23 Accounts Receivable Stats Every Small Business Owner Should Know

Are you currently waiting on a check in the mail? If so, ask yourself why.

It’s 2021, and the era of paper billing is coming to a close. With the advent of digital payments and automated invoice processing software, there’s no need to spend extra time, money, or stress waiting to get paid.

To best demonstrate, we thought we’d share some important accounts receivable statistics every small business owner should know.

Paper Invoicing Is a Thing of The Past

1. Paper invoicing errors cost companies $53.50 to fix on average. (Industry Week)

2. Annually processed invoices cost approximately $4 each. (Industry Week)

3. Paper invoices cost a company anywhere from $15 to $30 to complete and send. (Yes Invoice)

4. The use of paper checks decreased by 34% from 2000 to 2018. (Clover)

5. On average, it takes one hour to process just five paper invoices manually. (Core Integrator)

6. 80% of businesses still use paper checks/invoices. (Vanguard)

7. Only about 14% of paper invoices are filed the same day they were received. (Vanguard)

8. Paper billing is predicted to become obsolete by 2026. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia)

9. Manual invoices require 15 steps on average before posting is complete. (Vanguard)

The Current State of Accounts Receivable

10. 39% of invoices are not paid on time in the United States. (Share Space)

11. About 11% of invoices go unreceived by customers. (CFO.com)

12. Customers will delay making payments 48% of the time. (Atradius)

13. Incorrect invoices cause 61% of late payments. (Share Space)

14. About 75% of companies offer a two-week due date from the invoice date (Xero)

15. The standard grace period for an invoice payment is net 30 days. (Invoice Berry)

16. Business owners typically send a follow up seven days before the due date. (Invoiced)

17. Business owners typically send a payment reminder seven days after the due date and one more 14 days after the due date. (Invoiced)

The Benefits of Automated Invoicing Software

18. On average, fully automated invoices only cost $2.25 to process. (Industry Week)

19. Automated invoice processing reduces the time in a company’s service-to-payment cycle by 80%. (Zycus)

20. There are 3,757 invoice processing applications to choose from. (Document Imaging Report)

21. Companies that switch to an automated invoicing system save one hour of work per day on average. (Medius)

22. With an invoicing automation software, the number of invoices effectively processed has increased by 10% a year. (Vanguard)

23. Invoice automation pays for itself within an average of six to18 months. (Vanguard)

Why You Should Transition to Automated Payments

While the move from manual invoicing to an automated system seems like a daunting paradigm shift...it’s time.

Trusting automated software to manage your accounts receivable will prove extremely beneficial. The switch will:

• Save you money.
• Save you time.
• Equip your company with the most current and effective tools.
• Drastically reduce billing and filing errors.
• Speed up your payment process.
• Make your job easier.
• Keep your business competitive.

If these benefits and accounts receivable statistics don’t get you excited to shift towards a digital invoicing platform, then we don’t know what will.

Explore contactless payment to see how easy it is to get paid when you go digital.