The finance director needs the month-end balance. The account manager needs to know whom to contact today. An unpaid invoice under dispute belongs in the month-end balance, but its next action may sit with the person handling the complaint. Build both views from the same open items so someone can explain the difference.
A useful ageing report shows the balance outstanding, how long it has been overdue and who owns the next action. It should also be possible to reproduce the figures as of the date in the heading.
Use one cutoff for the balance and the ageing calculation
Start with open items at the end of the chosen date. Include invoices on the ledger at that point and deduct payments and credits posted and allocated to each invoice by then. Count overdue days from the invoice due date. Under this convention, an invoice due on the cutoff date is still in the current bucket.
Suppose an invoice for SEK 30,000 fell due on 28 February 2026. A part payment of SEK 12,000 was posted on 20 March and the rest was paid on 2 April. At the 31 March cutoff, SEK 18,000 remained open and the balance was 31 days overdue. Rebuilding March from today's payment status in April would wrongly drop the invoice altogether.
Separate the ledger balance from the contact list
The illustration below shows the entire open ledger of one company on 31 March 2026. The disputed invoice belongs in the total. The person handling the dispute needs to decide what happens next before the account manager contacts the customer.
| Due date | Open amount | Age bucket | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March | 9,000 | Current | Wait. |
| 16 March | 4,000 | 1–30 days | Account manager checks for payment since cutoff. |
| 28 February | 18,000 | 31–60 days | Follow up the balance after part payment. |
| 20 January | 6,000 | 61–90 days | Disputed. The case owner follows up the complaint. |
Reconcile the report before sending the weekly action list
Check the open total against the accounting system's receivables list for the same entity, cutoff and currency. Show prepayments and unallocated cash separately where the two reports handle them differently. Trace a difference to a record or a rule. Do not add different currencies together without an agreed conversion.
Sort the working list by owner and next agreed contact. Show the due date, balance, last contact and dispute owner. Link to the source record so the account manager can check its current status before calling. The March report can be right even if the invoice has since been settled.
If the source only exposes today's open items, capture dated extracts going forward or obtain historical transactions. Make clear which dates can be reconstructed. Backfilling with today's balances would give readers a false history.
Common questions
Does a part payment reset the age of an invoice?
Use the remaining balance and the due date effective at the cutoff. A normal part payment reduces the balance. If terms have actually changed, the report needs the due date that applied at the time.
Can the team receive an automated weekly email?
Yes, provided the source can supply the necessary records. A short internal email can show totals and link to an access-controlled working list. Agree whether follow-up should use a fixed cutoff or reflect today's receipts.