Check your aged debtors every week for chasing, and once a month for the overall shape and trend. If you only look at month end, an invoice can move from one or two months overdue to two or three months overdue between reviews before anyone picks up the phone. A 15-minute weekly routine catches most of that, and a live view saves waiting for someone to run the report.
In this article
The short version
- Check aged debtors weekly for chasing and monthly for the overall shape.
- Looking only at month end lets an invoice move a whole column before anyone acts.
- A 15-minute weekly routine covers matching, newly older invoices, next steps and big invoices due soon.
- Each overdue debt should have one named owner.
- A live view means nobody has to wait for a report run.
What slips when you only look monthly
Plenty of businesses run the aged debtor report once a month, at month end, usually because that's when the bookkeeping gets done. It's a sensible time to look at the big picture. For chasing, a month is a long gap.
Take an invoice due on 25 February. At the March month-end review it's 34 days overdue, sitting in the 31 to 60 column, and someone decides to give it a few more days. At the end of April it's 64 days overdue and in the 61 to 90 column. By the time anyone rings, the customer has had two months to put other suppliers first, and your conversation has moved from a reminder to a recovery.
The report in Xero and the one in QuickBooks are both accurate on the day you run them. The problem is the four weeks either side, when invoices age and nobody is watching.
If what each customer owes is always up to date, you don't need to wait for anyone to run a report, and the weekly habit becomes a quick look.
A 15-minute weekly routine
Pick a fixed day and time, early in the week so there's time to act before Friday's payment runs. Then work through the same steps each time.
- Open your aged debtors, aged from the due date. Use the same day each week so the numbers compare.
- Check last week's payments have been matched to their invoices. A paid invoice still showing as owed wastes a call and annoys a customer.
- Look for anything that's moved into an older column since last week. Those invoices need someone to follow them up in person.
- Give each one a next step and a name: a call, a statement, an instalment plan, a hold on new work. Write it down so it's still there next week.
- Look ahead at the largest invoices falling due in the next fortnight and confirm they're approved for payment.
- Leave the newest overdue invoices to your reminders unless something looks unusual, such as a regular payer who's suddenly late.
Most weeks this takes 15 minutes. It takes longer when something has gone wrong, and those are the weeks when catching it early counts.
In Adfin, what each customer owes is shown live and broken down by age under aged debtors, so step 1 is just opening the screen. You can assign each debtor an owner, add actions and track what happens next, and from there change how a customer is chased, send a statement or set up an instalment plan without switching tools.
What to look at once a month
The weekly check is about individual invoices. The monthly look is about the shape of the whole book, and it's worth doing with last month's report beside you.
- How the total splits across the columns, compared with last month. Money moving into the older columns is the trend to watch.
- Your largest balances. If one customer's share of what you're owed keeps rising, plan for what happens if they pay late.
- Anything over 90 days. Each of these needs a decision: statutory interest and compensation for business customers, a letter before action, or a write-off conversation with your accountant.
- Disputed invoices. Check each has an owner and a date for resolving it, so it doesn't sit in the overdue columns for months.
There's no universal "good" shape, because payment terms and customers vary so much between businesses. Your own trend over several months tells you more than any comparison.
Who should see your aged debtors
The owner should see it at least monthly, even if someone else does the weekly routine. So should whoever chases payments, every week. Account managers or sales staff benefit from seeing their own customers' balances before they agree new work, and your accountant will want it at quarter end and year end.
Sharing it widely only helps if each overdue debt has one named person responsible for it. Without that, everyone sees the problem and assumes someone else is handling it.
Once the routine is in place, the newer overdue invoices are the easiest part to hand over. Adfin's collection agents can chase them over email, SMS or WhatsApp within rules you approve, so the weekly 15 minutes goes on the customers who need a conversation.
Common questions
Is checking aged debtors at month end enough? It's enough for reviewing trends, but invoices can age a full column between checks, so most businesses that chase well also look weekly.
What day of the week is best for checking aged debtors? Early in the week, so you can follow up before customers' end-of-week payment runs. Keeping the same day each week matters more than which day you choose.
Should the report be aged by invoice date or due date? For chasing, the due date, because an invoice only becomes overdue once that date passes. Check your report's settings to see which it uses.
What is the difference between an aged debtor report and aged receivables? They're the same thing under two names. Xero and QuickBooks both offer it as a summary or a detailed, invoice-by-invoice report.
How long should a weekly aged debtors check take? Around 15 minutes in a normal week, if payments are matched and you only work on invoices that have moved into an older column.
Who should own each overdue debt? One named person per debt, usually whoever manages the customer relationship or handles credit control, so follow-ups don't fall between people.
Sources
- QuickBooks - Run an accounts receivable ageing report (accurate as of October 2026) https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-global/help-article/accounts-receivable-reports/run-accounts-receivable-ageing-report/L4N7PC2hg_ROW_en
- GOV.UK - Late commercial payments: charging interest on commercial debt (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/charging-interest-commercial-debt
- Adfin - Changelog (accurate as of October 2026) https://adfin.com/resources/changelog
- Adfin - Credit control (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/credit-control
