Accounts receivable resources and insights

Build a foundation in accounts receivable, from understanding what customers owe to following the steps that turn an invoice into a recorded payment. These articles explain core terminology, the AR process cycle, accounting treatment, and the responsibilities involved in managing receivables. They are a useful starting point for new finance professionals and teams reviewing their existing processes.

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• Accounts receivable management: What it is and how to improve it — Explore ways to improve the management of receivables.

• 12 accounts receivable best practices — Review practical approaches to everyday AR work.

• A Day In The Life Of An Accounts Receivable Specialist — Explore the day-to-day responsibilities of an AR specialist.

More articles on this topic

• 5 Accounts Receivable Challenges and How to Solve Them

• A Brief History Of Accounts Receivable

• A Negative AR Balance: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

• Accounts Receivable Acronyms For Reference

• Better understanding AR: Is accounts receivable an asset or a liability?

• How to close revenue accounts: The complete closing entry process

• The March Madness of Month-End Close

• What is the accounts receivable process cycle?

Explore the processes and conversations that help finance teams follow up on overdue invoices. These resources cover collections planning, customer reminders, dunning letters, call scripts, and email examples. They are designed for readers looking to make follow-up more consistent while understanding the reasons customers may not pay on time.

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• What are accounts receivable collections? — Understand the purpose and process of AR collections.

• Nine best practices for AR collections — Review nine practices for improving collections.

• How to Write Good Collections Emails (With 5 Examples) — Explore collection email guidance and five examples.

• How to Write Effective Dunning Letters (With 3 Examples) — Learn how to structure a dunning letter.

• AR Collection Call Scripts: Best Practices and 3 Examples — Find collection call practices and example scripts.

More articles on this topic

• 3 ways to reduce your average days delinquent

• How Automated Invoice Follow-Ups Can Help Solve Unpaid AR Debts

• How To Get Your Invoice Prioritized And Paid

• Is Call Or Email The Best Way To Chase Down Unpaid Invoices?

• Past due payments? 3 reasons customers don’t settle invoices on time

• Seven Ways To Get Your Buyers To Pay - Faster

• Strategies to improve the AR collection process

• The role and process of collections

• What is AR collection software?

• Why follow-up matters to your customers and how to get it right

Understand how credit decisions, payment risk, and internal controls influence accounts receivable. This section brings together articles on credit management systems, customer creditworthiness, credit policies, bad debt, and doubtful accounts. It also includes resources on fraud and customer data security, connecting decisions made before a sale with the risks that can arise during payment.

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• What is a credit management system? — Learn what a credit management system does.

• The credit management process explained — Follow the stages of the credit management process.

• How to use credit risk analysis in accounts receivable — Explore credit risk analysis in an AR context.

• Creating A Perfectly Balanced Credit Policy To Protect Your Cash Flow — Consider the balance between credit policy and customer relationships.

• Risk and control in accounts receivable — Review risks and controls associated with receivables.

More articles on this topic

• 10 tips for improved credit management

• Allowance for Doubtful Accounts: Everything to Know About Doubtful Accounts

• Be Careful About Extending Credit To Just Anyone

• Bending Your Credit Policy To Gain A Customer

• Credit management strategies to consider

• Creditworthiness: What is it and how is it determined?

• Criminals Want Your Customer Data. Here's What Can Stop Them

• How to prevent bad debt during an economic downturn

• How to Reduce Chargebacks and Fraud During Black Friday and Cyber Monday

• Online payments are both necessary and a vulnerability

• The benefits of adopting a B2B credit management system

• Total debt formula: How to calculate and analyze company debt

• What is a Bad Debt Expense & How to Calculate it

• What Is Your Bad Debt To Sales Ratio?

Explore how billing practices and payment options affect the journey from invoice to cash. These articles cover B2B payment methods, advance billing, progress billings, retainers, paper checks, and digital payment experiences. They also examine customer self-service and the choices businesses face around payment terms, discounts, and fees.

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• The Definitive Ranking Of B2B Payment Methods — Explore common B2B payment methods.

• The perfect b2b payment process — 5 features your customers want — Review five features customers want in a payment process.

• What AR Self-Service Means To Your Customers — Understand the customer perspective on AR self-service.

• What Is Advance Billing And How To Account For It — Learn about advance billing and its accounting treatment.

• Late payment fees vs. early payment discounts: Which should you choose? — Compare early payment discounts and late payment fees.

More articles on this topic

• 3 Reasons Why Managing B2B Finance Is More Difficult Than B2C

• 5 Payment Strategies For Optimizing Cash Flow

• Building better AR: progress billings let construction firms lay a foundation for cash flow

• How a strong defensive strategy can protect your bottom line

• No Paper Checks, No Problem

• Part 2: Why Quadient AR's payment process is the best in the business

• The Check Challenge: 4 Paper Payment Problems (And How To Fix Them)

• The retainer gamble, a cautionary Mad Men tale: How to turn retained invoices into cash flow you can bet on

Why Businesses Can't Afford To Ignore The Demand For Digital Payments

Explore what happens when incoming payments need to be matched to invoices or do not agree with the amount expected. This section covers cash application, remittance information, short payments, deductions, and disputes. It is useful for teams examining why reconciliation takes time and where unresolved issues create extra work for staff and customers.

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• Why AR Teams Can’t Afford Manual Cash Application — Explore the challenges associated with manual cash application.

• 5 Common Cash Application Problems and How to Solve Them — Review five common cash application problems.

• The World Of Remittance — Build familiarity with remittance information.

• How to Handle Short Payments — Explore how to handle payments below the invoiced amount.

• Dispute Management: How to Protect Your AR Cash Flow — Consider dispute management's role in protecting cash flow.

More articles on this topic

• 3 Common Customer Complaints In AR and How To Solve Them

• AI-powered cash application and staff shortages: What’s the link?

• Four Things to Look Forward to with Quadient AR Advanced Cash Application

• The Power Of Deductions

• Three Ways To Use Automation And Machine Learning To Resolve Disputes And Increase Cash Flow

Develop a clearer view of accounts receivable performance and its relationship with cash flow. These resources cover days sales outstanding (DSO), aging reports, turnover ratios, collections effectiveness, cash forecasting, and automation ROI. They help readers move from general concerns about payment delays to specific questions about what to track and how to interpret the results.

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• The Key Metrics You Need To Measure Accounts Receivable Performance — Identify key measures of accounts receivable performance.

• Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): What is it, Formula, & How to Improve it? — Understand DSO, its formula, and improvement considerations.

• The Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI): What is it & Why is it Important? — Learn about the Collection Effectiveness Index.

• What Is An AR Aging Report And How Does It Benefit Your Business? — Explore how an AR aging report supports visibility.

• Best Practices to Accurately Forecast Cash Flow — Review practices for developing cash flow forecasts.

More articles on this topic

• 20 financial automation statistics CFOs need to know in 2025

• 20 statistics to understand the accounts receivable landscape in 2025

• 5 Accounts Receivable & Collection Statistics That Should Scare You

• Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio: What It Is, How To Calculate It, and Examples

• AR Aging Reports: What Are They And Why Do They Matter?

• Average Days Delinquent Formula & Definition

• Cash flow statements and accounts receivable

• Creating Aging Reports Manually? It’s Time For Automation

• Focusing on cash management during challenging times

• How automating accounts receivable (AR) can improve a business’s cash flow

• How do you measure the ROI of AI in accounts receivable in 2026?

• Revenue Isn't Cash

• The Acid Test Ratio in Accounts Receivable: Everything You Need to Know

• What is accounts receivable factoring?

• What Is An Aged Trial Balance Report?

• What Is Best Possible DSO?

• What To Do When Your Cash Flow Forecast Is Wrong

Explore how accounts receivable automation fits into a broader plan to improve finance operations. This section covers what automation does, where it can create value, and how to prepare teams and processes for change. It brings together introductory guides and practical perspectives on moving beyond manual work as transaction volumes and business needs evolve.

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• Understanding accounts receivable automation — Get an introduction to accounts receivable automation.

• Benefits of accounts receivable automation — Explore the potential benefits of automating AR.

• AR best practices: tips and tricks for adapting to automation — Consider best practices for adapting to automated workflows.

• How to choose between automation and outsourcing accounts receivable — Compare automation and outsourcing as approaches to managing AR.

• How do you streamline and modernize accounts receivable operations? — Explore ways to modernize accounts receivable operations.

More articles on this topic

• 6 Benefits of Investing In Accounts Receivable Automation

• AR automation and AP automation

• Finance Made Simple: Why Businesses Can't Afford Outdated Finance Automation in 2025

• How AR Automation Can Contribute To An 84% Decrease In Carbon Emissions

• How Much Change Does Your AR Environment Actually Need?

• Level Up Your Financial Automation: 5 Signs You Need to Scale Up

• Optimizing AP and AR for 2026: How to Build Finance Workflows That Actually Scale

• Squandered Success: Why Your AR Solution is Wasted Without a Digital Optimization Team

• The most common excuses for not automating accounts receivable

• What are the best practices for accounts receivable automation in 2026?

Explore how AI and analytics relate to collections, forecasting, reporting, and everyday AR decisions. This section brings together articles on predictive analytics, business intelligence, data mining, and practical AI applications. It offers a starting point for teams looking to understand what these technologies can contribute and how to connect them with specific finance tasks.

Start with these articles

• What are the top ways to implement AI in accounts receivable in 2026? — Explore approaches to implementing AI in AR.

• What Is Predictive Analytics And How It Can Better Your AR — Understand predictive analytics in accounts receivable.

• Data-Driven Decision Making in Accounts Receivable — Connect AR data with business decision-making.

• AI-Driven Collections and Customer Communication — Explore AI in collections and customer communication.

• How Artificial Intelligence can help with cash flow forecasting — Read about AI applications in cash flow forecasting.

More articles on this topic

• 15 Must Try ChatGPT Prompts for AR Teams

• AP, AR, and CX: Where AI Delivers ROI First (and Why)

• Finance and AI: A Heated Rivalry?

• How Root Cause Analysis Gives You a Leg Up in Accounts Receivable

• How to Use AI to Become a Cash Forecasting Expert

• Part 4: Why Quadient AR by YayPay's payer analysis is the best in the business

• The Warning Signs Appear Before the AR Problem Does

• Transform Your AR Reporting With YayPay's Business Intelligence (BI) Module

• What Accounts Receivable Data Mining Reveals About Your Business

• Will artificial intelligence (AI) replace accountants?

Learn how accounts receivable processes connect with ERP, CRM, and accounting platforms. These resources cover the relationship between AR automation and existing business systems, alongside platform-specific guidance for Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Workday, Sage Intacct, NetSuite, Salesforce, and Acumatica. They are useful for readers considering where their current systems support AR and where additional capabilities may help.

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• ERP vs accounting software (AR automation) — Explore the relationship between ERP, accounting software, and AR automation.

• When the ERP Stops Being Enough — Assess whether your ERP alone meets your AR needs.

• 4 value-added benefits of integrating sage intacct with Quadient AR by Yaypay — Read about integrating Sage Intacct with Quadient AR.

• 4 value-added benefits of integrating Netsuite with Quadient AR by YayPay — Explore the NetSuite integration perspective.

• YayPay Levels Up Customer Experience With Salesforce Integration — Learn about the Salesforce integration and customer experience.

More articles on this topic

• A Complete Guide to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

• How SAP S/4HANA Users Can Get the Most Out of AI in 2025

• How Workday users can optimize the accounts receivable process

• Meet our partners series: Solaris

• Streamline your business with the best Acumatica ERP integrations

Research accounts receivable software with a clearer view of your requirements and the evidence behind vendor claims. These articles cover solution costs, market research, product capabilities, and evaluation methods. They encourage readers to connect software selection with the outcomes their finance team needs, rather than relying on feature lists alone.

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• Evaluating Market Research: How to choose the right AR automation solution for you — Use market research to inform your software evaluation.

• What is the best accounts receivable software for every business type in 2026? — Explore software considerations for different business types.

• What Does An Account Receivable Solution Cost? — Review the factors discussed in AR solution pricing.

• What Modern AR Should Actually Do — Consider what a modern AR solution should deliver.

• Pressure-Test the Promise — Examine how to test vendor claims against supporting evidence.

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• AR Features Are Evidence. Business Outcomes Are the Test.

• Proof Before Purchase

Explore the people and leadership questions that accompany changes to accounts receivable. This section covers collaboration between sales and finance, employee engagement, hybrid work, reskilling, and productivity. It also considers how finance leaders respond to disruption and help AR contribute to broader business priorities.

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• 6 Reasons Why Your Sales Team Should Work With Your AR Team — Explore reasons for closer collaboration between sales and AR.

• Reskilling in the Age of Automation: AR Opportunities for Everyone — Consider opportunities to develop skills as AR work changes.

• Five Keys to Boost Employee Engagement in your Finance Team — Review ideas for supporting finance-team engagement.

• How Automation Is Helping CFOs Transform Accounts Receivable Into A Strategic Partner — Explore AR's contribution as a strategic partner to the CFO.

• What Hybrid Work Means for Finance Teams — Consider the implications of hybrid work for finance teams.

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• 6 Must-Have Productivity Tools For CFO Of High Growth Companies

• Financial Discipline for Enhanced Performance

• How Three Finance Leaders Improved Performance During A Global Crisis

• Staying Resilient During Disruptions

• Strategically planning for the impact of “Cloud-flation"

• What Finance Teams Can Learn From The Winter Olympics: Speed, Precision, and Perfect Form

Browse developments in accounts receivable automation, Quadient product news, and perspectives from finance technology events. This section brings together annual trend discussions, product introductions, and event coverage, complementing the process guides and practical articles elsewhere in the learning hub.

Start with these articles

• What are the top accounts receivable trends for 2026? — Explore the article's outlook on AR trends for 2026.

• Introducing Quadient Accounts Receivable by YayPay — Get background on Quadient Accounts Receivable by YayPay.

• Remove accounts receivable blind spots with new features in Quadient AR Automation — Read about features aimed at improving AR visibility.

• SSOW Orlando 2026: Why AR Automation Is Becoming the New Center of Gravity for Cash Flow — Explore AR and cash flow themes from SSOW Orlando 2026.

• What Finance Teams Kept Asking at Acumatica Summit 2026: Get Paid Faster, Cut Manual Work, Trust the Numbers — Read finance-team perspectives from Acumatica Summit 2026.

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