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Accounts receivable (AR) is the money clients owe you on invoices that haven’t been paid yet. AR aging is how you measure how stale that money is — current, 30 days late, 60 days late, 90+ days late. Letting AR drift is one of the fastest ways to choke a service business’s cash flow. This guide walks through the report, the automation patterns, and the human follow-up that actually moves money.
Prerequisites: at least a few invoices in your system (paid and unpaid) so the report has data to show. New to invoicing? Start with Send Your First Invoice.

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The AR aging buckets

BucketMeaningWhat to do
CurrentIssued, not yet dueNothing — wait
0–30 days overduePast due, but still recentFriendly reminder email
31–60 days overdueGetting concerningFirmer reminder + personal email
61–90 days overdueSeriousPhone call from your account manager
90+ days overdueCriticalEscalate; consider write-off or collections
The 90+ bucket is your danger zone. Invoices that old are statistically much less likely to ever be paid — every week they age, the recovery odds drop.

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Open the AR aging report

1

Navigate to Reports

Go to /dashboard/commerce/reports/.
2

Click AR Aging

The report opens with the standard buckets pre-populated.
3

Filter as needed

Filter by client segment, owner (the team member responsible), or date range.
4

Drill into a bucket

Click any bucket to see the underlying invoices.

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Triage the overdue list

Once a week, walk the report top-down:
1

Start with 90+

These are your worst exposure. Decide for each: escalate, write off, or send to collections.
2

Then 61–90

These often need a phone call. Email-only follow-up usually doesn’t move them.
3

Then 31–60

A firmer email cycle, with the account manager in the loop. Often an offered payment plan converts these.
4

Then 0–30

Friendly reminder. Most of these resolve from automation alone.

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Automate reminder emails

The 0–30 bucket should mostly handle itself via workflows. Set up a sequence:
1

Create a new workflow

Navigate to workflows. Click New Workflow.
2

Set the trigger

Invoice becomes overdue — fires when an invoice’s due date passes without payment.
3

Add a delay (optional)

Wait 1 day after overdue before sending the first reminder. Gives the client a buffer for payments-in-flight.
4

Add a 'send email' action

Use a friendly template: “Hi , just a quick note that invoice for is now overdue. You can pay it here: . Let me know if there’s any issue.”
5

Branch on payment

If invoice still unpaid after 7 more days, send a firmer reminder. After 14 days, notify the account manager.
6

Activate

The workflow now runs automatically on every invoice that goes overdue.
Keep automated reminder emails warm. They should sound like a friendly nudge from a human, not a debt collector form letter. Most overdue invoices are oversights, not refusals — friendly works.

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A reminder email template that works

Subject: Quick reminder: Invoice #{{invoice_number}}

Hi {{contact_first_name}},

Just a quick reminder that invoice #{{invoice_number}}
for {{invoice_total}} was due on {{due_date}}. 

You can pay it here: {{portal_link}}

If there's any issue with the invoice or you need
to set up a payment arrangement, just reply and
let me know.

Thanks,
{{owner_first_name}}
Three reasons this works:
  • It assumes good faith (“just a quick reminder”)
  • It makes paying easy (one-click portal link)
  • It opens the door for issues (“let me know if there’s any issue”)

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Personal follow-up at 30+ days

Past 30 days, automation usually plateaus — invoices that haven’t responded to two automated emails won’t respond to a third. Switch to personal follow-up:
1

Filter the AR report to 31–60 days

Pull the list weekly.
2

Assign each invoice to its owner

Usually the account manager who owns the client relationship.
3

Owner sends a personal email or makes a call

“Hey [name], wanted to check in on this invoice — anything we can help unblock on your side?”
4

Document the response

Add a note to the invoice’s activity log. If the client commits to a date, set a reminder.
5

Escalate if no response

If two follow-ups go unanswered, escalate to the account owner’s manager or to your operations lead.

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Schedule the AR report email

Get the AR aging report in your inbox automatically:
1

Open the AR aging report

From /dashboard/commerce/reports/.
2

Click Schedule

From the actions menu.
3

Pick frequency

Weekly is most common (Monday morning hits a productive moment in the week). Daily for accounts with large AR exposure.
4

Pick recipients

Your collections lead, your finance team, the account managers. Include yourself.
5

Pick format

PDF for human-readable; CSV for spreadsheet pipelines; both attached.
6

Save

The report runs on schedule and lands in inboxes automatically.

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Best practices

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Make paying frictionless

The single biggest lever on AR is removing friction from paying. Every invoice email should have a one-click portal link. Saved payment methods on subscriptions auto-charge. ACH where supported (clients often prefer for larger amounts). All of this lives in Payment Processing and Client Portal.

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Send invoices promptly

The closer to delivery you bill, the more “fresh” the work feels. A retainer billed 3 weeks after the month ends feels like an old expense; one billed on day 1 of the month feels current. Use subscriptions and schedules to automate timing.

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Use Net 15 or Net 30, not Net 60

Net 60 is a relic from paper-based AP. Most clients can pay in 30 days; many can pay in 15. Default to faster terms; let clients negotiate longer if they need it.

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Prevent before you collect

The cheapest collection is the one you don’t have to make. For new clients, take a deposit upfront. For larger engagements, milestone-bill instead of all-at-end. For clients with a history of slow pay, switch them to subscriptions with auto-charge so payment isn’t a manual step.

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Don’t let small balances drift

A $400 invoice 90 days overdue costs more in admin time to chase than it returns in cash. Either auto-write-off below a threshold (configure in settings) or batch the small ones into a single firm email.

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Verify it’s working

After a month with the automation in place:
  • The AR aging report should show the 0–30 bucket smaller (automation working)
  • The 31+ buckets should be flat or shrinking (personal follow-up working)
  • The 90+ bucket should be near zero (you’re escalating before invoices age that far)
  • Average days-to-pay (visible in the cash-collected report) should trend down

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Troubleshooting

Check the workflow is enabled and the trigger filter matches your invoices. Also confirm your sending domain is verified — see Email Domains. Workflow emails use the same email infrastructure as transactional sends.
Check their status. Voided invoices don’t appear in AR. Invoices with the wrong client (orphaned from a deleted contact) may not appear under the expected segment. Use the unfiltered report to verify.
Common causes: voided-after-paid invoices skewing one side, manual payments not yet marked in Hiveku, or different cutoff dates. Compare the underlying invoice list line-by-line; usually 1–2 entries explain the gap.
Check the processor connection — if a webhook didn’t reach Hiveku, the invoice didn’t auto-mark paid. For online payments, re-authorize the connection. For manual payments (check, wire), mark paid in Hiveku and attach the deposit reference.
Auto-write-off requires a threshold set in account settings and a cadence (typically monthly). Check both. Manual write-offs are always available from the invoice’s actions menu.

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What’s next?

Reports & Analytics

More reports beyond AR — MRR, churn, cash collected.

Workflows

Build the reminder automations.

Invoices Reference

Statuses, lifecycle, and reconciliation.

Payment Processing

Reduce friction on the way in.