Accounts receivable ageing
An ageing report groups what customers owe you by how overdue it is, usually in buckets of current, 30, 60, 90 and over 90 days. It is the fastest read available on whether your cash problem is a sales problem or a collections problem.
Also searched as: AR ageing, debtor days, aged receivables
Updated July 2026
A business can be growing, profitable on paper and still run out of cash, and the ageing report is where that shows up first. Revenue is rising, the 90-plus bucket is rising faster, and the money is sitting with customers.
The report is only as good as the invoice dates behind it. Where invoices are raised in batches at month end rather than when the work happened, everything looks newer than it is, and the real collection period is longer than the report suggests.
In markets with long payment cycles and cheque-based settlement, ageing is worth reading weekly rather than monthly, and worth reading alongside credit limits rather than on its own.
Reading it properly
Total receivables of $312,000 tells you very little. The same total split as $240,000 current and $72,000 over 90 days is a different business from one with $305,000 current and $7,000 overdue.
