Your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template is going to be a vital tool in the successful management of your business. It is, after all, your responsibility as the owner and manager to ensure that you are not creating more Accounts Receivable than you can afford to pay. You must also ensure that your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template collects all your overdue payments, all your penalty fees and interests, all your monthly minimums, and all of the applicable fees and charges. If you do not keep up with these accounts as they come due then you will find that you may be paying extra money to the bank in addition to the interest. And, you may even be in violation of your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template needs to contain all of your customer information. This means: name and address; account number and balance owed; date due; contact person and phone number; method of payment (usually pays via credit card); date due; and, if possible, an electronic mailing address and phone numbers. The more information you include, the easier it will be for your customers to enter their information and access their Accounts Receivable Aging Report. The more information your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template contains, the easier it will be for your company to access and review its reports at any time. So it is advisable to provide a means of accessing your Accounts Receivable Aging Report at least once per month.
If you have a system that processes Accounts Receivable, then you should also have a way for your customers to access their Accounts Receivable Aging Reports. There are two approaches that you may choose from. First, you may provide an online form for customers to complete. With such a service, customers would fill in a short online form and then submit their information; their name, address, phone number, account number and amount owed. Such a service makes it much easier for your company to track all of your Accounts Receivable, day-to-day and during times when you have a large number of overdue or delinquent accounts.
Second, you may choose to provide your customers with a hard copy of their Accounts Receivable Aging Report. When your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template becomes available, you will select the appropriate template for your company and distribute it to your Accounts Receivable Department for their review and approval. Once they have approved it, they will print and distribute a copy to each of your customer account holders. The printed copy is a hard copy; thus, it cannot be photocopied. Each of your customer’s Accounts Receivable Aging Report will contain the same information. For example, each of your accounts will contain the following information: name; address; phone number; balance owed; date due; and, if applicable, an electronic mailing address and/or phone number.
Third, you may also choose to send your Accounts Receivable Aging Report to your Accounts Management team for their review. They are responsible for taking any necessary action to collections and generally towing delinquent accounts. This is usually done in the form of automatic payment of a late fee. If your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template provides this option, you may include it with all of your customer files. It makes collecting overdue debts much easier for your company.
Fourth, you may want to consider obtaining an Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template from an outside source. There are many web sites on which you can obtain Accounts Receivable Aging Reports. However, the templates that are provided for free on some web sites may not be complete or up to date. Free templates typically only list account numbers and amounts owed. You must pay for updated Accounts Receivable Aging Report Templates on the web sites that offer them.
Fifth, you should make it a point to keep a journal entry on a regular basis. Some companies use Accounts Receivable Aging Report Templates to create a journal entry every month. This allows your company to keep accurate records of all Accounts Receivable. As each account is paid, you can enter the payment information in the journal entry aging.
Sixth, you should ensure that you are able to monitor and account for the growing number of overdue debts. The Accounts Receivable Aging Report Template allows you to set up allowances based on the amount owed. You should add this allowance into your company budget so that you can properly calculate your company’s budget allowances. In case your company discovers that some or all of your doubtful accounts have been settled, you should adjust your allowance accordingly.
