Matching without handwork
Incoming payments are matched to invoices, part payments, settlement discounts and lump transfers included. Whatever does not fit with certainty stays open.
Practice / Open items
Open items
Most businesses know what they take in. Fewer know what they should have taken in by now.
The starting point
The work
in between.
- The bank statement shows what has arrived. Which invoice it settles is for someone to work out.
- Part payments and settlement discounts turn an assignment into an arithmetic exercise.
- Whether an invoice is overdue is known only to whoever looks. People look when money is short.
- The first reminder goes out when it gets uncomfortable, not when it falls due.
A suitable design
What needs to
work together.
These components describe one possible individual scope. Scope and rules are agreed with your business.
Due is a number, not a feeling
Every invoice knows its payment term. Overdue means overdue, not a sense that it has been a while.
Remind before it gets uncomfortable
The draft of a reminder is ready on the first day after the due date. Whether it goes out is yours.
An example decision card
Three invoices went overdue yesterday
A mid four-figure sum between them. For one of them it is the second time this year.
The reminders are written but not sent. For the repeat case the tone is deliberately different.
What does overdue measure against?
- invoice date + the agreed payment term
- + three days of grace, as you set it
- compared with the payment actually received
- → overdue, not merely open
07 · To reconcile
Paid is not always the same amount.
A payment is smaller than the invoice. Check whether something really is still open, or whether an agreed settlement discount explains the difference.
A calculation you can check
Reconcile the payment, the invoice and the discount rule
A match only appears when the reference, the customer and the rule fit together.
- + Invoice R-2026-201due 8 August · payment term 14 days €7,200 open
- − Payment receivedthe reference names R-2026-201 unambiguously €6,840 not matched
- − Agreed settlement discount5 % if paid by 8 August · the term was met €360 to check
Unexplained difference
€360The invoice is still open. The stored discount rule has not been applied.
History
The starting position and the check that ran stay distinguishable.
- Bank feed Payment of €6,840 read in, with an unambiguous invoice number.
An illustration. The company, the invoice and the payment are invented; no bank account is accessed.
Not every difference is a late payment
A part payment, a settlement discount and a lump transfer are different cases. The rule has to fit the actual case before an item is closed.
A wrong reminder is prevented
Only after the reconciliation is it clear whether anything is missing. Until then no reminder and no automatic message to the customer appear.
The countercheck
Where things
can go wrong.
Automatic chasing costs customers. With a long-standing client, a week late is often a sign of a holiday rather than of trouble paying. That is why drafts appear and nothing is sent, and why the card says whether this is the first time.
A useful first trial includes this failure case explicitly. Fast processing alone is not success if checking and correction create more work.
The connection to the next task
Your first stage
Start where
the work improves.
For Open items, we choose a bounded first outcome with your team. Existing specialist systems can stay where they fulfil necessary requirements. We compare time relief, payments that can end and the cost of the new way of working.
The workshop gives you priorities and a roadmap. You can continue internally or with support from Markus Kirchmair. The choice of model and agent follows the task, with data and rules retained outside an individual chat.
Explore the workshop →Ready for the next change
Keep the work simple.
The first view should show the next relevant decision. Reasoning and sources remain accessible. We leave out unnecessary features and make actual progress visible.
When a rule changes, agents can help investigate the impact, prepare the adjustment and update tests and documentation. A qualified person assesses the result and its adoption.
Try a change →Your first step
Say yes
to less.
Less unnecessary software. More room for your work. Let’s find the useful first step.