Aged Receivables Review Checklist
An aged receivables review turns a static aged trial balance into action: who to chase, what to escalate and what to provide against. This checklist takes you bucket by bucket.
What this checklist covers
- Read the aged trial balance buckets and what each signals
- Prioritise the accounts that most need action this month
- Separate genuine arrears from disputes and timing
- Decide what to chase, escalate, provide against or write off
- Feed the review into your collections and cash forecast
7 min
Before you start
The review is only as good as the report behind it, so make sure the ledger is clean before you read it. Apply cash, clear credits and run the aged trial balance at a fixed date.
- Confirm receipts are applied so paid invoices are not still showing as overdue.
- Run the aged trial balance with current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and 90-plus columns.
- Pull your notes log so promises to pay and disputes are visible against each account.
- Know your terms per customer — an account is only 'overdue' relative to its agreed due date.
Step 1 — Read the buckets
- Start with the 90-plus column — the oldest, highest-risk debt — and work back towards current.
- For each aged balance, check whether it is real arrears, a disputed amount, or a timing artefact from a recent receipt.
- Flag any customer whose balance has jumped a bucket since last month.
- Note concentration: a few large accounts often drive most of the aged total.
Step 2 — Decide the action per account
- Current and 1–30: routine reminder; keep the relationship warm.
- 31–60: direct contact, confirm the invoice is approved and ask for a payment date.
- 61–90: firmer follow-up, statement of account and a clear consequence if unpaid.
- 90-plus: escalate — final notice, payment plan, or hand-off for recovery.
- Disputed: route to whoever owns the dispute and set a resolution date; do not let it age silently.
Step 3 — Provide, write off and forecast
- Identify balances unlikely to be recovered and flag them for the bad-debt provision.
- Recommend write-offs for amounts genuinely uncollectable, with evidence for approval.
- Translate likely collections into a dated cash forecast for the coming month.
- Record the review outcome against each account so next month starts from a known position.
For accounts that have aged past sensible chasing, a free debt appraisal tells you what is realistically recoverable. The getting-paid-faster guide helps stop debt ageing in the first place.
Common mistakes
- Reading top-down from current. The risk lives in the oldest buckets — start there.
- Treating all aged debt the same. A dispute, a slow approver and a customer in trouble need very different actions.
- No follow-through. A review without recorded actions and dates is just a report you looked at.
- Forgetting credit balances. Negative customer balances distort the total and usually mean a misapplied receipt.
Key takeaways
- Work the aged trial balance from the oldest bucket back to current
- Match the action to the cause: arrears, dispute and timing each differ
- Flag likely-uncollectable balances for provisioning and write-off
- Turn expected collections into a dated cash forecast
Frequently asked questions
What ageing buckets should I use?
Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and 90-plus days past due is the common Australian convention. The buckets should be measured against each invoice's due date, not its issue date, so terms are reflected correctly.
When should a balance move from chasing to recovery?
There is no fixed rule, but once an undisputed debt passes 60–90 days with no genuine payment commitment, escalation or external recovery is usually warranted. The longer a debt ages, the lower the typical recovery rate.
Does a customer credit balance matter at review?
Yes. A credit balance usually signals a receipt applied to the wrong invoice or a missing invoice. Clear it before you rely on the aged total, or your figures will be understated.
Work the checklist, then get paid
Use the free Invoice Generator, then let Merion recover anything that goes unpaid — commission-only.