How to stop chasing invoices: automating credit control for a 50-person business

Why invoice chasing eats so much time

In most 20 to 100 person businesses, credit control is a side job. Someone in finance opens the aged debtors report, picks out the overdue accounts, writes emails, makes calls and then forgets to follow up because month end arrives. Nothing about the work is difficult. It is simply repetitive, and it competes with everything else on the finance team's list.

The cost is not only the hours. Inconsistent chasing means some customers are reminded within days and others are left for weeks, which makes cash flow harder to forecast. Late payment is a well-known problem for UK small and mid-sized businesses, and a steady, predictable process is one of the few things you fully control.

What an automated reminder sequence looks like

The idea is a schedule that runs without anyone remembering to start it. Each rule is based on invoice due date and status in your accounting system. A typical sequence might look like this:

1. A friendly notice a few days before the due date, with the invoice attached and payment details.
2. A short reminder on the day after the due date.
3. A firmer follow-up about a week later, referencing the invoice number and amount.
4. A final notice that mentions your terms and what happens next.
5. A task for a named person to phone the customer once the invoice reaches an agreed age.

Tone escalation without damaging relationships

Good credit control sounds different for a customer who is two days late than for one who has ignored three emails. Automation lets you set that tone deliberately instead of leaving it to whoever is chasing that day. You can also vary the sequence by customer, so a long-standing account gets a gentler path than a new one.

• Early messages assume an oversight and make payment easy.
• Middle messages are factual: invoice, amount, due date, how to pay.
• Later messages are direct about terms, and you can mention statutory interest on late commercial payments if your contract allows it. Check current guidance before relying on it.
• Key accounts can be excluded or routed to a person from the start.

Disputes need a human, every time

The most important rule is that automation should stop the moment a customer replies with a problem. If someone says the goods were damaged, the purchase order number is wrong or the price was not agreed, a reminder sequence that keeps firing is worse than no process at all.

A well-built system pauses chasing when a reply arrives or when you flag an invoice as disputed, creates a task for the account owner and records the reason. Once the issue is resolved, the invoice either rejoins the sequence or is credited. The software handles the routine; your people handle the judgement.

Connecting it to your accounting system

Reminders are only useful if they reflect reality. The sequence should read invoice status directly from your accounting software, so that a payment received this morning stops tomorrow's email. Most mainstream UK accounting packages offer ways to connect, though the depth of integration varies, and this is worth checking early.

It also helps to write outcomes back: when a customer promises to pay on a date, that note should sit against the invoice where finance and sales can both see it. That visibility is often as valuable as the emails themselves.

How to start

• Pull your aged debtors report and note how chasing currently happens, and who does it.
• Agree your standard terms, reminder timings and the point at which a person takes over.
• List the accounts that should never receive automated emails.
• Pilot the sequence on a small group of customers before switching it on across the ledger.
• Review replies and disputes after a few weeks and adjust the wording.

Frequently asked questions