Aged receivables
What customers owe you, sorted by how long each amount is past due.
Aged receivables are the amounts customers owe you, grouped by how long each one has been outstanding — usually current, 1–30 days past due, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90. The aged receivables report shows, customer by customer, which money is on time, which is slipping and which is at risk of never arriving.
Receivables are the short-term amounts customers still need to pay, and ageing them turns one total into a to-do list: the older a debt, the firmer the next step, from a polite reminder to a phone call, a payment plan and a letter of demand. In Australia, a debt written off as bad, or overdue for 12 months or more, can give a GST decreasing adjustment when you account for GST on an accruals basis.
Worked example
A design studio is owed $11,880: $6,050 current, $1,650 at 1–30 days, $1,980 at 31–60 and $2,200 over 90 days. About 49% is overdue, and the $2,200 over 90 days — almost a fifth of the total — is the amount to settle or decide on first.
Common mistake
Ageing from the invoice date instead of the due date. An invoice on 30-day terms looks three weeks old before it is even due, so a report aged that way makes reliable customers look slow and hides the accounts that are genuinely late.
Grounded in business.gov.au — Key financial terms guidance. Figures last checked . General information, not tax advice.
Related terms
Aged payables
What you owe suppliers, sorted by how long each bill has been waiting.
Bank reconciliation
Checking that your records and your bank statement agree, line by line and balance by balance.
Tax invoice
The GST-compliant invoice that lets a buyer claim the GST back.
ABN (Australian Business Number)
The 11-digit number that identifies your business.
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Questions about this term
Aged receivables: common questions
- What are the usual columns on an aged receivables report?
- Current, for invoices not yet due, then 1–30 days past due, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90. Some businesses add a 120-day column, but those five buckets are the common layout, with a total for each customer and for each column.
- Is aged receivables the same as aged debtors?
- Yes. Debtors is the older word for the people and businesses that owe you money, so an aged debtors report and an aged receivables report are the same list of unpaid customer invoices, sorted by how long each has been waiting.
- Which column of an aged receivables report needs attention first?
- The oldest one, because an amount gets harder to collect the longer it waits. Then look at movement: a customer whose balance has moved a column to the right since last month is the next call, before the amount grows.
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