Accounts receivable aging

Definition

Receivables grouped by how long each one has gone unpaid.

Why It Matters

The report sorts what customers owe into buckets, current, 30, 60, 90 days and beyond, and the shape of it says more than the total does. A balance concentrated in the oldest bucket is not an asset, it is a collection problem the seller is asking you to buy at face value. It also feeds two negotiations at once: which receivables transfer and at what discount, and where the working capital peg gets set. Read it beside the customer list, because one slow payer that is also the largest account is a different risk from ten slow small ones.

In numbers: Of $180,000 in receivables, $54,000 sitting past 90 days is a 30% share that belongs in the price conversation rather than on the balance sheet.