What is Accounts receivable?
Accounts receivable (AR) is the money customers owe a company for goods or services delivered on credit, and the finance function that invoices, collects and records those payments.
In more detail
AR is a current asset on the balance sheet. The team issues invoices, sends reminders, applies incoming payments to open invoices, chases late accounts and handles disputes. Cash application and collections absorb most of the effort. Slow AR shows up in days sales outstanding (DSO) and in cash flow, and old unpaid invoices can end up as bad-debt write-offs. Automation helps with invoice delivery, matching bank receipts to invoices, drafting reminders in the right tone and ranking which accounts need a call. Judgment stays with people: payment plans, credit holds and disputes with a long-standing customer are relationship decisions, and we don't automate them. A credit controller should approve any message that changes terms.
Example
A distributor ends each week with 800 open invoices. An agent ranks overdue accounts by balance and payment history, drafts reminders and queues them for the credit controller, who decides which customers get a phone call instead.