Summary
A monthly debtors meeting pack is six tables, each with one row per company and a group total: group position with DSO, age bands, largest overdue balances, last month's promises, cash promised and money at risk. Send it the day before, and the CFO meeting takes about 30 minutes.
- The table most packs miss: Last month's promises, kept or broken. If 74% of last month's promised cash arrived, count 74% of this month's promises as expected cash.
- Keep the customer list short: In Paidnice data, the worst 1 in 20 customers cause 70% of seriously overdue money, so ten customers with an owner and a next action cover most of the problem.
- Build it once: Paidnice shows debt for every entity in a group under one login, logs promised dates from customer replies, and emails a saved view as a CSV each month to up to 10 people.
It is the first Tuesday of the month and the CFO wants the debtors pack by Thursday. You export the Aged Receivables report from each company, paste both into last month's spreadsheet. Then you try to remember which customer promised to pay on the 7th. Half a day goes before anyone has looked at the numbers.
Here is what a monthly debtors meeting pack needs, a filled-in example for a group of two companies, how to run the meeting in 30 minutes, and the parts you can stop building manually.
What is a debtors report and what information does it provide?
A debtors report lists every customer who owes you money and how much each one owes. An aged debtors report also splits each balance into current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and 90+ days overdue, after any credit notes not yet refunded.
The monthly debtors pack starts from that report and adds what it cannot show: who is chasing each balance, what customers have promised, and what is at risk. See aged debt analysis for how to read the age bands.
Free: Payment reminder email templatesCopy the reminder emails for before, on and after the due date.What goes in a monthly debtors meeting pack?
A monthly debtors meeting pack holds six tables, each answering a question the CFO will ask, with every company on its own row and the group total underneath. If a table does not change a decision in the meeting, leave it out.
- Group position: what each company is owed, how much is overdue, the movement since a month ago, and days sales outstanding (DSO). Is it getting better or worse, and where?
- Age bands per company: current, then 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and 90+ days past due, so the total agrees with table 1. How old is the money?
- Largest overdue balances: each with the person chasing it and a dated next step. Who owns the problem?
- Promise record: what happened to every promise made last month. How far can we trust this month's promises?
- Cash promised for the coming month: every pay date a customer has given. What cash is coming?
- Money at risk: open disputes and customers whose payments are slipping. What could we lose?
Table 4 is the one most packs leave out. Without it, nobody knows how much of the table 5 total belongs in the cash forecast.
Debtors report example: a pack for a group of two companies
Below is a filled-in debtors pack for a group of two UK companies, with every table shown by entity and a group total.
Example Group has two companies: Example Trading Ltd and Example Services Ltd. Both invoice in sterling. All names and figures are made up to show the layout.
Table 1: group position
| Company | Owed | Overdue now | Overdue a month ago | Movement | DSO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example Trading Ltd | £821,000 | £215,000 | £188,000 | +£27,000 | 40.0 (was 37.5) |
| Example Services Ltd | £365,000 | £61,000 | £72,500 | -£11,500 | 30.0 (was 31.8) |
| Group | £1,186,000 | £276,000 | £260,500 | +£15,500 | 36.3 (was 35.4) |
DSO here is total owed divided by average daily credit sales for August to October, which is 92 days. That is the standard formula in the Corporate Finance Institute's DSO guide.
Sales were £1,888,300 at Trading and £1,119,300 at Services. Last month's DSO used the same 92-day window, ending a month earlier. The DSO formula guide shows other ways to count it. Keep one method from month to month.
The group total hides where the change came from. Group overdue debt rose by £15,500, while Services cut its overdue debt by £11,500. All of the rise, and more, came from Trading.
Table 2: age bands per company
| Company | Current | 1-30 | 31-60 | 61-90 | 90+ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example Trading Ltd | £606,000 | £122,000 | £52,000 | £25,000 | £16,000 | £821,000 |
| Example Services Ltd | £304,000 | £38,000 | £14,000 | £5,500 | £3,500 | £365,000 |
| Group | £910,000 | £160,000 | £66,000 | £30,500 | £19,500 | £1,186,000 |
In table 2, the 61-90 column shows which company's older debt is growing. The £30,500 in it this month moves into 90+ next month unless someone acts on it. For a refresher on the bands, see how an aged receivables report works.
Table 3: largest overdue balances
| Customer | Company | Overdue | Oldest, days past due | Chased by | Next step and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashdown Builders | Trading | £58,400 | 44 | Maya | Promised 7 Nov in a reply to a reminder. Maya checks on 10 Nov. |
| Calder Logistics | Trading | £36,900 | 67 | Tom | £8,200 disputed for a short delivery. Sales to confirm the credit note by 5 Nov. |
| Fenwick Hotels | Services | £21,300 | 33 | Leah | In their 14 Nov payment run. |
| Medway Fit-Out | Trading | £19,750 | 104 | Tom | No reply to 3 reminders and a call. Account on stop. Letter before action this week. |
| Penrose Dental | Services | £9,600 | 36 | Leah | Invoices went to an old contact. New accounts email found, invoices sent again. |
These five customers owe £145,950, which is 53% of the group's overdue debt. Every row names a person and a date, so the next meeting can check each one.
A short list covers most of the risk. In a typical business, the worst 1 in 20 customers bill 24% of revenue and cause 70% of the seriously overdue money. Seriously overdue means still unpaid 75 days after the due date, or paid 30 or more days late.
Table 4: promise record
| What happened to October's promises | Count | Amount | Share by value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid on the date, or up to 3 days late | 6 | £71,500 | 74% |
| Paid, but more than 3 days late | 1 | £9,000 | 9% |
| Broken: not paid | 2 | £15,500 | 16% |
| All October promises | 9 | £96,000 | 100% |
Of the money customers promised for October, 74% arrived on time. Use that kept rate to discount table 5, and put each broken promise on table 3 with a next action. Shares are rounded, so they add to 99%. Our guide to what to do when a customer breaks a promise to pay covers that step.
Table 5: cash promised for November
| Company | Customer | Pay date given | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example Trading Ltd | Ashdown Builders | 7 Nov | £58,400 |
| Example Trading Ltd | Larch Interiors | 12 Nov | £8,400 |
| Example Services Ltd | Fenwick Hotels | 14 Nov | £21,300 |
| Example Services Ltd | Orchard Vets | 21 Nov | £6,900 |
| Group | £95,000 | ||
| Expected cash at last month's 74% kept rate | about £70,000 |
Give the CFO both lines: £95,000 promised by customers, and about £70,000 expected on time at last month's kept rate. Put the second figure in the cash forecast.
Table 6: money at risk
| Customer | Company | Amount | Reason | Who, and by when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calder Logistics | Trading | £8,200 | Disputed: short delivery on one order | Jon in sales, 5 Nov |
| Medway Fit-Out | Trading | £19,750 | 104 days past due, no reply, credit score 12 (High risk) | Tom, letter this week |
| Larch Interiors | Trading | £8,400 | 9 days overdue, and paid its last four invoices late | Maya, review terms by 30 Nov |
Larch Interiors is on the list at 9 days overdue because of its record. In Paidnice data, a payer whose last invoice was 1 to 7 days late pays the next one on time 28% of the time, against 82% after an on-time payment (credit control statistics).
Put repeat late payers on the at-risk table. Among payers with 5 or more invoices, 3 in 10 are late on 80% or more of them. Those payers cause 55% of late invoices and 71% of invoices still unpaid at 75 days.
Which question does each table answer?
Each table answers one question the CFO asks in the meeting, and each answer leads to a decision.
| The CFO asks | Look at | Answer in the example | What to decide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is overdue debt going up? | Table 1 | Yes, by £15,500, all of it at Trading | Which company needs more time from the team this month |
| How much could turn into bad debt? | Tables 2 and 6 | £19,500 is 90+ days, and Medway Fit-Out is the largest risk | What to provide for, and which accounts go on stop |
| Who is dealing with the big balances? | Table 3 | Maya, Tom and Leah, with a date on every row | Whether each account has an owner and a dated next step |
| How much cash comes in this month? | Tables 4 and 5 | About £70,000 of £95,000 promised | The expected cash figure for the forecast |
| Does sales need to get involved? | Table 6 | Yes, on Calder Logistics' £8,200 dispute | Which disputes need a decision on a credit note |
How do you run a 30-minute debtors meeting?
Send the debtors pack the day before, so the 30-minute meeting is for decisions, not for reading. Then keep to this order:
- Last month's actions (5 minutes). Go through last month's table 3 and say done or not done for each action.
- The headline (5 minutes). Table 1 and table 2. Name the entity that moved and the age band that grew.
- Top customers (10 minutes). Table 3, one customer at a time. Each owner confirms the next action and the date.
- Cash (5 minutes). Tables 4 and 5. Agree the expected cash figure for the forecast.
- Risk (5 minutes). Table 6. Decide on credit stops, credit notes, letters and any provision.
Write each decision into next month's table 3 before you close the meeting. That list is the first five minutes of the next meeting.
What mistakes make a debtors pack misleading?
Most errors come from totals that hide a company, promises counted as cash, and figures that change between months for reasons other than collection.
- Only a group total. One entity's improvement can hide another one's problem, as in table 1 above. Always show each entity.
- Promises counted as cash. A promise is not a payment. Discount it by your own kept rate from table 4.
- Different exchange rates. If an entity invoices in another currency, convert this month and last month at the same rate. Otherwise a currency move looks like better or worse collection.
- Unallocated credit notes and payments. They make a customer look more overdue than it is. Allocate them before you export.
- No owner on a row. A balance with no name next to it is still there next month.
How do you build a debtors pack in Xero or QuickBooks?
Export the aged receivables report from each company file, then add owners, promised dates and disputes manually.
Each export goes into one spreadsheet, and the owners, promised dates and disputes come from your notes and inbox. Xero and QuickBooks do not record promised dates or owners, so those columns depend on someone's memory. See aged receivables reports for several entities for the export steps.
Sort each export by overdue amount before you pick the top customers. Keep last month's file as well, because table 1 needs last month's overdue figure next to this month's.
How Paidnice builds the debtors pack for you
Paidnice holds the data for most of the six debtors pack tables, synced from Xero or QuickBooks:
- Tables 1 and 2: choose All entities to see outstanding and overdue debt and aged receivables for the whole group, with each entity underneath. Paidnice also shows DSO and its trend. See multi-entity support.
- Tables 3 and 6: assign each account to a person, and see every customer's credit score from 0 to 100, built from how it pays you. The score falls as a customer pays later and more of its balance is overdue. See credit scoring.
- Tables 4 and 5: when a customer replies with a date, Paidnice reads the reply and logs it as the expected payment date. You can list expected payments by expected date, and the owner gets an email if a promise breaks. Work out the table 4 kept rate from that list. See how Paidnice handles replies.
- Sending the pack: save a filtered view and Paidnice emails it as a CSV each week or month to up to 10 people on your team, with a weekly cash forecast in the accounts receivable reports.
The meeting then works from live data, and nobody rebuilds the spreadsheet on the first Tuesday. If you are comparing tools for this, our guide to credit control software sets out what to look for.
Common questions
What is a debtors meeting pack?
A debtors meeting pack is a short set of tables that shows what customers owe, how overdue it is, who is chasing each large balance, what cash is promised and what could be lost. Finance teams send it before a monthly meeting with the CFO or finance director.
Is there a debtors report template in Excel?
Yes, you can build one from the six tables in this guide: copy the column headings into a sheet, one tab per table, and paste each entity's aged receivables export into tables 1 and 2. Tables 3 to 6 need owners, promised dates and disputes that the accounting export does not hold.
How often should a debtors meeting happen?
Monthly suits most businesses, after month-end close so the numbers are final. Add a short weekly check on table 3 if a few large customers make up most of your overdue debt.
Should the debtors pack include invoices that are not yet due?
Yes, as one column in the aged debt table. It lets the total agree with the balance sheet and shows the debt that will become overdue next month.
How many customers should the top overdue list show?
About ten, or enough to cover most of the overdue balance. In Paidnice data, the worst 1 in 20 customers cause 70% of seriously overdue money, so a short list with owners usually covers most of the risk.
How do you report on debtors across several companies?
Show each entity on its own row with a group total underneath, in one reporting currency, and use the same exchange rate for both months when you compare them. Paidnice shows every entity in a group under one login, with a group view of overdue debt and aged receivables.
What is the formula for debtor days?
Debtor days are trade debtors divided by credit sales, multiplied by the days in the period. In table 1, Trading's 40.0 days is £821,000 divided by £1,888,300 of sales, multiplied by 92 days.
Is a debtor an asset or liability?
A debtor is an asset. Trade debtors are money customers owe you, shown under current assets on the balance sheet, less any provision for bad debts.
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About the editorial team
Denym started Paidnice in 2022 after customers paying late left his own business short on payroll. He has led it to $1 billion collected on time across more than 1 million invoices, and writes about credit control, late fees and getting paid on Xero and QuickBooks.
Ashley is a co-founder and lead developer of Paidnice and has built accounting software for more than 10 years. He builds the ledger connections that put reminders, late fees and payments into Xero, QuickBooks and ERPs such as NetSuite and Business Central. Before Paidnice he co-founded A2X, ecommerce accounting software for Xero and QuickBooks.
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