Managing accounts receivable (AR) manually drains your time, slows cash flow, and strains customer relationships. By adopting AR automation, businesses can eliminate repetitive tasks, identify missed invoices, and get paid faster—all while freeing up time for growth. Let’s explore the key automations you can implement and their benefits to your finance operations.

Key AR automations to transform your workflow

Modern finance software can take over tedious and time-consuming tasks in your AR process, allowing you to focus on higher-value work. Here are some critical automations to consider:

1. Convert Contracts to Invoices Seamlessly
   Manually turning contracts into invoices is prone to errors and delays. Automation allows you to upload contracts and instantly generate accurate invoices. This ensures invoices are sent promptly, reducing the risk of missed billing opportunities and speeding up the payment cycle.

2. Automate Payment Reminders and Follow-Ups
   Chasing late payments is a hassle that can harm customer relationships. Set up automated payment reminders to notify customers of upcoming or overdue invoices at predefined intervals—such as 7 days before the due date or 3 days after. These reminders can be personalized to maintain a professional tone while ensuring consistent follow-ups, helping you get paid faster without manual effort.

3. Track Invoice Status in Real Time
   Manually tracking invoice statuses across spreadsheets is inefficient and error-prone. Automation provides real-time updates on whether invoices are paid, overdue, or pending. You’ll receive notifications when payments are made, allowing you to stay on top of your cash flow without constantly checking your records.

4. Simplify Payment Reconciliation with Auto-Matching
   Matching incoming payments to invoices can be a tedious task, especially with high transaction volumes. Automated systems can match payments to the corresponding invoices using intelligent algorithms, even when payment details are incomplete. This reduces manual reconciliation time and minimizes errors, ensuring your books are always up to date.

5. Offer Flexible Payment Options
   Automating the integration of multiple payment methods, such as ACH, credit cards, or open banking, can make it easy for customers to pay. Automation can embed payment links in invoices, allowing customers to pay with a single click. This streamlines the payment process, reduces friction, and encourages faster settlements.

6. Sync with Accounting Software for Seamless Data Flow
   Manually transferring data between AR and accounting systems can lead to discrepancies. Automation enables seamless integration with platforms like QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage, ensuring real-time updates across systems. This keeps your financial records consistent and eliminates the need for duplicate data entry.

7. Generate Real-Time Reports and Analytics
   Automation tools can produce detailed reports on key metrics like Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), aging receivables, and cash flow forecasts. These reports are generated automatically, giving you instant insights into payment trends and potential risks so you can make informed decisions without sifting through spreadsheets.

The Benefits of AR Automation for Your Business

Implementing these automations can transform your AR process, delivering measurable improvements in efficiency, cash flow, and customer satisfaction. Here’s how:

• Get Paid Faster and Improve Cash Flow
  Automated invoicing and payment reminders can reduce payment cycles by up to 60 days, ensuring invoices are paid on time with less overdue debt. Studies show that businesses using high levels of automation receive payments in 55 days on average, compared to 78 days for those with manual processes. Faster payments mean better cash flow, allowing you to reinvest in growth opportunities.

• Save Time on Repetitive Tasks
  Automation can save up to 8 hours of manual work by handling tasks like invoice generation, follow-ups, and reconciliation. This frees your finance team to focus on strategic activities, such as analyzing financial health or optimizing payment terms, rather than getting bogged down in administrative work.

• Reduce Errors and Increase Accuracy
  Manual processes are prone to human error, such as sending invoices to the wrong customer or mismatching payments. Automation minimizes these mistakes by using algorithms to ensure accuracy in invoice creation, payment matching, and data syncing. This leads to fewer disputes, happier customers, and smoother audits.

• Enhance Customer Relationships
  Constantly chasing payments can strain relationships with clients. Automated, professional reminders take the pressure off your team, allowing you to maintain a positive rapport with customers. Additionally, offering flexible payment options and a streamlined payment process improves the customer experience, making it easier for them to pay on time.

• Gain Better Visibility into Financial Health
  Real-time reporting and analytics give you a clear view of your AR performance. You can quickly identify late payers, assess cash flow risks, and forecast future revenue more accurately. This visibility empowers CFOs and finance teams to make proactive decisions that drive business growth.

• Scale Without Adding Headcount
  As your business grows, so does the volume of invoices and payments. Automation allows you to handle increased workloads without hiring additional staff. Tasks like sending reminders, reconciling payments, and generating reports scale effortlessly, ensuring your AR process remains efficient even as your operations expand.

Automate AR with Norman

Norman, an AI finance clerk, was designed to make your AR process effortless. Norman automates the entire contract-to-cash cycle, from converting contracts into invoices to sending payment reminders and reconciling payments. It integrates seamlessly with accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero, offers flexible payment options for your clients, and provides real-time analytics to keep your cash flow on track. With Norman, you can get paid faster, save time, and focus on growing your business while maintaining strong customer relationships. 

Ready to simplify your AR? Start with Norman today.