The accounts are settled. The invoice still needs an awkward email.
The accounts may be finished, but payment can still be late. Then the practice has another job to fit into an already full day: reminding the client.
The invoice sits in the queue
The client engagement is over. The figures have been checked, the return filed and the work explained. But the invoice remains unpaid. Someone at the practice has to spot it, choose when to follow up, write the message and remember to check again.
This happens often. GoCardless, reporting a 2024 FSB survey of UK accountancy sector respondents, says 56% called late payment an “inevitable cost of doing business”. The survey also found that 40% spent over an hour a week chasing overdue invoices. GoCardless, reporting the FSB survey.
The hours add up, and the conversations can be uncomfortable. Ignition’s UK State of Client Engagement survey found 90% of accountants and bookkeepers said chasing late payments involved awkward client situations. In the previous year, 33% had written off some or all of an invoice to avoid an awkward conversation. Ignition, State of Client Engagement.
Make the reminder routine, keep the relationship human
A client conversation still needs a personal touch. The practice can save time by having routine follow-ups prepared, so the owner does not have to remember each one or start every message from a blank page.
WorkMate OS has an accounts mate that can prepare invoice reminders using the shared Brain and the practice’s stored voice and tone. Every outward-facing message stays in draft until the owner reviews and approves it. The activity log records what ran and what it produced.
There may be more to the story than an overdue invoice. The client could have queried the bill, agreed a different date or raised a sensitive issue. The owner checks that context and decides whether the draft is suitable to send.
The chase is a business process, not a personal failing
Late payment affects firms across sectors. The Office of the Small Business Commissioner says 22% of businesses surveyed spent staff time chasing late payments, averaging 86 hours per affected business per year. Office of the Small Business Commissioner, late payments research.
When a reminder depends on someone remembering it, it can slip. A repeatable draft-and-approval step keeps the follow-up visible and leaves the decision with a person. We have also written about the invoice-chasing burden in the invoice chase between electrical jobs, and about the role of human approval in who is allowed to press send.
What changes on Monday?
The owner still decides what is right for each client. Routine follow-up can be prepared in the practice’s voice and left ready for review. Invoice follow-up is already part of what the WorkMate accounts mate is designed to help with.
WorkMate OS is currently taking applications for Launch Access. If this support could take a recurring job off your practice’s list, apply for Launch Access.
