Sending a Customer Statement

An invoice tells a customer what one bill is for. A statement tells them where their whole account stands — what they owed coming in, what you've invoiced since, what they've paid, and what's still due. It's the right thing to send a member who's behind on dues, a sponsor with several open invoices, or anyone who calls asking "what do I owe you?"

Where: open any invoice and click Customer Statement, or open a contact and use the Statement button on their Invoices tab. To send statements to many customers at once, go to Invoices and click Statements.

Availability: plans with invoicing (Foundation and up). Anyone who can view the books can open and print a statement; emailing one takes ledger editing permission.

Reading the statement

The statement is a balance-forward statement, the same format a utility or a credit card uses:

Below the summary:

• Account Activity lists each invoice and payment in date order with a running balance, starting from a Balance forward line. Invoice numbers link to the invoice. One check that paid several invoices shows as a single line ("Payment received — Check #1042 — applied to INV-260014, INV-260015"), the way the customer wrote it.
• Open Invoices lists everything still unpaid, with a Current or days past due badge on each.
• The aging strip at the bottom sorts the open balance into Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and Over 90 days.

Choosing the period

A new statement covers roughly the last three months — from the first of the month two months back through today. To change it, set From and Through in the Statement Period box and click Update Statement.

Nothing is lost by picking a short period: anything before the From date is rolled into the previous balance, so the amount due comes out the same. Setting Through to an earlier date shows the account as it stood that day — handy for "what did they owe at year-end?"

Emailing it

In the Send Statement box, type an optional Message ("Thanks for your support — let us know if anything looks off") and click Email Statement. The email goes to the customer's primary email address and includes:

• the statement as a PDF attachment,
• the statement date, period, and amount due,
• your message, and
• a list of their open invoices — each with its own Pay online link when you have online payments connected (see Letting Customers Pay Invoices Online).

The Pay online link always charges that invoice's balance as of the moment they click, so a statement that crosses a check in the mail won't double-charge anyone.

Printing or mailing it

Download / Print PDF (or the PDF button at the top) opens the statement as a one-page PDF with your logo, your invoice accent color, and your Remittance Instructions beside the account summary. Those come from the same place as your invoice branding: Settings → Customization → Invoices.

If the customer has no email on file, the Email button is switched off and the page tells you so — print the PDF and mail it, or add an email to the contact first.

Sending statements to everyone at once

For a month-end or year-end run, go to Invoices and click Statements. The page lists every customer who owes you money, with their email, Open Balance, and Past Due amount.

1. Set the period. From and Through work the same as on a single statement. The list shows who owed money on the Through date. Set Show to Past due only to leave out customers whose invoices aren't due yet, then click Update List.
2. Choose who gets one. Everyone starts ticked. Untick anyone you want to leave out, or use the Select links: All, None, Past due, or No email. Click a customer's name to preview their statement in a new tab.
3. Email them. Type an optional Message — it's added to every email — and click Email Statements. Each customer gets their own statement, exactly as if you'd sent it from their own page. The Result column fills in as each one goes out. The emails send in the background, so you can leave the page — come back to Statements any time to see how the run went. Need to halt it? Click Stop sending; customers not yet reached won't be emailed.
4. Print the rest. Customers with a No email badge are skipped by the email step. Click the No email select link, then Print Selected (one PDF) to get their statements in a single PDF, one customer after another, ready for envelopes.

Once a customer has been emailed, their row is unticked, so clicking the button again never sends anyone a second copy. Prefer paper for everybody? Skip the email step and print the whole list.

A customer's invoices in one place

The Invoices tab on a contact record is the quickest way to answer questions about one customer. It shows their Open balance, any amount Past due, any Credit on account, and every invoice you've sent them with its status. From there:

• Statement opens their statement.
• New Invoice starts an invoice with the customer already chosen and their address filled in.

Good to know

• Statements match your A/R Aging report. Run All Reports → A/R Aging for the same date and the customer's total there equals the statement's balance.
• Drafts and voided invoices never appear. A statement only shows what you've actually sent.
• Bank payments that are still clearing don't count yet. An online bank (ACH) payment shows on the statement once it clears, the same as on the invoice.
• A statement is a snapshot, not a record. Nothing is posted to your books and nothing is saved — open it again any time and it's rebuilt from the current invoices and payments.
• No due date on an invoice? The statement treats it as due the day it was invoiced.
• Looking for a donor's year-end tax letter instead? That's a different document — see Year-End Giving Statements.