Finance · Agent workflow
Follow up on overdue invoices without sending generic reminders
ZeroTwo reads overdue QuickBooks invoices, checks recent Gmail threads for context, drafts a customer-specific reminder for each one that is safe to chase, and posts a Slack queue. Finance approves, revises or holds every card before anything is sent.
You set the follow-up threshold and the collections policy. The agent prepares the work, and a person decides what goes out.
- QuickBooks
- Gmail
- Slack
#finance-ops · AR queue
Fictional example- Draft ready
Customer A · Routine overdue
Invoice 1042, $3,200, nine days past due, no payments applied.
Actions: approve · revise · assign · hold
- On hold
Customer B · Disputed
Invoice 1051, $18,500, 34 days past due, no payments applied.
Actions: approve · revise · assign · hold
- Balance only
Customer C · Partly paid
Invoice 1060, $7,800. A $4,000 payment is applied, $3,800 remains, 21 days past due.
Actions: approve · revise · assign · hold
Three overdue invoices that should not get the same email
An aging report says what is late, not what should happen next. One customer is a day behind because the invoice went to the wrong billing contact. Another promised payment on Friday. A third is disputing a line item. The same reminder to all three creates friction and makes finance look disconnected from the account.
Doing it by hand fails differently: someone exports the report, writes the easy emails and parks the complicated accounts for later, so the ones that need judgment stay stuck.
Customer A: routine overdue
Draft ready- QuickBooks shows
- Invoice 1042, $3,200, nine days past due, no payments applied.
- Gmail shows
- No billing thread in the last 60 days. No earlier reminder found.
- Agent proposes
- Draft a short reminder to the billing contact for approval.
Draft for approval
Hi [name], a quick note that invoice 1042 for $3,200 was due on [date]. The invoice and payment instructions are attached. If a payment is already scheduled, tell me the date and I will update our records.
Customer B: disputed
On hold- QuickBooks shows
- Invoice 1051, $18,500, 34 days past due, no payments applied.
- Gmail shows
- Customer replied on [date] questioning line item 3 and asking for a corrected invoice.
- Agent proposes
- Write no reminder. Post the evidence and assign the account owner.
Hold note
Hold reason: open dispute on line item 3. Finance to confirm a credit or a corrected invoice before any follow-up goes out.
Customer C: partly paid
Balance only- QuickBooks shows
- Invoice 1060, $7,800. A $4,000 payment is applied, $3,800 remains, 21 days past due.
- Gmail shows
- Customer wrote that the rest is coming at the end of the month.
- Agent proposes
- Draft a thank-you that names only the remaining balance, and flag the promised date for review.
Draft for approval
Thank you for the $4,000 payment on [date]. The remaining balance on invoice 1060 is $3,800. You mentioned the rest would follow at month end. Please confirm the date so we can plan around it.
Customers, amounts and dates above are invented to show the shape of a queue. They are not results from a real account.
Four checks between a draft and a send
A payment can arrive after the draft is written, and a reminder can already have gone out. Build these into the instructions and watch the first runs to confirm each one happened. They are rules you ask for, not behaviour to assume.
Recheck the invoice at the moment of approval
Read the balance again just before a card is approved. If a payment landed or a credit was applied after the draft was written, withdraw the card or rewrite it.
Look for a reminder already sent
Before drafting, search sent mail for a reminder on the same invoice inside a cooling-off window you choose. If one exists, hold and show its date.
Name an owner for every card
Each Slack card carries the invoice, the proposed wording, the flags, and a named owner with approve, revise, assign or hold.
Keep a record of what was approved
Note who approved which wording, when, and what the invoice looked like at that moment. The Slack thread can serve as the log.
Limits worth knowing: duplicate checks only see mail the agent can read, so tell it about reminders sent from other systems. And no workflow guarantees a customer pays; this one makes the follow-up timely and reviewable.
Template reminders versus a reviewed queue
| Dimension | Same template for every invoice | ZeroTwo queue with finance review |
|---|---|---|
| Deciding who to chase | Finance scans the aging report and decides from memory who needs a reminder. | Overdue invoices are checked for due date, balance, customer notes and earlier follow-up before an action is proposed. |
| Writing the email | One template, even when the customer part-paid, disputed a line or is mid-renewal. | Each draft carries the invoice details and your tone rules, with an escalation note when something is unusual. |
| Sensitive accounts | Every overdue invoice gets the same treatment, so the wrong message can reach the wrong account. | Disputes, credits, strategic accounts, promised dates and large balances are routed to a person. |
| Who can see the decision | Follow-up decisions live in inboxes, spreadsheets or private notes. | A Slack card shows the invoice, the draft, the exception reason and the owner before anything happens. |
How ZeroTwo runs the follow-up
Runs on a weekday morning for invoices past your threshold, or just before the weekly AR meeting. Urgent exceptions can post to the finance channel straight away.
Read overdue invoices
Pull invoices past your follow-up threshold with due dates, balances, applied payments and customer references.
Check recent billing threads
Look for promised dates, a wrong billing contact, a dispute, or a reminder already sent.
Sort routine from exception
Separate safe reminder candidates from disputes, credits, large balances and strategic accounts.
Draft in your tone
Write concise reminders with invoice number, amount, due date and payment instructions, following your collections policy.
Post the approval queue
Send finance a card per invoice with the draft, the flags and the actions: approve, revise, assign or hold.
A starting prompt
Change the bracketed value and the channel name. It asks for the duplicate check and the final recheck, and it stops at the queue.
Every weekday at 8 AM, review QuickBooks invoices more than seven days overdue.
For each one:
1. Check recent Gmail billing threads and sent mail. If a reminder for this invoice went out in the last [5] days, hold it and show the date.
2. Hold disputed invoices, open credits, large balances, strategic accounts, promised payment dates and anything where payment status is unclear.
3. For the rest, draft a customer-specific reminder in Gmail. For part-paid invoices, mention only the remaining balance.
4. Re-read the invoice in QuickBooks just before posting. If the balance changed, withdraw the card.
Post a queue to #finance-ops with the invoice, the draft, the exception flag and a recommended owner. Do not send anything.Where finance stays in charge
The accounts that most need judgment are the ones a faster workflow can hurt most. Hold them, show the evidence, and let routine reminders move in batches.
Always hold for a person
- Disputed invoices and open credits
- Large balances, using a threshold you set
- Strategic customers and active renewal talks
- Promised payment dates
- Legal concerns of any kind
- Any invoice where payment status is unclear
Fine to review in a batch
- Routine overdue invoices with no flags
- A confirmed billing contact on file
- No reminder inside your cooling-off window
- Payment status rechecked at approval
Automatic sending is safest only for a narrow category like this, with a clear policy and an audit trail.
Where this stops and the next workflow starts
This page owns the AR decision and the customer-reminder queue. See every workflow in agent use cases, or how the Work agent and scheduled tasks run them.
- Cash Flow ForecastingTakes reviewed AR status, such as expected collection timing, into the aggregate cash forecast.
- Professional invoice generatorFor creating the invoice in the first place. This page starts once an invoice is overdue.
- Month-End CloseFor the close package, when the question is the period rather than the reminder.
- Revenue Variance AnalysisFor explaining why revenue moved, not for chasing individual invoices.
Questions about automated invoice follow-up
What is an AI invoice collections agent?
It reviews overdue invoices, decides which accounts need follow-up, drafts payment reminders and routes exceptions for approval. In ZeroTwo the workflow can use QuickBooks invoice context, Gmail drafts and Slack approval cards, so finance stays in control of what is sent.
Can ZeroTwo draft overdue invoice reminder emails?
Yes. It can draft Gmail payment reminders from invoice details, customer context and your policy. Finance should still approve sensitive, disputed, large-balance or strategic-account messages before they go out.
How does QuickBooks fit into the workflow?
QuickBooks provides the accounting facts: invoice records, due dates, balances, applied payments, customer references and aging. ZeroTwo uses them to prioritize follow-up and to attach the right invoice evidence to each approval card.
What if a customer pays between the draft and the approval?
A Gmail draft does not update itself. That is why the workflow should re-read the invoice just before approval and withdraw or rewrite the card if the balance changed. Put the recheck in your instructions, and look at the first few runs to confirm it happened.
How do we avoid sending two reminders for the same invoice?
Ask the agent to search sent mail for a reminder on the same invoice inside a cooling-off window you choose, and to hold the card if it finds one. It can only see what is in the mailbox it can read, so tell it where else reminders are sent from, such as an accounting tool's own reminder feature.
Which collections emails should require human approval?
Disputed invoices, credits, large balances, strategic customers, promised payment dates, active renewal talks, legal concerns and any invoice where payment status is unclear. Routine low-risk reminders can still be reviewed in batches.
Can the agent send reminders automatically?
The workflow is built to prepare messages for approval, and finance teams should start with review gates. Automatic sending is safest only for narrow, low-risk categories with a clear policy, verified invoice status and an audit trail.
What belongs in an AR follow-up approval queue?
The customer, invoice number, amount, due date, days overdue, prior reminder status, proposed email copy, exception flags and the action finance can take: approve, revise, assign or hold.
Run the first queue as drafts only, then widen what you trust
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