Your Aging Report is Lying to You
Okay, maybe “lying” is a bit strong. But I did get you to click on this post…
Let’s be honest: your aging report can be incredibly misleading.
If you’re only looking at the aging to manage your AR, you’re flying blind with one eye closed. Sure, it shows you what’s current, 30, 60, and 90+ days past due — and that’s helpful. But what it doesn’t show you is often where the real story lies.
So let’s break down why your aging report might be lying to you, and what you should be watching instead… if you actually want to get paid.
🟢 “Current” Doesn’t Always Mean “On Time”
This is one of the biggest myths in credit:
If the customer is in the “Current” column, they must be paying on time.
Wrong.
Many customers game the aging report by paying just enough, just often enough, to stay in that 0–30 bucket — without ever truly honoring their terms. They’re consistently “current” — but never actually on time.
Now flip it — some customers show up as past due even when they’re totally reliable.
Example:
Net 30 terms
Invoice sent on the 1st
Customer pays on the 10th of the following month — every time
Technically, that payment’s late.
But practically? You’re not chasing it. They’re predictable. They’re easy. They’re not a problem.
They show up as a negative on the aging report, but they’re really a consistent payer.
🧠 What Your Aging Report Won’t Tell You
Here’s what your aging report can’t track:
How many payment promises were broken last month
Whether a check bounced back in April
If a customer’s been delaying partial payments over and over again
If you’ve seen a rise in frequent disputes, credit requests, or “missing info” excuses
Unless you’re manually logging notes or using behavioral tracking tools, you’re letting risk slip through the cracks.
And if a customer is consistently failing to follow through, that’s a major red flag — even if they look good on paper.
📉 Patterns Matter More Than Snapshots
Let me say that again:
PATTERNS > SNAPSHOTS
Payment trends over time tell a much more accurate story than a single date-based snapshot ever could.
Are open balances slowly increasing month over month?
Is that growth from new business… or slowing payments?
Are payment intervals getting longer?
Is that one “occasional dispute” now happening every cycle?
These are the things your aging report won’t show you. But they’re the things that determine customer risk, reliability, and future collectability.
📚 Every Customer Tells a Story
Credit and collections is a storytelling business. And your customer’s story is written in their payment behavior.
It’s not about treating every account the same — it’s about recognizing the unique rhythm of each customer. When that rhythm changes, you have to ask why.
Are they struggling? Are they losing internal control? Or are they trying to stretch you while paying someone else faster?
Your aging report won't answer those questions. But the patterns will.
🧭 The Aging Report Is a Compass — Not a Map
To be clear: I’m not saying throw your aging report in the trash.
It’s still useful. It still has a role.
But it’s a compass, not a map. It shows you where to look — not what’s really happening.
If you want to be more than a scoreboard-watcher, you’ve got to go deeper:
Review patterns across time
Flag behavioral changes
Track broken promises
Compare payment terms against actual performance
That’s how you go from monitoring risk to managing it.
🎯 Final Thought
The best credit and collections teams don’t just read reports. They read behaviors.
If your goal is to get paid — consistently, on time, and without surprises — then your job is to align customer behavior with the terms you extended.
So what do you think?
Are you watching a report... or reading the story behind it?
