Chasing overdue client fees
A practical order for following up overdue fees with statements of account, pay links and conversations before an accounting firm writes anything off.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Accountants are good at telling clients to collect their debts and often poor at collecting their own. The client is a friend of the partner, or a long-standing family business, or simply busy, and a gentle reminder feels rude. So the invoice ages, the next one is added to it, and by the time anyone acts the amount has become a negotiation.
Chasing fees is not a matter of being harder on clients. It is a matter of being earlier, clearer and more consistent, so that paying the firm becomes the easy thing for the client to do. This article sets out an order of steps that works, and where Achekam fits into each.
Knowing who owes what
You cannot chase what you cannot see clearly. Before a single reminder goes out, the firm needs an accurate list of what each client owes, and confidence that it is right.
A firm's client invoices, receipts, credit notes and statements of account are kept in a receivables ledger on the server, under BILLING & FINANCE. That ledger is the one record to chase from. Before chasing, clean it:
- Allocate every receipt that has come in. An unallocated payment makes a paid invoice look overdue.
- Issue credit notes that have been agreed but not raised.
- Check that disputed invoices are known to the person chasing, so the client is not reminded about an amount already under discussion.
A reminder sent for an invoice the client has already paid does more damage than no reminder at all. For Kenyan firms taking M-Pesa, payments that did not quote an invoice number wait for a person to allocate; clear them first, as described in taking client fees by M-Pesa paybill.
Unbilled work matters too. BILLING & FINANCE > Rate Cards & Realisation shows the age of unbilled work. A client with large unbilled time and overdue invoices is a bigger exposure than the receivables figure alone suggests.
Statements of account by e-mail
A statement of account sets out the client's position in one place. From the receivables ledger, a statement can be downloaded as a PDF or e-mailed to the client.
Statements work best as a routine rather than a weapon. Send them to every client with a balance at the same point each month, so receiving one is normal and not an accusation. A client's bookkeeper who gets a monthly statement reconciles it, and queries come back early, while they are easy to resolve.
Address statements to the person who pays, not only the person who engaged the firm. In a larger client those are rarely the same.
Pay links on invoices
The fewer steps between an invoice and a payment, the sooner the money arrives. A firm can e-mail an invoice with a pay link through which the client pays by a gateway the firm has configured with its own keys, such as PayFast, Ozow, Peach Payments, Stripe, Paystack, Flutterwave, M-Pesa or Pesapal, or by EFT. The set-up is under SETTINGS > Integrations & Webhooks > Payment Gateways & Checkout.
Two points to know. With no gateway configured, there is no pay link. And a payment is recorded only from the gateway's verified notification, a status query, or a person's capture, so a client saying "I've paid" is checked against what the gateway reports.
When chasing, resend the invoice with its pay link rather than writing "please pay" in a separate e-mail. The client can act on the message they are reading.
Conversations before write-offs
When statements and reminders have not worked, pick up the phone. ICAEW's helpsheet on chasing debtors suggests checking your own processes and chasing informally first before choosing next steps; its examples are from the UK, but the order of steps travels well.
A useful structure for the call:
- Confirm the client has the invoice and agrees the amount.
- Ask whether anything about the work is in dispute.
- Agree a date for payment, or a plan in instalments.
- Confirm what was agreed by e-mail the same day.
- Diarise the follow-up and keep to it.
If, after all that, the firm decides part of a fee will not be collected, the decision should be visible and approved, not quietly absorbed. On the unbilled side, the WIP Register lets a partner, manager or administrator write time down or off with a reason; write-downs above the firm's threshold, 10% by default, and every write-off wait for approval by another partner. A reason such as "client disputed scope; fee reduced by agreement" teaches the firm something for next year's engagement letter.
Stopping work: when and how
At some point the question becomes whether to keep working for a client who does not pay. There is no single answer, but a few principles help:
- Say it in the engagement letter. Terms that allow the firm to pause work on unpaid fees make the conversation a reminder of agreed terms, not a threat.
- Give notice. A dated e-mail that work will pause on a certain date unless payment or a plan is agreed is fair and clear.
- Mind statutory deadlines. Pausing work that a client needs to meet a filing deadline has consequences for the client and can reflect on the firm. Discuss it with the partner first.
- Watch independence on audit clients. Large overdue fees from an audit client raise an independence question the firm has to consider; see overdue fees and independence.
A monthly chasing rhythm
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Month end | Allocate receipts, raise agreed credit notes |
| First working days | E-mail statements of account to every client with a balance |
| After the due date | Resend overdue invoices with their pay links |
| Later | Phone the client and confirm in writing |
| Before any write-off | Record the reason and get a second partner's approval |
Pick the person who will own the rhythm, put the dates in their calendar, and start with the oldest balances this month.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
