Chasing overdue invoices is one of the most universally disliked tasks in accounting. It’s awkward, repetitive, and time-consuming. It also happens to be one of the easiest workflows to automate.
This guide covers how to automate invoice chasing for accounting and bookkeeping firms: what the workflow looks like step by step, which tools power it, how to write reminder emails that clients actually respond to, and what to do when a client still doesn’t pay after the automated sequence runs its course.
Why Invoice Chasing Is the First Automation Most Accounting Firms Should Build
Invoice chasing automation delivers faster, more measurable ROI than almost any other workflow a firm can automate. The reason is simple: the cost of not doing it is visible and quantifiable.
Every overdue invoice represents cash that should be in your account but isn’t. Every manual reminder your team sends costs staff time. And every awkward phone call about an unpaid invoice costs something harder to quantify but equally real: relationship capital with your client.
Automated invoice chasing removes the manual effort, makes reminders consistent, and keeps the tone professional without anyone on your team having to think about it. For a firm with 20 or more active clients, it typically saves three to six hours of admin per month and improves average collection time noticeably within the first billing cycle.
It’s also the simplest automation to build. There are no complex decision trees, no conditional document types, and no multi-tool integrations required to get started. If you’re new to automation, this is the right place to start.
What Automated Invoice Chasing Actually Looks Like
Automated invoice chasing is a sequence of timed, personalised reminder emails that fire automatically based on the status of an invoice in your accounting software. No staff member needs to check the invoice list, decide whether to send a reminder, draft a message, or remember to follow up.
The sequence is defined once, connected to your accounting software, and then runs in the background indefinitely. Every overdue invoice triggers the same structured process, with the same timing, the same personalisation, and the same escalation logic.
In practice, the sequence looks like this: a polite reminder goes out on the due date or shortly after, a firmer follow-up goes out a week later, a final automated message goes out at two weeks, and the account manager is flagged internally to take over personally at that point.
The Full Invoice Chasing Automation Workflow, Step by Step
Here is the complete workflow structure for automating invoice chasing in an accounting or bookkeeping firm.
Step 1: Trigger
The workflow triggers when an invoice in your accounting software passes its due date without being marked as paid. Both Xero and QuickBooks Online expose this data via their APIs, which automation platforms like n8n and Zapier can read in real time or on a scheduled check.
The trigger check typically runs once per day, in the morning, so any invoices that became overdue overnight are picked up and actioned the same day.
Step 2: Deduplication Check
Before sending anything, the workflow checks whether a reminder has already been sent for this invoice. This prevents duplicate emails going to the same client and ensures the sequence respects its own timing rules.
This step matters more than it sounds. Without it, a daily trigger running on 30 invoices can quickly create a situation where a client receives multiple reminders on the same day because their invoice appeared in yesterday’s check and today’s check.
Step 3: Day 1 Reminder
On the first day an invoice is overdue, the workflow sends a polite, personalised reminder. The email uses the client’s name, states the invoice number and amount outstanding, and includes a payment link or bank transfer details.
The tone at this stage is warm and assumption-free. Many overdue invoices at day one are simply forgotten or caught in an approval queue, not a sign of a payment problem. The email should read like a friendly nudge, not a formal demand.
The email comes from the account manager’s address, not a generic system address. This is important for deliverability and for maintaining the feel of a personal relationship.
Step 4: Day 7 Follow-Up
If the invoice is still unpaid seven days after the due date, the workflow sends a second reminder. This one is slightly firmer in tone but remains professional and non-confrontational.
It references the fact that a previous reminder was sent, notes that the invoice is now a week overdue, and asks the client to confirm whether there’s a query or issue with the invoice that needs to be resolved. Giving the client an easy out (“let us know if there’s a query”) often prompts a response faster than a plain payment request.
Step 5: Day 14 Final Reminder
At 14 days overdue, the workflow sends a final automated message. The tone here is more direct. It states the amount outstanding, the number of days overdue, and notes that the account manager will be in touch shortly if payment or a response isn’t received.
Simultaneously, the workflow creates a task in the practice management tool and sends the account manager an internal notification with the full context: client name, invoice amount, days overdue, and a log of which reminders have already been sent.
Step 6: Manual Handoff
From day 14 onwards, the account manager takes over. The automated sequence has done its job: three touchpoints sent, the client has been given multiple opportunities to respond, and now a personal conversation is warranted.
The account manager calls or sends a personal email. Having the full reminder history already logged makes this conversation easier. They can reference what’s been sent, when, and whether the client has opened any of the emails, which most automation platforms track automatically.
Step 7: Logging and Tracking
Every reminder sent, every email opened, and every payment received is logged automatically. This gives the team a clean audit trail of the chase history for every client without anyone needing to maintain a manual spreadsheet.
When a payment is received and the invoice is marked as paid in Xero or QuickBooks Online, the workflow automatically stops the sequence. No risk of sending a payment reminder to a client who has already paid.
Writing Invoice Reminder Emails That Get Results
The quality of your reminder emails matters as much as the timing. Here are the principles that make automated invoice reminders effective.
Personalise every email. Every reminder should include the client’s name, the invoice number, and the amount outstanding. Generic emails that look like system notifications are easier to ignore and do more damage to the relationship.
Keep them short. A payment reminder does not need to be long. Two to three short paragraphs is plenty. State what’s owed, ask for payment or a response, and provide the payment details. Anything else is noise.
Match the tone to the stage. Day one should be warm. Day seven should be polite but clear. Day fourteen should be direct. Escalating the tone gradually is more effective than starting firm and leaving nowhere to go.
Always include a clear action. Every email should tell the client exactly what to do next: pay via this link, transfer to this account, or reply if there’s a query. Remove any ambiguity about what the next step is.
Send from a real address. Emails from a generic billing@ or noreply@ address feel impersonal and land in spam more often. Sending from the account manager’s address maintains the relationship dynamic and improves open rates.
Tools for Automating Invoice Chasing in Accounting Firms
n8n is the best fit for most accounting firms building invoice chasing automation. It connects natively to Xero and QuickBooks Online via API, handles the deduplication logic and conditional timing, and supports self-hosting for firms that want client data staying on their own infrastructure. The visual workflow builder makes the sequence easy to understand and modify without technical knowledge.
Zapier is a simpler alternative for firms that want faster setup and are running straightforward linear sequences. It handles basic Xero and QuickBooks Online integrations well. The tradeoff is per-task pricing, which becomes significant at scale, and less flexibility for complex logic like deduplication checks.
Xero and QuickBooks Online both provide the invoice data the workflow reads: due dates, payment status, client contact details, and invoice amounts. Both have well-documented APIs that n8n and Zapier connect to without difficulty.
Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email sending. As covered above, reminders should come from real staff addresses.
Slack or similar for internal notifications. When an invoice hits day 14 and the manual handoff needs to happen, the account manager should receive a notification immediately, not discover it during a manual check.
What to Do When Automated Chasing Doesn’t Work
Automated invoice chasing resolves most overdue invoices without human involvement. But not all of them.
When a client reaches day 14 and still hasn’t paid or responded, the account manager takes over with a personal call. This is not a failure of the automation. It’s the automation doing its job correctly by escalating cases that genuinely need a human conversation.
A few situations warrant skipping or pausing the automated sequence entirely. If a client has raised a formal dispute about an invoice, automated reminders should be paused until the dispute is resolved. Sending automated chasers during an active dispute makes the situation worse. A good automation setup includes a way for the account manager to pause the sequence for a specific invoice when needed.
For genuinely persistent non-payers, the automation provides something valuable beyond the reminders themselves: a documented chase history. When escalating to a formal demand letter or involving a debt recovery service, having a clear record of every reminder sent, every email opened, and every response received makes the case straightforward.
FAQ
How do you automate invoice chasing for an accounting firm?
Automating invoice chasing for an accounting firm involves connecting your accounting software (Xero or QuickBooks Online) to an automation platform like n8n or Zapier. The workflow checks daily for overdue invoices, then sends a timed sequence of personalised reminder emails from the account manager’s address. A deduplication check prevents duplicate sends, and the sequence stops automatically when payment is received.
What is the best way to chase overdue invoices?
The most effective approach combines automated timed reminders with a personal handoff at the escalation point. A polite reminder on the due date, a firmer follow-up at seven days, and a final notice at 14 days covers most cases without requiring manual effort. For invoices that remain unpaid beyond 14 days, a personal call from the account manager is more effective than continuing to send automated messages.
How do you write a professional invoice reminder email?
A professional invoice reminder email should be short, personalised with the client’s name and invoice details, and include a clear call to action such as a payment link or bank transfer details. The tone should be proportional to how overdue the invoice is: warm and assumption-free on day one, polite but clear at day seven, and direct at day fourteen. Always send from a real person’s email address rather than a generic billing address.
Can you automate invoice chasing in Xero?
Xero has built-in invoice reminder functionality that can send basic reminders automatically. However, Xero’s native reminders are limited in their customisation, conditional logic, and escalation capabilities. For more sophisticated sequences, including different email tones at different stages, internal team notifications, practice management integration, and deduplication logic, connecting Xero to a dedicated automation platform like n8n or Zapier gives significantly more flexibility.
How much time does automated invoice chasing save?
For a firm with 20 to 30 active clients, automated invoice chasing typically saves three to six hours of staff time per month. The saving comes from eliminating manual checks of the aged debtors report, drafting individual reminder emails, tracking which clients have and haven’t been chased, and logging the chase history. The additional benefit of faster average collection time further compounds the ROI.
Set It Up Once, Let It Run
Invoice chasing automation is the closest thing to a guaranteed quick win in accounting firm workflow automation. The setup is straightforward, the ROI is immediate, and once it’s running you genuinely don’t have to think about it.
If you’re building your first automation workflow, start here. Get the invoice chasing sequence running cleanly, measure the impact over one billing cycle, and then move on to client onboarding or monthly reporting as your next build.
If you’d rather have someone build it properly from the start, that’s what we do at Lenworks. We build invoice chasing automation and workflow systems for accounting and bookkeeping firms, with a fixed scope and clear delivery timeline.
Related reading: How to Automate Your Accounting Firm | Accounting Workflow Automation: A Practical Guide