Cash Inflow Reporting: Knowing What You've Collected and What's Outstanding
Collected and outstanding are two different reports, and both need the same clean data underneath. How to build each one by customer, by age and by period, what to do about part-payments, and how to turn the report into the right phone calls.
"How much came in this month?" and "how much are we still owed?" sound like one question. They're two reports, and a business that only answers the first one is usually surprised by the second. This guide shows how to build both from the same records, and how to use them to decide who to call on Monday.
Two reports, one source
| Collected (inflow) | Outstanding (receivables) | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What cash arrived in a period? | What is owed right now, and how old is it? |
| Built from | Payments received, matched to invoices | Invoices issued, less payments matched to them |
| Time frame | A period: a week, a month | A point in time: today |
| Main use | Cash planning, the VAT position on a cash basis, trends | Collections: who to chase and how hard |
Both depend on one thing: every payment matched to the invoice it pays. A credit on the bank statement that reads "TRF/LEKKI HTS" belongs in neither report until someone knows which invoice it settles.
Building the inflow report
For each period, list every payment received and its invoice:
| Date | Customer | Invoice | Amount | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Nov 2026 | Lekki Heights Montessori | INV-2026-0418 | ₦1,343,750 | Bank transfer |
| 05 Nov 2026 | Ikoyi Dental Partners | INV-2026-0402 | ₦3,870,000 | Card |
| 06 Nov 2026 | Garki Training Institute | INV-2026-0412 | ₦240,000 | Bank transfer, short by ₦1,500 |
Then summarise it three ways:
- By week, to see whether money arrives early or late in the month.
- By customer group (schools, corporate clients, individuals), to see who pays reliably.
- Against the same period last month and last year, to separate a trend from a bad week.
Part-payments need a rule. The ₦240,000 from Garki Training Institute is cash in, so it belongs in the inflow report. But the invoice isn't settled: ₦1,500 is still outstanding and must stay visible in receivables. Counting the invoice as "paid" makes both reports wrong.
Building the outstanding report and ageing
List every unpaid or part-paid invoice with its due date, then group by how far past due it is.
| Customer | Current | 1–30 days | 31–60 | 61–90 | 90+ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lekki Heights Montessori | — | ₦430,000 | — | — | — | ₦430,000 |
| Garki Training Institute | — | ₦1,500 | — | — | — | ₦1,500 |
| Trans-Amadi Clinics | — | — | ₦812,000 | — | — | ₦812,000 |
| Abuja Skills Academy | ₦2,150,000 | — | — | — | — | ₦2,150,000 |
| Port Harcourt Freight | — | — | — | ₦96,000 | ₦380,000 | ₦476,000 |
| Total | ₦2,150,000 | ₦431,500 | ₦812,000 | ₦96,000 | ₦380,000 | ₦3,869,500 |
Read it from right to left. The 90+ column is the money most at risk. Port Harcourt Freight's ₦380,000 needs a different conversation from Lekki Heights' 18-day-old transport invoice.
Turning the report into action
Match the action to the age, not to how much it annoys you:
| Age | Action | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Due in 7 days | Friendly reminder with the payment link | Automatic or billing |
| 1–30 days overdue | Reminder plus a customer statement | Billing |
| 31–60 days | Phone call; agree a date | Accountant |
| 61–90 days | Escalate to the customer's finance lead; pause new work | Finance manager |
| 90+ days | Formal demand; decide on a provision | MD with adviser |
Small shortfalls, like Garki's ₦1,500, deserve a polite note with a link to pay the balance. Writing them off by default teaches customers that rounding down is fine. Our guide to reducing late payments covers the conversations.
Four numbers worth tracking monthly
- Collected this month, against last month.
- Total outstanding, and the share that's over 60 days.
- Average days to pay, by customer group.
- Unmatched receipts: money in the bank not yet tied to an invoice. This should be close to zero by month end.
Common mistakes
- Reporting invoices as paid when part-paid. The shortfall disappears from view.
- Unmatched credits parked in a suspense account for months. Each one is a customer who thinks they've paid and a receivable that looks overdue.
- Ageing from the invoice date instead of the due date. A 30-day-terms invoice isn't late on day 10.
- One giant list. Without ageing buckets, the urgent and the merely late look the same.
How Flux helps
In Flux, customers pay from the invoice by card or bank transfer, and payments are matched to their invoices automatically. Short payments stay unpaid and are flagged for review, so a part-payment never quietly closes an invoice. Flux Tax & Reporting shows payment inflow analytics and dashboard KPIs, and exports payments and receipts. Customer statements show each customer's invoices, payments and balance on one page.