Reading and interpreting the Open Invoices report

What the Open Invoices report is

The Open Invoices report is a filtered view of your Invoice List report that shows only invoices with an unpaid balance. These are invoices where you have not yet received full payment from the customer. The report excludes paid invoices, making it easy to focus on what you still need to collect.

Why it matters

An open invoice represents money that customers owe you — it is an asset on your balance sheet called "accounts receivable." Managing open invoices is critical because:

• Cash flow: You need to know how much money is pending to forecast your available cash.
• Credit decisions: The number and size of open invoices help you decide whether to offer credit to a customer or tighten their credit limit.
• Collections: You can prioritize which customers to contact for payment based on how large their balance is and how overdue the invoice is.
• Bad debt risk: Very old, unpaid invoices may need to be written off as uncollectible debt, which affects your financial statements.

How it works in Usystems

When you create an invoice and do not immediately receive full payment, that invoice appears in the Open Invoices report. As your customer makes partial or full payments, you record those payments in Usystems. Once the invoice is fully paid, it automatically moves out of the "open" list and no longer appears in this report.

The report is always current — new unpaid invoices appear automatically, and invoices move to paid status instantly when you mark them as paid or record a full payment.

Where you see it and what it shows

Go to Reports Open in Usystems, then select Sales Reports and Open Invoices Report. The report shows:

• All invoices (from all customers, unless you filter) with an unpaid balance.
• For each invoice: invoice number, customer name, amount due, original invoice total, due date, and sometimes "days overdue" (if the due date has passed).
• A total of all amounts due across all open invoices (useful for knowing your total outstanding receivable).

How to use it for collections and cash flow

1. Prioritize customers: Sort by "Amount Due" (largest first) or "Days Overdue" (oldest first) to see which customers owe the most or are most behind on payment.

2. Forecast cash: The total "Amount Due" column tells you approximately how much money you expect to collect in the coming weeks or months.

3. Set aside for bad debt: If any invoices are very old (e.g., over 90 days), consider whether they may never be paid and whether to reserve funds for potential bad debt.

4. Follow up: Use the due date and days-overdue information to know which customers to contact. A customer with a 30-day overdue invoice needs faster attention than one with a 5-day invoice.