Five Collections Habits Accountants Can Help Small-Business Clients Adopt

My father ran a wholesale business on net terms for 30 years. Growing up, I heard him on the phone every day, asking his team whether a customer had paid yet and who was going to follow up. He still makes those calls. His business was healthy on paper, but cash was always a step behind.

Many small-business clients live the same way. Accountants see the result at month end: a receivables balance that keeps growing and a client who feels busy but short on cash. The fix is rarely one big change. It is a handful of habits, and accountants are well placed to help clients build them.

1. Put the terms in writing before the work starts

Late payment often starts before the invoice exists. If the customer never agreed to clear terms, every follow-up becomes a negotiation. Encourage clients to state payment terms in the quote, the contract, and on every invoice: the due date (not just “net 30”), accepted payment methods, and what happens when a payment is late.

Help clients pick terms they will actually enforce. A late fee no one charges teaches customers that the due date is a suggestion.

2. Make the invoice easy to pay

An invoice that is hard to read or hard to pay sits in someone’s inbox. Clients should send invoices promptly, to the person who approves payment, with a clear amount, due date, invoice number, and a reference the customer’s AP team needs, such as a PO number. Every extra payment option a client can reasonably offer removes a reason to wait.

A simple check: ask the client to pay one of their own invoices as if they were the customer. Friction shows up quickly.

3. Follow a reminder schedule, not a mood

Most small businesses follow up when they remember or when cash gets tight. That makes follow-up inconsistent and awkward. A written schedule fixes both. For example: a friendly note a few days before the due date, a reminder on the due date, and firmer follow-ups at set intervals after it.

The exact days matter less than doing it every time. Consistency tells customers the business pays attention, and it takes the emotion out of asking for money. Accountants can help clients draft the messages once so no one has to write them under pressure.

4. Use the channels customers actually answer

Email is the default, but it is not always where a busy customer responds. Some reply faster to a text, some only to a phone call, and some to a message app they use all day. Clients should note how each customer prefers to be reached and use that channel, especially once an invoice is overdue.

Keep the tone polite and specific: which invoice, how much, the due date, and how to pay. Customers respond better to a clear, courteous reminder than to a vague “just checking in.”

5. Decide in advance when to escalate

Every client needs a point where a late invoice gets different treatment. That might be a phone call from the owner, a pause on new orders, a payment plan, or, eventually, a collections agency or legal step. Deciding this in advance stops a client from extending more credit to a customer who is already behind.

Accountants can add value here by reviewing the aging report with the client on a regular schedule. A short monthly conversation about which accounts are slipping, and what the next step is for each, often does more than any single policy.

Measure more than the total

Days sales outstanding (DSO) is useful, but it can hide problems. Encourage clients to also watch how much of their receivables are past 60 or 90 days, which customers are consistently late, and how much time the team spends chasing payments. Those numbers show where habits are slipping and which customers may need different terms.

Where accountants fit

Clients rarely ask their accountant for help with collections. They ask about cash flow, or why the bank balance doesn’t match the profit on the statement. Collections habits are often the answer. Helping a client set clear terms, invoice cleanly, follow a reminder schedule, use the right channels, and escalate on time is practical advisory work, and it changes how the business feels day to day.

My father’s business would have been easier to run with those habits in place. Most of your clients’ businesses would be too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Salman Shawaf is cofounder of Yonovo, which builds accounts receivable automation for small and mid-sized finance teams in the US and Canada.