What is accounts receivable aging?

It is a report that groups unpaid invoices by how long they have been outstanding, usually in 30-day buckets, so a business can see who owes what and which balances are getting old.

What are the aging buckets?

Most reports use current, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days past due.

How often should you review AR aging?

Weekly for a staffing agency, because payroll goes out every week and overdue balances affect cash quickly.

What is the difference between AR aging and DSO?

AR aging shows unpaid balances by age and client. DSO summarizes collection speed as one number of days.

Why do CFOs analyze the aging of accounts receivable?

To spot collection problems early, estimate bad debt, manage cash flow and decide which customers need attention or different credit terms.

Accounts Receivable Aging

September 24, 2026

3 min read

Invoicing & Billing

Written by the NextCrew team

Definition

Accounts receivable aging is a report that sorts unpaid customer invoices by how long they have been outstanding, usually in 30-day buckets: current, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days past due. It shows who owes money, how much, and which balances are becoming hard to collect.

For a staffing agency, the AR aging report is the weekly cash conversation in one page. Payroll goes out every week; client payments come in on 30 to 60-day terms. Every invoice that slides from one bucket to the next stretches that gap, and in staffing a slow-paying large client can strain payroll quickly.

What does an AR aging report look like?

Client	Current	1-30	31-60	61-90	90+	Total
Client A	$18,000	$6,000	—	—	—	$24,000
Client B	$9,500	$9,500	$4,200	—	—	$23,200
Client C	—	—	$3,100	$2,800	$1,900	$7,800

Illustrative numbers. Client C is the one to call first: the oldest balances are the least likely to be paid.

How do you use an aging report?

1
Start with the oldest balances
Work collections from 90+ days down to current, largest first.
2
Look for patterns
A client that is always 31-60 may need different terms or a deposit.
3
Check for disputes
An old invoice is often a disputed one. Find out what is wrong and fix it.
4
Watch concentration
One client owning most of the overdue balance is a cash risk.
5
Act on the trend
Rising 61-90 balances are an early warning, weeks before cash gets tight.

How does AR aging relate to DSO?

Days sales outstanding (DSO) turns the aging picture into one number: how many days of sales, on average, are waiting to be collected. A common formula is accounts receivable divided by total credit sales for the period, times the number of days in the period. Aging tells you where the money is stuck; DSO tells you whether it is getting better or worse.

Why do staffing invoices age?

Missing approvals. The client will not pay hours its site manager did not approve.
Wrong rates. A line billed at the wrong bill rate holds up the whole invoice.
Invoice sent to the wrong person. It sits in an inbox nobody reads.
Program deductions. VMS and program fees make the paid amount differ from the invoice, and the difference ages.

Bottom line: the aging report shows where your cash is stuck. Work the oldest balances first, and fix the approval and rate problems that make invoices age in the first place.

How NextCrew handles AR aging

Aging buckets. The AR aging report buckets balances as current, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and beyond.
Payment tracking. Receive Payment records the amount and date, updates the invoice status and tracks any remaining balance.
Invoices that do not get disputed. Invoices come from approved timesheets, can include attachments, and keep a snapshot of the timesheets behind them.
Routed to the right contact. Mass-emailed invoices go to each client's billing contact automatically.

See staffing invoicing software.