An accounts receivable aging report lists every unpaid invoice grouped by how long it has been outstanding, usually in buckets: current (not yet due), 1 to 30 days past due, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90. The total at the bottom is what you are owed. The shape of the buckets is what matters: money in the 1 to 30 column is normal, money in 61 to 90 is a follow-up problem, and money over 90 is a decision you have been putting off. Reading it well takes five minutes, and it should change what you do this week.
This is a practical guide to the report: how to run it, what each column means, the patterns that predict trouble, and what to do about each one.
How do you run an AR aging report in QuickBooks Online?
- 1Open Reports. Search for A/R Aging Summary. (A/R Aging Detail lists every invoice; Summary rolls them up by customer. Start with Summary.)
- 2Set the date. The report date is 'as of' a day. Use today for a live view, or the last day of the month for a clean monthly snapshot.
- 3Check the aging method. Under Customize, 'Aging method' should be Report date, and 'Days per aging period' 30 with 4 periods. That gives you the standard buckets.
- 4Sort by total, descending. The customers who owe you the most should be at the top. The report defaults to alphabetical, which hides them.
- 5Save the customization. So next month is one click.
One thing QuickBooks does not do: age by due date and by invoice date at the same time. The default ages from the due date, which is what you want for collections. If a client has net-60 terms, an invoice from 45 days ago is still 'current,' which is correct, and also worth remembering when the current column looks larger than you expected.
What does each aging bucket mean?
| Bucket | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Current | Not yet due. Normal working capital. Should be your largest bucket. | Nothing, except a heads-up reminder a few days before due for large invoices. |
| 1 to 30 days | Late, but ordinary. The invoice is in someone's AP queue or was forgotten. | Friendly reminder on day 1, direct check-in at day 7. Most of this bucket clears itself with two emails. |
| 31 to 60 days | Stuck. Something is blocking: a missing PO, a dispute nobody raised, or a client with a cash problem. | Firm request for a payment date. Ask directly what is holding it up. Fix the blocker the same day. |
| 61 to 90 days | A collections problem. The client has ignored at least two touches, or your touches stopped. | Escalate to a decision maker on their side. Set a deadline. Pause new work if your terms allow. |
| Over 90 days | A decision. The odds of collecting drop sharply here, but they are not zero. | Final notice with a consequence you will act on. Then act on it: collections, a settlement, or a write-off. |
47%
of US small businesses have invoices more than 30 days overdue, and nearly 1 in 10 invoices falls in that bucket on average.
Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report, January 2025
What is a healthy aging report shape?
For a B2B service business on net-30 terms, a healthy report is heavily front-loaded: roughly 70 to 80 percent of the total in Current, 15 to 20 percent in 1 to 30, single digits in 31 to 60, and very little beyond that. The exact numbers depend on your industry (staffing and freight run heavier in the later buckets because their clients' AP cycles are long), but the shape is the thing to watch. A report where the later buckets are growing month over month is telling you something before the cash flow does.
Two ratios worth writing down each month: the share of total AR over 30 days, and the share over 90. If either is climbing, find out which customers are driving it before you do anything else.
What are the three patterns to look for?
1. One customer is carrying the whole late column
Sort by the 61 to 90 and over-90 columns. Very often a single client accounts for most of it, and the aging report's totals are hiding a one-account problem behind an aggregate. That is good news, because a one-account problem has a one-phone-call solution: a direct conversation with someone senior on their side about what is going on. It is a very different fix from 'we need better collections.'
2. A customer is drifting
A client who used to sit in Current with everything now has one invoice in 1 to 30, then two, then one in 31 to 60. Nothing is dramatically wrong yet. This is the most valuable pattern on the report because you catch it early: a client whose payments are lengthening is either having cash trouble or has decided your invoices can wait. Either way, a friendly, early conversation now is much cheaper than a firm one in three months. Compare this month's report to last month's, by customer, to see it.
3. The over-90 bucket never changes
The same invoices, the same balances, month after month. They are not being collected and they are not being written off; they are just being carried. This inflates your AR, understates your bad-debt reality, and quietly trains everyone that old invoices are decoration. Each one needs a decision: a final notice with a real deadline, a negotiated settlement, a referral to collections, or a write-off. Any of those is better than another month on the report.
The aging report does not have a problem column. It has a time column, and time is the problem.
What does the aging report not tell you?
- Why. An invoice in 31 to 60 could be disputed, lost, waiting on a PO, or held by a client with a cash crunch. The report cannot distinguish them. Your follow-up history can, if you keep one.
- Whether anyone has followed up. Two invoices at 45 days look identical whether one has had three reminders and the other has had none. The second one is not a collections problem yet; it is a process gap.
- Speed. The report is a snapshot of what is open. It says nothing about how quickly paid invoices got paid, which is what DSO and days-to-pay measure. Pair it with those to see the full picture.
- Trend. One report is a photo. Six of them, compared by customer, is the actual story.
A five-minute weekly routine
- 1Run A/R Aging Summary as of today, sorted by total. Note the total and the share over 30 days.
- 2Look at the 61-plus columns by customer. Anyone new there? Anyone still there from last week?
- 3Compare the top ten customers to last week. Who moved right?
- 4For every invoice over 30 days, confirm a follow-up went out this week. If not, send it today.
- 5Make one decision on the over-90 bucket. One invoice, one action. Every week.
Doing this without doing it by hand
Everything above is the manual version of what Reeve does continuously. It connects to QuickBooks Online, watches every open invoice, and follows up on each one in your name from your own email, escalating on a fixed schedule as invoices move right across the buckets, pausing when a client disputes, and stopping the moment a payment posts. It also keeps the follow-up history the aging report lacks, and reports aging by client, DSO, and days late every week so the drift pattern is visible before it becomes the 61-to-90 pattern.
Common questions
What is an accounts receivable aging report?
A report that lists every unpaid customer invoice grouped by how long it has been outstanding, typically in buckets of current, 1 to 30 days past due, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90. It shows how much you are owed and how old that money is.
How do you read an AR aging report?
Look at the shape first: a healthy report has most of its total in Current and 1 to 30, with very little beyond 60 days. Then sort by the later columns to find which customers are carrying the late balances, and compare to last month to spot customers whose payments are lengthening.
What is a good percentage of AR over 90 days?
For most B2B service businesses, under 5 percent of total receivables over 90 days is healthy, and under 10 percent is manageable. Above that, the over-90 balances usually include invoices that need a decision (settlement, collections, or write-off) rather than more reminders.
Does QuickBooks Online have an AR aging report?
Yes. QuickBooks Online includes A/R Aging Summary (totals by customer) and A/R Aging Detail (every invoice). Both are under Reports, can be run as of any date, and can be customized to age by due date or invoice date with 30-day periods.
How often should you review the aging report?
Weekly for collections, monthly for trend. A weekly pass takes about five minutes: check the share over 30 days, see who is in the 61-plus columns, confirm a follow-up went out on every invoice over 30 days, and make one decision on the over-90 bucket.
Sources
- 1.Intuit QuickBooks: 2025 US Small Business Late Payments Report (accessed September 18, 2026)
- 2.Atradius Payment Practices Barometer, B2B payment practices trends in North America 2025 (accessed September 18, 2026)
Reeve reads your aging report every day and follows up on every invoice in it, in your name.
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