Accounts receivable Software

Accounts receivable software offers numerous benefits:

• significant time savings: by automating many tasks, you have more time to focus on your core business or higher-value missions. With LeanPay, you reduce the time spent on customers reminders by fourfold.
• increased cash flow due to reducted payment delays: with personalised and automated reminder workflows, no overdue invoices is forgotten. That's why, 97.5% of invoices imported into LeanPay are paid during this reminder phase. You thus reduce your DSO by an average of 40% (based on results observed among our customers).
• better analysis: our accounts receivable software provides reliable and real-time information to help you prioritise actions and make informed decisions.

An accounts receivable software can be used by both internal finance teams and accountants acting on behalf of a company.

Choosing the right accounts receivable software depends on your specific requirements. Here are some:

• The size of your company

Very small businesses, SMEs and mid-sized companies don't all seek the same features.

Accounts receivable software don't target the same audience either. Depending on the features offered, they may be aimed at very small businesses or mid-sized companies. Ensure the dunning software you're interested in addresses your specific issues.

• Your functional needs

You need to identify what'essential for you. For example, you want to use your accounts receivable software for 3 companies: the tool must therefore allow multi-entity management. Do you have an international business? You need multi-currency. support

• Your accounting tool

The integration between the accounts receivable software and your accounting tool is essential. The software retrieves invoices, payments and customer details from it. Don't worry, our accounts receivable software LeanPay is connected with all accounting solutions. But that's not the case for all providers so make sure to check!

• Your budget

Of course, the cost of an accounts receivable software is a deciding factor! At LeanPay, prices are determined according to your turnover. We've decided to offer the same software for everyone. In other words, all the features are included. We don't have a “downgraded version” of the tool.

• Demo and test of the accounts receivable software

If you're not sure which tool to choose, consider booking a demo. You will allow you to see for yourself the features that are essential to you and to judge the ergonomics of the tool.

It's also a good time to get answers to your questions!

LeanPay is an accounts receivable software packed with features to personalise your reminders, even when they're automated!

Quick overview:

• Email and letters reminders include a customer statement showing the invoice number, due date, amount owed, number of overdue days etc.
• You can attach PDF invoices and other documents (purchase orders, delivery notes, contracts...)
• You can use variables in reminders, such as starting with “Hello [name]”
• You can create different reminder workflows tailored to each customer. E.g.: if you speak in Spanish with your customer, create a workflow where all reminders are in Spanish.
• You can vary the communication channels in your workflows. If you usually speak to some customers by phone, why not include SMS or calls in your follow-up strategy?
• You can adapt the frequency of reminders based on your customers’ past payment behavior
• LeanPay provides pre-set email templates that you can edit to suit your tone or your customers.
• You can configure email reminders to be sent from your own email address.
• In SMS and emails reminders, LeanPay automatically adds a link to a portal where customers can view, download and pay their invoices.

With an accounts receivable software like LeanPay, you can create different reminder workflows. Our tool offers 4 communication channels: SMS, email, letters and phone calls.

Adding a phone call to your scenario has 3 advantages:

• Identify the reason for late payments

Speaking directly with your client lets you find out the cause: a simple oversight? a dispute? cash flow issues?

• Act quickly

Once you know the issue, you can respond appropriately: mark the invoice as disputed, propose a payment plan, etc.

• Preserve your customer relationship

Debt collection can be a sensitive topic. That's why direct contact with your customer is often appreciated.

A phone call helps qualify the case and is therefore a key step in an optimised accounts receivable strategy.

Here are the 5 essential features of a good accounts receivable software.

1 - Reminder workflows

Not all clients should be followed up the same way! That's why, best accounts receivable softwares let you easily create as many follow-up scenarios as you need. Each customer reminder scenario should be customisable based on the following criteria:

• Time between each reminder
• communication method: email, SMS, phone call, letter...
• message personalisation using variables like name/first name, number of overdue invoices, total amount etc. Editing emails and letters also allows you to adjust tone and urgency based on the level of lateness. This also makes it possible to manage reminders in different languages.
• ability to automate the sending of reminders
• ability to attach invoices or other document (delivery notes, credit notes, contracts, etc.).

2 - Automation

An accounts receivable solution must be able to perform many time-consuming, low-value tasks for you. It automatically retrieves from your accounting tool newly issued invoices, due dates, and payments to identify overdue invoices. You save time on receivables tracking. Thanks to your configured reminder scenarios and automated sending, the software manages each customer’s emails or texts. For example, a preventive reminder to ensure that the customer received the invoice and knows the due date is approaching.

A customer reminder software shows you all the reminders that nedd to be sent today. Kind of like a “to-do list.” It does the prep work: you just validate the messages.

3 - Customising reminders

A good accounts receivable software (like LeanPay) offers different reminder templates adapted to the delay level. The tone and content of the message vary depending on whether the delay is 6 days or 67 days! You get a base you can fully customise.

Each reminder email or letter includes a customer statement showing all invoices, overdue or not. You can also choose to send only overdue invoices.

4 - Reminder history

According to LeanPay users, having a history of past reminders along with related notes (e.g. a phone call summary) is very useful: it helps you be more relevant in your next follow-up. Especially when reminders are managed by multiple people!

Everyone can see the history of the case, by invoice and by customer.

5 - Online payment

An accounts receivable software should help you get paid faster. It should provide direct access, via reminders, to a customer portal where debtors can pay their invoices.

Even better if it lets you offer multiple payment methods to your clients. That way, you adapt to their preferences and make payment as simple as possible.

The secure client portal also lets your customers view their status: see all invoices (paid or unpaid) and download them.

An accounts receivable software lets you automate many tasks. Often, they are time-consuming and low-value.

Here are the three key benefits of automating your accounts receivable.

• Better working conditions for finance teams

An accounts receivable software removes manual, repetitive tasks. This makes the daily work of finance teams much more enjoyable. They can then focus on higher-value work, directly with customers, such as finding solutions to unpaid invoices (discount, payment schedule, etc.).

• Get paid faster

Automation covers every step of a good debt collection process: with LeanPay, you can analyse payment delays in real time, follow up debtor customers, offer them various online payment methods, or even, if necessary, create a legal collection file and send it to an external service provider. Integrating the entire process and automating all the repetitive tasks at each stage increases performance.

• Lower costs

A manual collection system is inefficient: a lot of time-consuming and repetitive tasks, and results that are too weak and unpredictable. As a result, companies sometimes have to resort to bank loans or factoring to finance their WCR. But these methods are expensive, and much more so than a subscription to an accounts receivable software.

A preventive reminder is sent by email or SMS to the customer a few days before the invoice due date. No payment delay has been observed at that point.

Preventive recovery has two main advantages:

• Anticipating issues to improve cash flow

Getting in touch with your client a few days before the due date helps ensure nothing is preventing on-time payment.

In most cases, it’s simply a gentle reminder about the due date. It eliminates the “I forgot” excuse.

In other cases, it’s a chance to discover that the invoice wasn’t received, there’s a dispute delaying payment, or the client is experiencing financial difficulties. Whatever the issue, you can react quickly and still aim to meet the due date anyway.

Preventive reminders help speed up collections and reduce payment delays.

• Demonstrate professionalism

Sending preventive reminders for each invoice signals that your company closely manages its accounts receivable. Your approach reflects your seriousness and professionalism.

With our accounts receivable software LeanPay, you can automate the sending of all your preventive reminders. It’s very simple: when configuring your scenario, set when to send the preventive reminder (how many days before due date, which channel, what message), then just activate the “automatic send” option.

Are you hesitant to include late penalties in your reminders? It's not surprising. Many companies fear damaging their relationship with their customer. But that’s not true! You shouldn't be the one in an uncomfortable position : your late-paying customer should be.

Here are a few advantages to claiming late payment penalties.

1- Collecting late payment interest helps offset the costs caused by delays: cash flow loss, time spent on follow-ups, etc.

2- Charging late fees is also means a legal right. This will bring you more credibility and professionalism.

3- You send a message to your client that your work/product deserves to be paid. That way, you increase its perceived value.