Accounting
Accounts Receivable Aging Report: How to Read It, Act on It and Automate It
Last updated: October 7, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.
An accounts receivable aging report lists every unpaid customer invoice and sorts the open balance into time buckets, usually current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and over 90 days past due. You use it for three jobs: deciding which customers your team calls this week, estimating the allowance for credit losses at month end, and explaining movements in days sales outstanding (DSO). Below is a working template for all three, plus how QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Business Central, Sage Intacct and AR tools produce and automate the report.
How to use this template
Part A fixes the report settings, Part B is the invoice-level layout to export, Part C turns bucket totals into a credit-loss reserve, Part D assigns collections actions, and Part E is the month-end checklist. Copy the tables into a spreadsheet or use them as the specification when you configure your accounting system. All dollar figures and loss rates in the template are an illustration for a company with $2.4 million of open receivables, not benchmarks.
The accounts receivable aging report template
Part A: Report settings (fill in once, review each quarter)
| Setting | What to decide | Recommended entry | Your entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| As-of date | The date the report ages to | Last day of the period being closed | |
| Aging basis | Age from due date or invoice date | Due date for collections; keep the same basis every month | |
| Bucket length | Days per bucket and number of buckets | Current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120, over 120 | |
| Unapplied cash and credits | Net against buckets or show separately | Separate line, cleared before sign-off | |
| Scope | Entities, currencies and customer groups included | One report per legal entity and currency | |
| Control total | The GL balance the report must equal | Trade receivables control account(s), accrual basis |
Part B: Invoice-level columns (one row per open item)
| Column | What it holds | Example (illustration) | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer and customer ID | Bill-to account, parent account if any | Midwest Fixtures Inc. / C-1042 | Grouping, credit limit checks |
| Document number and type | Invoice, credit memo, payment, debit memo | INV-20931 / Invoice | Drill-down and dispute tracking |
| Invoice date and due date | Both dates, plus payment terms | Jul 15, 2026 / Aug 14, 2026 / Net 30 | Aging calculation |
| Open amount | Original amount less payments and credits | $18,400.00 | Bucket totals, reserve |
| Days past due and bucket | As-of date minus due date, mapped to a bucket | 47 days / 31-60 | Prioritizing calls |
| Collector and status | Owner; dispute or promise-to-pay flag | J. Ortiz / Promise to pay Oct 10 | Accountability; holding disputes out of dunning |
| Last contact and next step | Last touch and next action date | Oct 1 call; follow up Oct 11 | Collections cadence |
Part C: Bucket summary and credit-loss reserve worksheet (illustration)
| Bucket | Open balance (% of total) | Loss rate (illustration) | Expected loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current (not yet due) | $1,450,000 (60.4%) | 0.5% | $7,250 |
| 1-30 days past due | $520,000 (21.7%) | 2% | $10,400 |
| 31-60 days past due | $210,000 (8.8%) | 6% | $12,600 |
| 61-90 days past due | $95,000 (4.0%) | 15% | $14,250 |
| Over 90 days past due | $125,000 (5.2%) | 40% | $50,000 |
| Total | $2,400,000 | 3.9% blended | $94,500 |
Below the table, add the allowance already booked (illustration: $80,000), the required balance ($94,500) and the adjustment ($14,500: debit credit-loss expense, credit the allowance). Then add DSO, using the formula Corporate Finance Institute gives: open receivables divided by net credit sales for the period, times the days in the period. With $6.6 million of credit sales in a 90-day quarter, the illustration gives $2.4 million / $6.6 million × 90 = 32.7 days.
Part D: Collections action matrix
| Bucket | Standard action | Owner | Escalation trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current | Confirm receipt; reminder 3-5 days before due | AR specialist (automated) | Customer reports a billing error |
| 1-30 | Reminders on days 1 and 10; call large balances on day 15 | Collector | No response after two touches |
| 31-60 | Call, get a dated promise to pay, log disputes | Collector, account manager informed | Broken promise to pay |
| 61-90 | Credit hold on new orders, payment plan, written demand | Credit manager | Over credit limit or signs of distress |
| Over 90 | Final notice, agency referral, write-off review | Controller approves | Write-off above your approval threshold |
Part E: Month-end review checklist
- Run the aging as of the period-end date and tie the total to the receivables control account on an accrual-basis trial balance.
- Clear or explain unapplied cash, unapplied credit memos and credit balances.
- List the top 10 balances over 60 days with status, owner and next action date.
- Update loss rates in Part C for current conditions and forecasts, then post the allowance adjustment.
- Approve write-offs against the allowance and record the date each debt was judged worthless for tax purposes.
- Record DSO and the share of balances over 60 days, and compare with the prior three months.
How to fill in each part
Part A: Settings decide whether the report can be trusted
Most disagreements about an aging report trace back to settings, not data. Sage Intacct’s AR aging API ages by invoice date by default and switches to due date when you set that option, with default buckets of 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120 and 121 and over. NetSuite sets the aging basis on the Accounting Preferences page and controls bucket size through the Interval and Duration fields in the report footer. Pick one basis, document it and keep it every month.
The as-of date matters as much. Intuit’s help article on matching aging reports (updated August 4, 2026) says the QuickBooks Online A/R aging summary defaults to the “Current” aging setting rather than the report date. To tie a September report to the September balance sheet, change the Aging option in General Options to “Report date” and compare against an accrual-basis balance sheet or trial balance.
Part B: Keep the detail, not just the summary
A customer summary tells you who owes money; the invoice detail tells you why. You can see whether a 75-day balance is one disputed invoice or late payment across every invoice. The collector, status and next-step columns turn the report into a worklist with a record of what was done.
Part C: The reserve worksheet and CECL
US GAAP requires an allowance for expected credit losses on trade receivables under ASC 326 (CECL). Deloitte’s CECL roadmap notes that the standard’s Example 5 (ASC 326-20-55-37) illustrates estimating losses on trade receivables with an aging schedule, that you must assess whether historical loss rates differ from what you now expect, and that the example applies a loss rate to current balances too. That is why Part C reserves every bucket.
FASB’s ASU 2025-05 simplifies this for current receivables and contract assets arising under ASC 606. According to KPMG (July 31, 2025), all entities may elect a practical expedient to assume that conditions at the balance sheet date do not change over the remaining life of those assets, and entities other than public business entities may also consider cash collected after the balance sheet date. Deloitte (July 30, 2025) reports the ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2025, with early adoption permitted. Confirm the elections with your auditor before relying on them.
Tax treatment differs from the book allowance. IRS Publication 334 (page last reviewed April 30, 2026), which now carries the bad-debt guidance from the discontinued Publication 535, says a business generally must use the specific charge-off method, deducting specific debts as they become partly or totally worthless. That is why Part E asks you to record the date each debt was judged worthless.
Part D: Turn buckets into actions
Each bucket gets a default action, an owner and an escalation point. Adjust by customer segment where needed; a strategic account at 61-90 days may warrant a call from the CFO rather than a credit hold. For segmenting customers and designing dunning cadences, see our guide on building a collections strategy with AR software.
Part E: Read the report as a trend
Compare three months side by side. DSO can fall simply because sales rose late in the quarter, while the share of balances over 60 days shows whether older debt is actually being collected. Our article on AP and AR KPIs and dashboards covers related metrics, including the cash conversion cycle.
Common mistakes
- Not reconciling to the general ledger. If the aging total does not equal the receivables control account, manual journal entries posted directly to AR, unapplied cash or a wrong as-of date are the usual causes. Fix the difference before you calculate the reserve.
- Mixing aging bases. Aging by invoice date in one month and due date the next makes the buckets jump with no change in customer behavior.
- Leaving unapplied payments open. Cash on account makes a customer look both overdue and in credit.
- Reserving only the over-90 bucket. CECL expects an estimate across the whole portfolio, including current balances, adjusted for current conditions.
- Treating disputes as late payment. A disputed invoice needs a fix from billing or sales, not another reminder.
When to move from a spreadsheet to software
Every mainstream accounting system produces the aging report; the spreadsheet usually exists to add collector notes, reserve math and trend history. Move off it when rebuilding the spreadsheet takes more time than calling customers, when you run several entities or currencies, or when auditors want evidence that reminders and write-offs followed policy.
Native reports. QuickBooks Online’s A/R aging summary report lets you set the days per aging period and the number of periods. NetSuite’s A/R Aging report sits under Reports > Customer/Receivables and can be added to a dashboard as a Receivables KPI. Business Central’s Aged Accounts Receivable (Excel) report, ID 4402, analyzes balances by period in local or foreign currency, and its Aged Receivables (Back Dating) Power BI report ages by document, due or posting date with custom bucket sizes. Sage Intacct’s AR aging API accepts an as-of date, custom aging periods and an option to age by due date. If you bill through Stripe, its Revenue Recognition AR aging report groups balances into not yet due, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120 and over 120 days.
AR automation tools. These sync open invoices from your ledger and automate reminders, worklists and dispute tracking. Chaser publishes US prices from $259 per month for its Compact plan (4 users, 4 automated workflows) and from $779 per month for Core, billed monthly, with integrations listed for QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, NetSuite and Business Central. Upflow publishes its tiers by annual invoiced revenue but quotes paid plans privately, and adds NetSuite and Sage Intacct sync from its Grow tier. HighRadius does not publish prices and directs buyers to its sales team. Treat any vendor’s own claims about results as marketing. Our piece on how AR automation reduces DSO covers the wider order-to-cash picture.
How we researched this
We reviewed the pages ranking for this term (Corporate Finance Institute, BlackLine, Numeric and Stripe’s documentation); none combines a usable template with CECL, tax treatment and system configuration. We then checked Deloitte and KPMG summaries of FASB guidance, IRS Publication 334 and Topic 453, and vendor documentation and pricing pages, on October 7, 2026. No vendor paid for inclusion.
Frequently asked questions
What are the standard buckets in an AR aging report?
The most common layout is current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and over 90 days past due. Many systems add 91-120 and over 120 days, which Sage Intacct and Stripe both use by default. You can change the bucket length in most systems, but keep it consistent so month-to-month comparisons stay valid.
Should I age receivables by invoice date or due date?
Due date is better for collections because it shows how late a customer actually is against agreed terms. Invoice date is useful for comparing customers on different terms and for some loss-rate analyses. Whichever you choose, document it and use it every month.
Why doesn’t my aging report match the balance sheet?
The usual causes are a different as-of date, cash-basis rather than accrual-basis reporting, unapplied payments or credits, and journal entries posted straight to the receivables account. In QuickBooks Online, Intuit advises switching the aging setting to “Report date” and comparing against an accrual-basis balance sheet or trial balance.
How do I use the aging report to calculate bad debt reserve?
Multiply the balance in each bucket by an expected loss rate based on your history and adjusted for current conditions and forecasts, then add the results. Compare the total with the allowance already on the books and post the difference to credit-loss expense. Under ASU 2025-05, eligible entities can simplify the estimate for current receivables.
Sources
- Deloitte DART, “FASB Amends Guidance on the Measurement of Credit Losses for Accounts Receivable and Contract Assets,” July 30, 2025. dart.deloitte.com
- KPMG, “FASB issues ASU on simplified credit loss guidance,” July 31, 2025. kpmg.com
- Deloitte DART, Credit Losses (CECL) Roadmap, section 5.2 Trade Receivables and Contract Assets, no date shown. dart.deloitte.com
- IRS, Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (for use in preparing 2025 returns), page last reviewed April 30, 2026. irs.gov
- IRS, Topic no. 453, Bad debt deduction, page last reviewed September 24, 2026. irs.gov
- Intuit QuickBooks, “Match your aging reports,” updated August 4, 2026. quickbooks.intuit.com
- Intuit QuickBooks Community, A/R Aging Summary report customization, September 12, 2021. quickbooks.intuit.com
- Oracle NetSuite Help, A/R Aging Summary Report, created May 6, 2016. docs.oracle.com
- Oracle NetSuite Help, A/P Aging Summary Report (aging basis set in Accounting Preferences), created May 6, 2016. docs.oracle.com
- Microsoft Learn, Business Central receivables reports, last updated May 7, 2025. learn.microsoft.com
- Sage Intacct Developer, AR Aging API reference, no date shown. developer.intacct.com
- Stripe Docs, Accounts receivable aging (Revenue Recognition), no date shown. docs.stripe.com
- Chaser, Pricing (vendor sells the product), no date shown, checked October 7, 2026. chaserhq.com
- Upflow, Pricing (vendor sells the product), no date shown, checked October 7, 2026. upflow.io
- HighRadius, Pricing (vendor sells the product), no date shown, checked October 7, 2026. highradius.com
- Corporate Finance Institute, “Days Sales Outstanding (DSO),” published September 12, 2019. corporatefinanceinstitute.com
- Corporate Finance Institute, “Accounts Receivable Aging,” published August 22, 2019. corporatefinanceinstitute.com
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Sherman Hsieh
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
