Accounts Receivable Statement: Format, Types, and Tips

An accounts receivable statement, also called a customer statement or statement of account, is a document sent to a customer that lists their invoices, payments, and credits over a period and shows the total balance owed. Unlike an invoice, which requests payment for a single sale, an AR statement summarizes the customer's full account position, usually with an aging summary.

What Does an AR Statement Include?

An AR statement includes a header with the company and customer details, account number, and statement date; the opening balance; a list of invoices, payments, credit memos, and adjustments with dates and references; the closing balance; an aging summary of the balance; payment instructions; and a contact for billing questions or disputes.

The aging summary is the section customers act on most often. It splits the balance into current, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90 days past due, using the same buckets as an internal AR aging report applied to a single customer.

Including the customer's purchase order number next to each invoice number helps the customer's accounts payable team match items quickly.

What Is the Difference Between an AR Statement and an Invoice?

An invoice requests payment for a specific sale and creates a receivable. An AR statement summarizes all activity on a customer's account over a period and does not create a new amount owed. Invoices are issued for each sale or billing cycle, while statements are usually sent monthly or on request.

For the different invoice formats that feed a statement, see types of invoices in accounts receivable.

What Are the Types of AR Statements?

The three types of AR statements are open item statements, balance forward statements, and activity statements. Open item statements list only unpaid invoices and open credits. Balance forward statements show the prior balance, the period's activity, and the new balance. Activity statements list every transaction in a date range, whether open or paid.

Open item statement

This is the most common format in B2B because it shows exactly which invoices the customer still needs to pay. Paid items drop off the statement once they are settled.

Balance forward statement

This format is compact and suits accounts with recurring billing or many small transactions. Its drawback is that customers cannot easily see which specific invoices remain unpaid.

Activity statement

Customers often request this format to reconcile their own records or support an audit, because it includes paid as well as open items.

What Does a Sample AR Statement Look Like?

A sample open item statement for Acme Industrial, account C-10482, dated March 31 with net 30 terms, would list each open invoice with its PO number, due date, original amount, payments or credits applied, and open amount, followed by the balance due and an aging summary.

The aging summary for this statement shows $7,800 current, $5,000 at 1 to 30 days past due, and $9,400 at 31 to 60 days past due. The customer can see immediately that $14,400 is past due and that the oldest invoice is in the 31 to 60 day bucket. The credit memo is netted against the March invoice it relates to.

When Should AR Statements Be Sent?

Most B2B companies send AR statements monthly, typically in the first days of the month to show the month-end position. Statements are also sent ahead of large due dates, attached to past due notices during collections, on customer request for reconciliation, and at year end when customers confirm balances for their audits.

Monthly statements work well alongside a consistent payment reminder schedule, so customers receive both invoice-level reminders and a full account summary.

How Do AR Statements Help Collections?

AR statements help collections by surfacing discrepancies early, catching invoices lost in a customer's accounts payable process, and making overdue amounts clearly visible. A customer who sees an unfamiliar invoice on a statement usually raises it before it becomes overdue, which allows the issue to be resolved sooner.

Matching statements also reduce back-and-forth between the seller's AR team and the customer's AP team, because both sides can reconcile from the same list of open items.

How Should Statements Be Sent to Multi-Location Customers?

Statements for multi-location customers should match how the customer pays. If one central AP team pays for many sites, send one statement to central AP with the site or ship-to location on each line. If each division has its own AP team, send a statement per division. If a parent company pays for its subsidiaries, send a consolidated statement to the parent and provide subsidiary statements on request.

Including the location on every line is essential. Without it, central AP teams cannot match invoices to the sites that approved them.

How Should You Handle Customer Replies to Statements?

Customer replies to statements should be logged against the specific invoice they concern and handled with a consistent response for each reply type. Common replies are that the invoice was already paid, was never received, shows an incorrect amount, is waiting on a credit, or has a scheduled payment.

01

We already paid this.

Request the payment date, amount, and reference, then check unapplied cash and apply the payment if it is found.

02

We never received this invoice.

Resend the invoice with supporting documents and confirm the correct AP contact.

03

This amount is wrong.

Log a dispute against the invoice, route it to the right owner, and pause collection on that amount. Structured dispute management keeps the statement and collection notes consistent.

04

We are waiting on a credit.

Confirm whether the credit was approved, then post it or explain the decision.

05

Payment is scheduled.

Record the promised date and amount as a promise to pay.

How Do You Keep AR Statements Accurate?

To keep AR statements accurate, apply all cash to invoices before generating statements, post approved credit memos promptly, show the customer's purchase order numbers alongside invoice numbers, send statements to the correct accounts payable contact, and use a consistent format every month. Unapplied payments are the most damaging error, because they make invoices the customer has already paid appear open.

AR Statement Checklist

Statements are most effective as one step in a defined collections sequence. For teams sending statements and past due notices at scale, automated dunning keeps timing and escalation consistent across accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions