Collections
Give overdue balances a clear next action and accountable owner.
StatusSentPartiallyPaidOverdueAgingBucket1-3031-6061-9090+
Follow up with the right context
The daily dunning workflow evaluates the invoice’s actual due date and open balance against the applicable customer policy. Before sending, it checks prior events for the current band so a retry does not send the same notice repeatedly. Retain the recipient, template and outcome to explain what the customer received. The AR Clerk can handle an authorized ad-hoc follow-up, while policy changes remain controlled. Agree which system owns customer communications when another billing service also maintains the invoice.
Keep disputed work visible
Disputes links a pricing, quantity, service or duplicate-billing concern to its invoice. Open and under-review disputes pause the affected dunning route while the AR Manager investigates. Closing a dispute as upheld resumes the appropriate follow-up; a credit or partial settlement needs its own attributable adjustment. Do not treat a note promising a credit as an applied reduction. The record should make the disputed amount, reason, responsible person and resolution evidence visible without hiding unrelated collectible balances.
StatusOpenUnderReview
Escalate without losing the financial trail
CollectionsCases groups the relevant customer context and lead invoice as work moves from internal handling to external review or an agreed settlement. An agency handoff is not a payment and a proposed settlement is not a write-off. Preserve case ownership and stage changes while the owning invoices retain their amounts. Route a write-off request to the Controller and reconcile any actual payment separately. Closing a case should explain the result, including any remaining balance or unresolved external response, rather than merely removing work from a queue.
StatusOpenOnHold
Modules
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Customer billing
Keep customer terms and recurring billing ready for the next invoice.
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Invoices and credits
Send clear invoices and keep every adjustment connected to its source.
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Cash application
Match incoming cash to the right invoices and explain every remainder.
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Collections
Give overdue balances a clear next action and accountable owner.
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Credit controls
Make credit decisions visible before they change a customer balance.
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Receivables reporting
Explain aging, collections and cash application with a consistent balance basis.
Reports
All reportsDunning Effectiveness
Per DunningPolicy and per band: number of DunningEvents sent, payments received within N days of send, response and bounce rates. Used to tune policy thresholds and template copy.
Collections Case Funnel
Open CollectionsCases by Stage (Internal → ExternalAgency → LegalReview → Litigation → Settlement → Closed) with median time-in-stage and recovery rate. The AR Manager's escalation operating report.
Roles and permissions
Owns the AR function. Approves WriteOffs, signs off on the period-end aging, and reviews DSO and bad-debt trend. The named approver on the GL post handoff to fin-accounting.
Owns the operational AR machine. Configures dunning policies, manages collections cases, releases credit holds, and approves credit memos under threshold. Escalates write-offs to the Controller.
The operational role — the day-in / day-out AR seat. Drafts and sends Invoices, applies PaymentsReceived against open Invoices, processes CreditMemos under threshold, sends manual dunning when a Customer-specific situation calls for it.
Account-owner read-only on own Customers' AR. Nudges the buyer when a deal goes overdue without exposing GL detail.
The buyer. Implicit role accessed through the customer payment portal — sees own open Invoices, can pay via the fin-payments-issued portal link, downloads own Invoices and Statements.
Executive read-only on aging and DSO. The owner, board member, or external auditor seat.
Related processes
Prepare and send invoices
Keep draft preparation, delivery and ledger confirmation distinct.
4 stages · 0 approvals
Receive and apply cash
Turn confirmed receipt evidence into attributable invoice allocations.
4 stages · 0 approvals
Resolve disputes and collect
Keep follow-up, dispute resolution and financial adjustments connected.
4 stages · 1 approval