How to read an accounts receivable ageing report and act on it each week

Most ageing reports show each customer on a row and the amount they owe in columns: current (not yet due), 1–30 days overdue, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90. Some reports age from invoice date rather than due date, so check which one you are reading. Ageing from the due date is more useful for collections; ageing from the invoice date is sometimes used for provisioning.

The total column should equal accounts receivable on the balance sheet. If it does not, there are unapplied receipts, credit notes not matched to invoices, or journal entries posted straight to the receivables account. Fix that first, or every conclusion you draw is unreliable.

A Dubai building materials trader has AED 1.24 million in receivables. Current: AED 610,000. 1–30 days: AED 330,000. 31–60: AED 170,000. 61–90: AED 75,000. Over 90: AED 55,000.

Half the book is current, which is healthy. But one contractor accounts for AED 140,000 of the 31–60 bucket and AED 50,000 of the 61–90 bucket, while still placing orders. That single customer is the week’s priority: a call to the finance manager, a hold on new orders above the current limit, and a request for a payment plan. The AED 55,000 over 90 days is spread across six small customers, two of whom have stopped trading; those are candidates for a provision.

Single numbers matter less than movement. Compare this month’s report with last month’s and look for customers sliding to the right. A customer who moves from current to 31–60 in two months has changed behaviour, even if the amount is small.

• A growing share of the total in the 61–90 and 90+ buckets
• A large customer whose oldest invoice keeps getting older while new invoices are paid
• Many small credit balances, often unapplied receipts or overpayments
• Disputed invoices sitting in old buckets with no note explaining them
• Receivables growing faster than sales

Every Monday, run the ageing by due date. Call or message every customer with an amount over 30 days overdue above a threshold you set, say AED 10,000. Note the outcome against the customer. Escalate anything over 60 days to the owner. Once a month, compare totals by bucket with the previous month and calculate debtor days: receivables divided by sales for the last 90 days, multiplied by 90.

Our view: the owner of a small UAE business should personally read the ageing report weekly, even if someone else does the chasing. It takes ten minutes and it is the earliest warning of cash trouble you will get.

The AR ageing report in HelloBooks is built directly from invoices, credit notes and matched receipts, so it agrees with the balance sheet as long as receipts are matched. The AI agent matches receipts when you upload bank statements and flags unapplied cash for you to allocate.

Instead of scanning columns, you can ask: “which customers moved into the 61–90 bucket since last month?” or “show me the top five overdue balances and the last reminder sent to each”. The agent answers in plain English with the figures; you decide who to call. Partner firms can ask for a customised ageing layout for client packs by emailing hello@hellobooks.ai.