"Who Should I Chase Today?" Outstanding Payments

Outstanding payment tracking in a fabrication shop comes down to one weekly habit: list every party's dues by age, and call the oldest first. The tool only has to have the list ready before you sit down. In Fab ERP you can also ask Fabio, the assistant, "Who should I chase for payment?" and it returns the furthest past due, with amounts.

The routine below runs on an example ledger. The parties and figures are invented.

What does a Monday dues list look like?

An ageing report is dues grouped by how long each invoice has been open. We use three bands: up to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, and over 60 days. Those cut-offs are our habit, and you should use whichever match your credit terms. In Fab ERP the Clients Ledger keeps the 60+ days list ready.

Illustrative ledger, three parties:

By band:

By party the same total is ₹1,98,000 (Pragati) + ₹2,36,000 (Agnivesh) + ₹1,82,500 (Arvana). More than half the money is over 60 days old, and it belongs to two parties. That is the calling list.

Who do you call first?

The oldest. Agnivesh Industrial at 78 days comes first, then Arvana Forgings for the 63-day invoice. Pragati Components, whose oldest invoice is 41 days, can wait until next week unless the credit limit says otherwise.

Do not call a party only about its oldest invoice. Arvana owes ₹1,18,000 old and ₹64,500 recent. Ask about both in one call, or the next call will be about the second one.

What do you say on the call?

Keep it short and the same every time. In English the three questions are:

1. Has invoice INV-2102 reached your accounts person?
2. Is there a query on quantity, rate or quality that is holding it?
3. On which date will it be in the payment run?

Write the date down against the party. A promised date nobody recorded cannot be followed up. Next Monday you look at the dates that passed without payment, and those parties move to the top.

Say what you would say to a person you will still deal with next year. The call is what works. The list is what you automate.

What do you send after the call?

A statement. The accounts person on the other side does not want to search for your invoice. Give him the invoice numbers, dates and balance in one page.

In Fab ERP the Clients Ledger is on both plans. It holds each party's statement, credit limit and the 60+ days ageing. Documents, including the invoice copy, can be shared on WhatsApp from the Database screen, so the statement goes out on the app the accounts person already has open.

What do you do when the promised date passes?

Climb one step at a time, and write each step down.

1. The second call, the day after. Same three questions. Ask who exactly is releasing the payment.
2. The statement and the paperwork. Send the statement again with the copies that prove the supply: the PO, the challan and the invoice. The challan is the one that matters most, because it shows the material left your gate against that PO. Keep the signed copy.
3. The visit. For a party in the over-60 band and a large balance, go to the accounts desk. A face at the desk moves faster than a fourth phone call.
4. The dispatch decision. Before the next lot leaves, decide on purpose whether it goes, and note why.

Keep this in the party's record, so that whoever picks up the next call on Monday knows what was said on the last one. For anything beyond follow-up, such as formal notices, ask your CA or your lawyer. We give no legal advice here.

How do you know the money has really arrived?

Look at the bank before you cross the party off. The Transactions screen takes a bank feed, so you can see what has come in. If your accountant keeps the books in Tally, the Tally connector reads party ledgers and dues from there. It reads only, and it never writes to Tally. See the Tally page for how it is set up with you.

What should you check before the next dispatch?

Before a second dispatch goes to a party that is already late, open that party's ledger. Fab ERP keeps a credit limit for each party. What you do when a party passes it is your decision. Some owners hold the dispatch. Some ring first. The point is that the decision is made on purpose, on a quiet Monday, not by accident on a busy Thursday.

What should you not automate?

Not the call. A reminder message that goes out without a person behind it is read as one, and parties learn which ones to ignore. Automate the list. Keep the voice.

Fab ERP prepares the list, the statement and the WhatsApp share. It does not send reminders to your parties by itself.

Which four numbers does outstanding payment tracking need?

You do not need twenty reports.

1. Total outstanding, today. In the example, ₹6,16,500.
2. How much of it is over 60 days. In the example, ₹3,54,000.
3. The two or three parties who owe the most. Agnivesh Industrial and Arvana Forgings.
4. Promised dates that passed without payment. This one comes from your own habit of writing the date down, not from any report.

Read them on Monday, call from the top, and read them again the next Monday. If the second number is smaller, the routine is working.

What does the ledger with statements cost?

Silver is ₹4,999 and Gold ₹9,999 a month plus 18% GST for a limited time (regular ₹9,999 and ₹19,999); the ledger is on both. There is a 14-day free trial. You set up auto-pay when you start, nothing is charged during the trial, and we email you 3 days before every charge. The pricing page has both plans, and the product page shows the Finance screens.

Questions owners ask us

Where to look next

See the Clients Ledger on the product page. When you want your own parties in it, the start page is open.