Accounts receivable template with automatic ageing
Track every invoice, record part payments, and watch each outstanding balance drop into a current, 30, 60 or 90-plus day bucket on its own. The ageing moves as time passes, because it calculates against today.
Accounts receivable template
Excel (.xlsx) · 120 invoices · no signup
General information only, not tax or accounting advice.
This template is general information for Australian businesses. GST treatment, account coding, reporting obligations and deduction eligibility depend on your circumstances — confirm them with your accountant, a registered BAS agent or the ATO. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.
Raise a compliant tax invoice
A ledger only records what you already billed. Generate an ATO-compliant tax invoice with your ABN and GST on it in under a minute — free, no signup.
What's in the accounts receivable template
An invoice register that answers the only question that matters: who do I chase first?
Invoice register
Number, customer, invoice date, due date and amount — one row per invoice.
Part payments
Record what has been paid and the outstanding column works out the balance.
Days overdue
Calculated against today, so the sheet is current every time you open it.
Four ageing buckets
Current, 1–30, 31–60 and 61–90, plus 90-plus. Each balance falls into exactly one.
Bucket totals
Totals per bucket at the bottom — the summary that tells you how bad the position actually is.
Filterable
Autofilter on every column, so you can pull one customer or one bucket in a click.
Why a single total tells you nothing
Two businesses, both owed $40,000. They are not in the same position.
| Current | 1–30 | 31–60 | 61–90 | 90+ | Read | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business A | $31,000 | $6,000 | $3,000 | — | — | Healthy |
| Business B | $4,000 | $6,000 | $8,000 | $9,000 | $13,000 | Serious |
Business B has a third of its receivables past 90 days. That is not a collections problem any more — it is a cash flow problem and possibly a bad debt problem, and the single $40,000 total hides both.
Getting paid faster is mostly process
Ageing tells you where you stand. These are the things that change it.
Terms in writing, before the work
Agreed payment terms on the quote, the engagement and every invoice. A term you never stated is a term you cannot enforce.
Invoice the day the work is done
Debtor days start when you invoice, not when you finish. A week of admin delay is a week of cash flow, every time.
Follow up the day after, not the month after
The first polite reminder should go the day the term is missed. Businesses that wait a month teach customers that the term is decorative.
Make paying easy
Bank details and a payment link on every invoice. Anything that makes a customer look something up delays payment.
GST on a bad debt
If you have already accounted for GST on a sale and later write the debt off as bad, you may be able to claim a decreasing adjustment for the GST you already paid.
There are conditions, including how long the debt has been outstanding and whether it has genuinely been written off rather than just being overdue. Confirm the treatment with your accountant or a registered BAS agent before adjusting a BAS.
Who uses an aged debtors report
Businesses invoicing on terms
Anyone who does the work first and gets paid later, which is most B2B trading.
Bookkeepers reporting to clients
Aged receivables is one of the three reports worth sending every month, alongside P&L and cash position.
Anyone forecasting cash
A forecast built without an ageing profile assumes everyone pays on time, which no ageing report has ever shown.
Do you send clients an aged debtors report each month?
Debtors and wages are the two lines that decide whether a shift-based business makes it through a quiet month. Advisors who bring those clients onto RosterElf earn recurring monthly income for every employee managed, plus a bonus on every new client business.
Recurring monthly income
$1.00–$2.00 per active employee
Signup bonus
$100 per new client business
Tiered rates
Bronze through Diamond
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Learn moreDefinitions
Plain-English explanations of the terms used on this page.
Accounts receivable questions
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It takes every unpaid invoice and sorts the outstanding amounts by how overdue they are — usually current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days.
The point is prioritisation. A single figure for money owed tells you almost nothing; the ageing profile tells you whether you have a healthy ledger or a problem.
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Against the due date, using todays date. So the buckets update every time you open the file, without you doing anything.
Some systems age from the invoice date instead. Ageing from the due date is more useful, because it measures lateness rather than elapsed time.
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It depends heavily on industry and terms, so the useful comparison is against your own trend rather than a benchmark.
What matters is direction. Debtor days creeping up is usually the earliest visible sign of a cash flow problem, and it shows on this report well before it shows in the bank account.
Before you download
General information only — not legal advice
This document is a general HR template provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and may not reflect the latest changes in legislation or apply to every workplace situation. RosterElf Pty Ltd and the template provider accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this document. Users should seek independent legal advice and customise the template to ensure it complies with all relevant laws, awards and workplace requirements.