Chasing unpaid work before it ages

The situation

Cash is tight, and nobody can say precisely which invoices are late, by how long, or which client is the real problem.

What goes wrong without a system

Chasing happens when someone remembers, the oldest debt is the least visible, and a balance quietly ages past the point where asking is comfortable.

How it runs in Mersal

1. Read the aged position

   Outstanding splits into current, 30, 60 and 90-plus, so the conversation is about the 90-day column rather than a single total.

2. Exclude what is not real

   Drafts and proformas never appear in the figure, so the number is one you can act on.

3. Let the chasers fire

   Invoice reminders are scheduled from the due date and go out without anyone remembering.

4. See who is actually late

   Per-client billed and outstanding totals show whether this is one difficult account or a pattern.

5. Fix the cycle, not the symptom

   Where the work is recurring, a retainer that knows what it has already billed removes the gap the chasing was covering.

What it prevents

• Debt aging quietly past the comfortable point
• Chasing a client who already paid
• An outstanding figure inflated by estimates