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Accounts receivable and collections: receipts matched as they arrive, reminders sent at the right time.

Accounts receivable turns issued invoices into cash: it tracks each receivable, allocates receipts, chases late payers and investigates disputes with sales administration and sales reps. The job is made of large volumes of small repetitive tasks, matching, chasing, requesting a document, that leave little time for the risky cases. That is where automation shows first.

The role

Between customers, sales administration, sales reps and treasury.

Accounts receivable issues or checks invoices, allocates payments received, keeps the aged balance and runs collections, from the friendly reminder through to litigation. It needs sales administration to understand a dispute and sales reps to unblock a customer, and it provides treasury with the receipts forecast. In a mid-sized company, a handful of people often follow a very wide customer base, from demanding key accounts to many small customers.

Day to day

A typical day.

  1. MorningAllocate the day’s receipts to invoices: transfers, direct debits, cheques, cards, payouts from payment service providers.
  2. MorningHandle rejected e-invoices and direct debits, and correct what can be corrected.
  3. AfternoonChase late customers by e-mail or phone, and record promises to pay.
  4. AfternoonInvestigate disputes and deductions with sales administration, logistics and sales reps.
  5. Every weekReview the aged balance, credit exposures above limits and blocked accounts.
  6. Month-endJustify customer accounts, propose bad debt provisions and send the receipts forecast.
The objectives

What the role is measured on.

  • Days sales outstanding (DSO)
  • Amount and age of overdue payments
  • Share of receipts matched automatically
  • Open disputes and deductions
  • Compliance with credit limits
  • Bad debt write-offs

Indicators are named, never quantified: levels depend on each company, and the diagnostic measures them.

Day to day

The problems that come up most.

  • Receipts that are hard to allocate

    One transfer pays several invoices, deducts a credit note or a penalty, with no readable reference; matching is done by hand and differences pile up.

  • Reminders sent when time allows

    Reminders go out in waves, regardless of the customer’s history or ongoing disputes, and some late payments are never chased.

  • Disputes discovered at the reminder

    The customer explains that they will not pay an invoice disputed weeks ago; the information was with sales administration or the sales rep.

  • Deductions that eat into the margin

    Retailers and distributors withhold amounts for penalties, returns or cooperation fees; each deduction takes a long time to justify or dispute.

  • Customer risk watched from afar

    Credit limits are set once and rarely reviewed, and an order from a customer in difficulty ships before accounting knows.

  • An approximate receipts forecast

    Treasury receives an estimate based on theoretical due dates, without taking each customer’s actual payment habits into account.

By sector

One role, several realities.

  • Fashion and luxury

    Multi-brand wholesale customers and department stores across several countries, payment terms by season, deposits on pre-orders and boutique and e-commerce receipts in foreign currencies.

  • Retail

    Few classic receivables but many receipts to reconcile: cards, instalment payments, payment service providers, gift vouchers, franchisees and affiliates invoiced under their contracts.

  • Cosmetics and beauty

    Selective distributors, chains and travel retail, with deductions for commercial cooperation fees, logistics penalties and product returns to investigate line by line.

  • B2B distribution and wholesale

    A very wide base of business customers, specific terms, year-end rebates and credit insurance to respect: matching and credit limit monitoring are at the heart of the job.

  • Construction and property

    Progress billing, retentions, direct payment of subcontractors and invoices filed on clients’ portals; on the property management side, calls for funds and reminders to co-owners.

  • Industry

    Key accounts with their invoicing portals and reference requirements, deposits on projects, progress billing and export customers with their own payment methods.

  • Pharma and healthcare

    Wholesalers, healthcare institutions and public buyers, with their own invoicing channels and terms, and discounts or contracts to track by customer.

What changes

Automate the task, keep the judgement.

What gets automated

  • Matching receipts with invoices, including partial or grouped payments and payments reduced by a deduction, by a tool that proposes the ambiguous cases.
  • Customer reminders following scenarios by segment, age and history, with messages prepared by an AI agent and suspended as soon as a dispute is opened.
  • Tracking of promises to pay and disputes, shared with sales administration and sales reps.
  • The aged balance, DSO and at-risk accounts updated daily in a management dashboard.
  • The receipts forecast sent to treasury, calculated on each customer’s actual payment behaviour.

What stays human

  • The relationship with sensitive customers and delicate collection calls.
  • Decisions to block an account, agree a payment plan, go to litigation or write off a debt.
  • Accepting or refusing a deduction and approving credit notes, with sales administration and the sales rep.
Use cases

How to automate, case by case.

Each case starts from a question leadership teams ask. The starting point, what gets automated, the tools involved, and what stays in the teams’ hands.

  1. How to automate matching on customer accounts?

    Today
    Transfers arrive with incomplete descriptions, pay several invoices at once or deduct a credit note. Every day, the accountant searches the ERP for the matching invoices, and unallocated receipts stay on the customer account or in suspense.
    What gets automated
    A tool connected to the ERP and bank statements matches each receipt with open invoices by customer, amount, references and possible combinations. An AI agent reads the remittance advices sent by customers and extracts the list of invoices paid. Ambiguous cases are proposed to the accountant with the most likely combination.
    What stays human
    The accountant approves ambiguous matches and opens a dispute when the difference is not explained.
    • ERP or accounting software
    • reconciliation tool
    • AI agent for document reading
    • bank communication

  2. How to automate the chasing of unpaid invoices?

    Today
    Reminders go out at the start of the month from an aged balance extract, with the same template for every customer. Disputed customers are chased wrongly, good payers receive a curt e-mail and large overdue amounts wait for a call that never comes.
    What gets automated
    Customers are split into segments (key accounts, regular customers, small customers, export) with a scenario per segment: reminder before the due date, successive reminders, phone call, formal notice. A tool triggers each step at the right time from the ERP, attaches invoices and statement, and suspends the reminder as soon as a dispute or a promise is recorded. An AI agent drafts personalised messages and analyses replies.
    What stays human
    The collector makes the calls and decides when to move to litigation.
    • collections tool
    • ERP
    • messaging
    • AI drafting agent

  3. How to automate DSO and aged balance tracking?

    Today
    The aged balance is extracted from the ERP each month and reworked in a spreadsheet for management. DSO is calculated with a method that changes from one author to the next, and nobody knows whether a rise comes from a customer, a sales rep or a dispute.
    What gets automated
    A dashboard connected to the ERP calculates the aged balance and DSO every day using a written method, by entity, customer, sales rep and segment. It breaks down changes in DSO into late payments, disputes and the effect of terms granted, and flags customers whose payment behaviour is deteriorating.
    What stays human
    The collections lead analyses the drift and decides on action with sales management.
    • management reporting tool (BI)
    • ERP
    • collections tool

  4. How to automate the tracking of issued e-invoices and their statuses?

    Today
    With e-invoicing, each issued invoice goes through a platform and receives statuses: submitted, rejected, refused, approved, paid. Rejections for a wrong billing address or a missing reference are discovered when the customer does not pay.
    What gets automated
    The statuses returned by the platform flow into the ERP and the collections tool, invoice by invoice. A rejection or refusal triggers a task for sales administration or accounting with its reason, and the reminder date is suspended until the correction. The payment status is sent when the rules require it.
    What stays human
    Accounts receivable corrects the invoice or has it corrected, and decides on the credit note and reissue.
    • e-invoicing platform
    • ERP
    • collections tool
    • workflow tool

  5. How to reconcile payment service provider payouts with e-commerce orders automatically?

    Today
    Payment service providers pay out net amounts, after fees, refunds and chargebacks, grouping many transactions. Reconciling these payouts with orders and bank receipts is done in large exports, with differences that are hard to explain.
    What gets automated
    A tool loads the providers’ detailed reports, matches them with orders from the e-commerce platform and with the payout received in the bank, and separates sales, refunds, fees and chargebacks. Fee entries and differences are prepared for accounting, and transactions without an order are listed.
    What stays human
    The accountant handles the remaining differences and disputes unjustified chargebacks.
    • e-commerce platform
    • payment service providers
    • reconciliation tool
    • ERP or accounting software

  6. How to automate the handling of deductions and unilateral debits by retailers?

    Today
    Distributors and retailers pay while withholding amounts for late-delivery penalties, shortages, returns or commercial cooperation fees, often with a simple code. Each deduction requires finding the contract, the delivery and the exchanges before accepting or disputing it.
    What gets automated
    On receipt, the difference between the invoice and the amount paid is isolated and classified by reason, from the deduction code and the remittance advice read by an AI agent. A file is prepared automatically with the commercial agreement, the proof of delivery and the history. Justified deductions are cleared according to approved rules, and the others are disputed with the supporting documents.
    What stays human
    The team decides with sales administration and the sales rep whether to accept or dispute each significant deduction.
    • ERP
    • dispute management tool
    • AI agent for document reading
    • logistics tracking tool

  7. How to automate customer risk assessment and credit limit monitoring?

    Today
    Credit limits are set when the account is opened, then rarely reviewed. Credit insurer alerts, late payments and legal information about the customer arrive through different channels, and an order can ship to a customer already in difficulty.
    What gets automated
    A tool brings together, for each customer, the exposure, late payments, credit insurance cover and public signals (insolvency proceedings, change of directors). It calculates a risk score, proposes a revised limit and blocks in the ERP any order that would exceed the authorised exposure.
    What stays human
    The credit manager decides on the limit and on releasing an order, with the sales rep.
    • customer risk management tool
    • ERP
    • credit insurance
    • management reporting tool (BI)

  8. How to automate the filing of invoices on customers’ portals?

    Today
    Key accounts, construction clients and public buyers require invoices to be filed on their portal, with a purchase order number, a department code or a certificate. Filing is done by hand, portal by portal, and an invoice filed incorrectly is never paid.
    What gets automated
    For each customer concerned, the portal’s requirements are described once: mandatory references, documents to attach, format. A tool checks the invoice before it is issued, files it when the portal allows, and retrieves the processing statuses. Filings that cannot be automated are prepared with all the documents for quick filing.
    What stays human
    Accounts receivable handles rejections and obtains missing references from the customer.
    • ERP
    • customers’ invoicing portals
    • task automation tool
    • e-invoicing platform

  9. How to automate the calculation of bad debt provisions?

    Today
    At each close, the accountant goes through the aged balance, identifies customers who are late or in proceedings and applies provision rates kept in a spreadsheet. Information on insolvency proceedings arrives late, and the method varies from one close to the next.
    What gets automated
    A tool connected to the ERP and to risk signals classifies each receivable by age, existence of a dispute, a guarantee or proceedings, and applies the approved provisioning method. It prepares the provision and reversal entries, with the detail by customer kept as justification.
    What stays human
    The chief accountant approves the provisions and adjusts those that require case-by-case judgement.
    • ERP or accounting software
    • customer risk management tool
    • management reporting tool (BI)

  10. How to automate the tracking of retentions and progress billing?

    Today
    In construction, each progress invoice is paid less a retention, released after acceptance of the works and expiry of the guarantee period, or replaced by a bank guarantee. These amounts are tracked in files by project and often forgotten when due.
    What gets automated
    Each contract is recorded with its terms: retention, any bank guarantee, acceptance date and release date. A tool connected to invoicing calculates the retention on each progress invoice, tracks amounts withheld by project and triggers the release request when due, with the acceptance report attached.
    What stays human
    The collector checks that no reservations remain outstanding and chases the client.
    • ERP or project management software
    • contract tracking tool
    • collections tool
Questions from the teams

What teams look to improve.

Which customer reminders can be automated without damaging the relationship?
The first reminders, those recalling a due date or a recent delay, work well when sent automatically, with a tone suited to the customer and the invoice attached. Later reminders, strategic customers and disputed accounts go through a person. The scenario is defined with the sales reps, who know which customers call for a phone call rather than an e-mail.
How to prioritise collections when the team is small?
Rank accounts every day by overdue amount, age, payment history and risk, rather than alphabetically or by sales rep. A tool connected to the ERP produces this list and proposes the next action for each account. The collector chooses the final order and makes calls on the accounts that need them.
How to make promises to pay more reliable?
Each promise is recorded with its amount, date and contact, in the collections tool rather than in a notebook. On the promised date, the tool checks for the receipt and sends a reminder automatically if nothing has arrived. The decision to accept a new date or to escalate the procedure stays with the collector.
How to work with sales administration and sales reps on unpaid invoices?
Share a single view: overdue amounts, open disputes, promises to pay and next action, by customer and by sales rep. When a dispute is logged, reminders are suspended and sales administration receives the file; when a delay exceeds the agreed threshold, the sales rep is notified before accounting calls. Decisions on a strategic customer are taken together.
How to secure collection by SEPA direct debit?
Collect and archive signed mandates in a tool connected to the ERP, with their unique reference, and notify the customer before each debit as SEPA rules require. Rejections come back automatically with their reason and reopen the invoice. The choice to offer direct debit to a customer and the follow-up after a rejection remain human.
Can AI answer customers about their invoices?
An AI agent can handle first-level requests: invoice copy, account statement, status of a payment, the company’s bank details. It relies on ERP data and flags anything that looks like a dispute. Disputes, payment plan requests and dissatisfied customers are passed to a person.
How to manage reminders across several countries and languages?
Reminder templates are adapted by language, country and customer type, taking local practices and late-payment penalty rules into account. An AI agent can adapt a message into the customer’s language from the approved template. Legal collection proceedings abroad are entrusted to specialised partners.
When to move from amicable reminders to litigation?
The criteria are set in advance: age of the delay, amount, lack of response, broken promises, known situation of the customer. A tool flags accounts that meet these criteria and prepares the file: invoices, reminders sent, exchanges, proofs of delivery. The decision to send a formal notice, apply for a payment order or use a third party remains with the finance department.
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