How to Run an Accounts Receivable Aging Report in QuickBooks Online

This tutorial presents the steps to run an accounts receivable aging report in QuickBooks. A QuickBooks aging report separates the amount due from your customers, referred to as accounts receivable (A/R), into groups based on how many days they are overdue. The accounts receivable aging report is useful for both identifying problem receivables that might require additional attention as well as forecasting future cash receipts.

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This tutorial is one in our series of Free QuickBooks Tutorials. The step-by-step instructions that follow the video offer screenshots from the most recent version of QuickBooks Online. Although the video was made with a slightly older version of QuickBooks Online, the steps have remained essentially the same.

Why the QuickBooks Aging Report Is Important

The A/R aging report lists the amounts owed to you by customers, separated into columns based on the number of days the invoice is overdue. This allows you to identify potential collection problems quickly to address. The report also allows you to predict the cash you will collect next month more accurately compared to only looking at total receivables since the receivable aging report identifies past due invoices that might not be collected next month.

Sample Accounts Receivable Aging Report

Below is an A/R Aging Report for our fictitious company, Paul’s Plumbing:

The rows in a receivable aging report consist of customers. Click the triangle next to a customer’s name to expand the customer and show individual jobs, if applicable. The rows in an aging report are aging periods showing how long each customer’s receivable has been overdue. Receivables listed in the Current column are not overdue. Amounts listed in the 1 – 30 column are overdue by less than 30 days. The total accounts receivable shown in the final column should match the A/R shown on your balance sheet for the report date.

How to Run an A/R Aging Report in QuickBooks

You can run a QuickBooks aging report in four steps:

1. Click Reports in the left menu and then select Accounts receivable aging summary in the Who owes you section.
2. Change the general report options for your Accounts Receivable Aging Report in the menu bar above your report.
3. Click Customize to customize your Accounts Receivable Aging Report further.
4. Select an icon in the upper right corner of the report to Email, print, or export your report.

1. Create a New Accounts Receivable Aging Report

Select Reports in the left menu bar and then scroll down to the Who owes you section. Click on Accounts receivable aging summary to create a new Accounts Receivable Aging Report:

2. Set Options for the Accounts Receivable Aging Report

Locate the menu bar above the aging report by scrolling up. The menu bar provides some general options that can be adjusted:

Choose the following options for your Accounts Receivable Aging Report:

1. Report period: Choose the date on which an A/R must be outstanding to be included in the report. You can choose common reporting periods from the drop-down menu or enter a custom date.
2. Show nonzero or active only: The QuickBooks default is to show only rows and columns that have activity during the period. This is a good setting that will avoid unnecessary clutter in your report.
3. Aging method: The age of an accounts receivable can be calculated based on either the report date chosen in A, or the date the report is created.
4. Days per aging period: Aging reports commonly are based on intervals of 30 days per column, but you can adjust that to a different number of days.
5. Number of periods: Set the number of periods, or columns, you would like to display in your aging report.
6. Run report: Click Run report to apply your changes.
7. Customize: To customize your Accounts Receivable Aging Report even further, as discussed in the next step, click Customize.
8. Save Customization: You can create and name a new report with the options you have chosen in this and the next step.

3. Customize Your Accounts Receivable Aging Report Further

You can select additional options for your Accounts Receivable Aging Report by clicking the Customize button (item G in the prior section).

General

The first group of options in the Customize report menu are general options:

The reporting period chosen in the options above your report will appear here and can be changed. Unique options available in this section include presenting all numbers in thousands of dollars and choosing a format for negative numbers.

Rows/Columns

The only rows/column option is to suppress nonzero and no-activity accounts, which is also an option that can be set in the options located above the report.

Aging

While there is a section for aging in the customize tabs, the only settings available are those that can also be adjusted with the options above the report:

Filter

The filter options allow you to filter the aging report based on two variables:

If you don’t have the option to filter your Accounts Receivable Aging Report by location, you need to turn on location tracking in your advanced company settings.

Header/Footer

In the Header/Footer options, you can choose what information to display in the header and footer of the receivables aging report:

You can change the name of the company or the name of the report that will appear in the header. If you uploaded a logo while setting up your company, you can choose to show your logo at the top of your aging report.

Once you are done customizing your Accounts Receivable Aging Report, click the green Run Report button.

4. Print or Email Your Accounts Receivable Aging Report

You can print, email, or export your aging report with the icons in the top right corner of the report:

Click the envelope icon (A) to email a copy of your Accounts Receivable Aging Report without having to leave QuickBooks Online. Select the printer icon (B) to print a copy of your report. Click the drop-down arrow next to the export icon (C) to choose between exporting your aging report as a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet.

Wrap Up

You’ve finished another QuickBooks tutorial and can now run an Accounts Receivable Aging Report in QuickBooks Online. Our next tutorial is How to Run an Accounts Payable Aging Report.