How Balance My Books more than halved a client's overdue invoices
Roman Tepes switched Paidnice on for a client drowning in aged receivables; the six-figure overdue book halved within months.
A six-figure sum of the client's locked-up cash, unlocked within months.
Watch Roman tell it · 3:28
When a client of Balance My Books was sitting on more than six figures of overdue invoices, founder Roman Tepes didn't need another spreadsheet, he needed something that would actually make customers pay.
The client was paying their own bills quickly while collecting slowly, financing everyone else's business with cash they were owed. Within months of switching on Paidnice, that client's aged receivables fell by more than half, and new invoices started getting paid on time.
The stakes: financing everyone else's business
One of Roman's clients had a cash flow problem big enough to threaten the business: a huge accounts receivable balance and customers who chronically paid late.
The client said they were following up. Roman saw little evidence it was working. What he could see was an unsustainable pattern, bills going out fast, payments coming in slow, and over six figures of capital tied up in invoices that should have been paid long ago. Some of it was money the client was effectively paying interest on while waiting to be paid.
The diagnosis: no consequence for paying late
On the surface this looked like a follow-up problem. Underneath, the issue was simpler and harder: there was no consequence for paying late, and manual follow-up wasn't changing anyone's behavior.
Roman knew he needed to motivate the client's customers to pay on time, every time. Manually calling and emailing was insufficient, he wanted a "stick" approach, with automated late fees that got customers to pay promptly.
Calls and emails could ask for payment, but they couldn't make late payment cost anything. Without that, the slow payers had no reason to change.
The shift: a stick, and a carrot
The client ran on Xero, so Roman went looking for an app that could add automated late fees. He found Paidnice recommended in a Xero forum for exactly that, automatic penalties on overdue invoices, and realized it was precisely what his client needed.
The strategy wasn't only punitive. Paidnice let Roman pair the stick with a carrot: interest charges for late payers, and prompt payment discounts for the good ones, all automated, and all designed to change behavior without damaging relationships.
The implementation: consequences on autopilot
Roman set Paidnice up for the client, and the system took over the receivables process end to end:
- Automated late fees
Paidnice detects an overdue Xero invoice and adds interest directly to it, so the revised invoice clearly states the cost of paying late.
- Email and SMS reminders
Customers are warned about upcoming interest charges and reminded of available discounts.
- Prompt payment discounts
Good payers are rewarded for paying early.
- Customer segmentation
Fees and incentives tailored to different customer groups.
- Automated statements
Account summaries sent without anyone lifting a finger.
The entire process now runs with no manual effort from the client, while keeping customer relationships intact.
The results
Before Paidnice
A client's cash locked in aged receivables.
Invoices went ignored without consequence.
Bookkeepers watching a client bleed cash.
After Paidnice
Within months of switching Paidnice on.
When Paidnice flags an impending interest charge, customers get in touch to find out how to avoid it.
A result Roman can point to, with numbers to prove it.
The advisor looks like a hero
Roman didn't just solve a problem; he became the person who solved it.
"We look like heroes because we've introduced Paidnice into their business. For their business, it's unlocked cash they didn't have, or cash that they were paying interest on, which now is generated as part of their cashflow. So that's their big win."
The verdict
"Paidnice makes us look like heroes, it's unlocked cash they didn't have, or cash that they were paying interest on. That's their big win, plain and simple."
For a bookkeeping and business-coaching firm, being able to deploy the right fix quickly is the whole value proposition. Paidnice gave Roman a result he could point to and numbers he could prove.
"We've found Paidnice to be an absolutely brilliant solution for one of our clients. Don't know of anything else in the market that does something like that."
Balance My Books is a bookkeeping and business-coaching firm based in Australia.
