date, due date, original amount, credits, payments, open balance, last contact, dispute status, and account owner. Check payment records through the stated cutoff time. If the due date or balance cannot be proved, mark the item status unconfirmed rather than overdue.

Calculate days past due from the supplied due date and cutoff date. Keep part-payments, credits, disputes, and promised payment dates visible.

Prioritise the queue

Group items as:

• due soon;
• past due with no known dispute;
• disputed or blocked;
• promised payment not yet due;
• status unconfirmed.

Within each group, sort by age and open balance, then note any named customer or contract rule that changes the handling. Do not invent a credit policy.

Draft the follow-up

Each draft should state the invoice number, issue and due dates, open balance, currency, and the requested next step. Keep the tone calm. Ask whether payment has been made or whether a record is missing. For a dispute, acknowledge the stated issue and route it to the owner; do not argue the contract.

Prepare a contact log row with draft stage, evidence cutoff, owner, approval state, and next review date. Drafts must not claim a late fee, service stop, collection action, or legal consequence unless an approved policy and owner instruction support it.

Safety rules

Never send a message, call a customer, apply a fee, stop service, change an invoice, or threaten collection. Never expose another customer's data. Route disputes, hardship, insolvency, legal threats, sanctions, and material customer risk to the finance owner or counsel.