Time Leak Audit
I map how the work happens today, estimate the hours that could be recovered and rank the opportunities against your goals. Under two hours of your time.
From £950 · fixed feeDirect debits & payment matching
Collect recurring payments
without keying them in.
I help firms connect approved recurring invoices to payment collection and matching. Supported provider and accounting connections reduce retyping, while failed payments, unclear references and unmatched amounts go to a person.
By Anne Peire ·
At a glance
- The task
- Collecting recurring client payments and matching them to invoices
- Who it hits
- Firms billing retainers, subscriptions or monthly fees
- What changes
- Mandates signed once, amounts collected from approved invoices, payments matched
- Proof
- A payroll firm collecting around 200 payments a month
The problem
Getting paid should not
be a monthly project
Monthly billing looks simple. In practice, someone enters each amount into the bank, client by client, then waits to see what arrives. Some clients pay by transfer, some late, some with the wrong reference.
Then comes the matching: an hour set aside to check what came into the bank against what the accounting software expects. When the two do not agree, someone investigates, often the founder.
Every step is careful, repetitive and easy to get slightly wrong. It is exactly the kind of work a system does better than a person.
A payment you have to enter by hand is a payment you can enter wrong.
The change
What it looks like before,
and after
Today, by hand
- Amounts typed into the bank, one client at a time
- Payment forms sent by email, printed, signed and scanned
- Late payers noticed when someone checks
- Payments checked against invoices by hand, often once a month
Once it runs itself
- Clients sign a mandate online once, as part of onboarding
- Amounts are collected from the invoices you approved
- Failed payments are flagged with the client and invoice attached
- Payments are matched in your accounting software as they arrive
≈200payments a month, collected without manual keying, at a payroll firm in France
Premium Paye · payroll services
Direct debit amounts used to be entered into the bank’s platform client by client, every month. They are now raised from the same data as the invoices, alongside automated invoicing and online onboarding.
Read the Premium Paye case studyIn practice
One recurring invoice, through the process
Approve the amount
Your team approves the invoice and confirms the client’s payment arrangement in the provider.
Collect and identify
The supported connection creates the collection, with the invoice reference attached and required notices handled through the provider.
Match or flag
A settled payment is matched using the agreed reference and amount. Failures, partial payments and unclear matches go to review.
Premium Paye is the French client example above. Separately, I used GoCardless with Xero in my own London childcare agency. Those are different business and provider setups.
How we get there
Three paid phases.
You decide after each one.
Collection is often the quickest win in a business that bills monthly, because the rules are already clear.
Process Design
A working session with your team, then detailed mapping: the steps, the data, the business rules and the exceptions that decide how the build behaves.
Separately scoped · fixed feeImplementation and handover
I build it in the tools you already use, test it against the agreed scenarios, document it and show your team how to run it without me.
Fixed project price · quoted after Process DesignBefore any of it, a free fifteen-minute conversation. Bring the process as it actually happens, not as it should.
Which direct debit provider do you use?
I have used GoCardless with Xero, in my own business. Other providers can work the same way if they have a proper connection to your accounting software. I check what you already use before recommending a change.
Will all my clients accept direct debit?
Not all of them, and that is fine. Clients can still pay by transfer. Automatic matching depends on complete references, supported feeds and the accounting rules; unmatched payments are flagged for your team.
What happens when a payment fails?
It is flagged with the client and invoice attached, and a task is created for the person responsible. Any reminder is prepared for an authorised person to check and send. Retries and required payment notices follow the provider setup we agree.
Does it work with my bank?
Collection uses a direct debit provider. Matching also depends on the supported provider connection, your accounting setup, payment references and bank feeds. I check those before designing the workflow, and agree how exceptions are handled.
Keep reading
Related
Your business
How long does it take you
to know who has paid?
Fifteen minutes, no charge. Bring the way it actually works today.
15 minutes · No charge
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