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Accounts Receivable Dictionary for Small Businesses.
Understand invoicing, accounts receivable, overdue payments, debt collection, settlements, and legal escalation in plain language.
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Explore 18 practical categories
Choose the part of your receivables process you are working on. Each category opens the filtered term directory.
Accounts Receivable Fundamentals
Core terms for understanding what customers owe and how those balances are recorded.
Accounts Receivable · Trade Receivables · Non-Trade ReceivablesView category 23 termsInvoices and Billing
The records and billing steps that turn completed work or delivered goods into a clear payment request.
Invoice · Invoice Number · Invoice DateView category 41 termsPayment Terms and Payment Processing
Due-date rules, payment methods, cash posting, and the details that determine when and how money is applied.
Payment Terms · Net 10 · Net 15View category 14 termsCredit Management
Practical tools for deciding whether to extend credit and how much customer exposure your business can accept.
Credit Policy · Credit Application · Credit LimitView category 11 termsAging and Portfolio Monitoring
Ways to group open balances by age and spot receivables that need attention.
Aging Schedule · Aging Analysis · Current Aging BucketView category 11 termsInternal Collection Workflows
The repeatable steps, tasks, priorities, and approvals used to follow up on overdue invoices.
Collection Workflow · Collection Pipeline · Collection PlaybookView category 10 termsCustomer and Debtor Communication
Reminders, calls, notices, promises, and documented customer responses.
Dunning · Dunning Letter · Payment ReminderView category 10 termsCommercial Debt Collection
Business-to-business recovery concepts used after an invoice remains unpaid.
Bona Fide Debt · Commercial Debt · Consumer DebtView category 20 termsDisputes and Resolution
How to record, investigate, and resolve customer disagreements and deductions.
Account Resolution · Dispute Rate · Invoice DisputeView category 8 termsSettlement Plans and Payment Arrangements
Agreed payment schedules, discounts, installments, defaults, and payment-plan records.
Payment Plan · Installment Payment · Settlement PlanView category 16 termsLegal Escalation and Attorney Handoff
The controlled process for preparing and authorizing a commercial claim for attorney review.
Legal Collections · Pre-Legal Collection · Statute of LimitationsView category 9 termsJudgments and Post-Judgment Recovery
Court judgments, payoff calculations, liens, and enforcement concepts that require qualified counsel.
Judgment · Default Judgment · Post-Judgment InterestView category 24 termsAccounting, Write-Offs, and Tax Concepts
Accounting records and tax-review concepts connected to unpaid business receivables.
Accrual Accounting · Cash-Basis Accounting · Revenue RecognitionView category 22 termsReporting, Metrics, and Forecasting
Formulas and reports that explain collection speed, effectiveness, risk, and expected cash.
Billing Cycle · Days Sales Outstanding · Days Delinquent Sales OutstandingView category 12 termsDocuments and Recordkeeping
Contracts, invoices, delivery evidence, audit history, and other records that support a balance.
Proof of Delivery · Contractual Interest · Supporting DocumentationView category 13 termsRisk, Compliance, and Security
Controls that protect customer data and support consistent, reviewable credit and collection decisions.
Customer Concentration Risk · Creditworthiness · Credit RiskView category 21 termsSmall Business Collection Operations
Day-to-day practices for organizing receivables when a small team handles collection work.
Collections Management · Final Demand · Collection NotesView category 3 termsTORO Recovery Terminology
Terms used inside TORO Recovery for monitoring Receivables, activating Accounts, and coordinating approved work.
Collection Recommendation · Portfolio Receivable · Active Collection MatterView categoryGuided learning
Follow a small-business learning path
Use these short, curated routes when you want to solve a problem instead of looking up one word.
New to Accounts Receivable
Start with the balance, invoice, due date, and aging concepts every owner should know.
Start learning 5 stepsSet Up a Small Business Collection Process
Build a repeatable workflow with clear owners, reminders, tasks, and escalation points.
Start learning 5 stepsUnderstand an Aging Report
Learn what aging buckets show and how to use them without confusing age with collectability.
Start learning 5 stepsHandle a Past-Due Invoice
Move from verification to a documented reminder and a dated next action.
Start learning 5 stepsRespond to an Invoice Dispute
Separate disputed and undisputed amounts, gather evidence, and record the outcome.
Start learning 5 stepsOffer a Settlement Plan
Understand offers, schedules, installments, returned payments, and plan defaults.
Start learning 5 stepsDecide When to Escalate a Claim
Review the claim facts, documents, approvals, and available recovery channels.
Start learning 5 stepsPrepare a Claim for a Collection Attorney
Organize the parties, balance, records, authorization, and engagement steps counsel needs to evaluate.
Start learning 5 stepsReview an Uncollectible Business Debt
Build the evidence package an accountant or tax professional needs to review a possible write-off.
Start learningEditorially featured
Useful terms for managing cash and overdue invoices
Search 291 plain-language terms
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Term directory
Accounts receivable dictionary
Showing 1–25 of 291 terms
| Term | Category | Plain-language definition | Open term |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–30 Days Past Due | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | An aging group for invoices whose due dates passed between 1 and 30 days ago. | Read |
| 2/10 Net 30Also: Two Ten Net Thirty | Payment Terms and Payment Processing | Terms offering a 2% discount if the customer pays within 10 days; otherwise, the full amount is due within 30 days. | Read |
| 31–60 Days Past Due | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | An aging group for invoices whose due dates passed between 31 and 60 days ago. | Read |
| 61–90 Days Past Due | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | An aging group for invoices whose due dates passed between 61 and 90 days ago. | Read |
| 91+ Days Past Due | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | An aging group for invoices whose due dates passed at least 91 days ago. | Read |
| Account Balance | Payment Terms and Payment Processing | The amount currently owed on an account after all properly posted invoices, payments, credits, and adjustments. | Read |
| Account Prioritization | Internal Collection Workflows | Deciding which unpaid accounts should receive attention first based on factors such as amount, age, risk, promises, and deadlines. | Read |
| Account Reconciliation | Accounting, Write-Offs, and Tax Concepts | Comparing an account balance with its supporting transactions and correcting documented differences. | Read |
| Account Resolution | Disputes and Resolution | The documented outcome that ends active collection work, such as full payment, settlement completion, approved write-off, or another authorized closure. | Read |
| Account Stated | Commercial Debt Collection | A legal theory involving an agreed balance based on prior transactions; its requirements vary and should be evaluated by qualified counsel. | Read |
| Account Statement | Invoices and Billing | A summary sent to a customer showing invoices, payments, credits, and the balance for a stated period. | Read |
| Account-Level Risk Assessment | Risk, Compliance, and Security | A documented review of the facts affecting payment and recovery risk for one specific customer account. | Read |
| Accounting Period | Accounting, Write-Offs, and Tax Concepts | A defined span of time, such as a month or quarter, for which transactions and financial results are recorded and reported. | Read |
| Accounting-System Integration | Small Business Collection Operations | A controlled connection that transfers or synchronizes approved data between an accounting system and another application. | Read |
| Accounts ReceivableAlso: AR, A/R | Accounts Receivable Fundamentals | Money customers still owe your business for products or services you have already delivered and billed on credit. | Read |
| Accounts Receivable Automation | Small Business Collection Operations | Software that helps perform repeatable receivables work, such as invoicing, reminders, matching payments, prioritizing tasks, and reporting. | Read |
| Accounts Receivable Turnover RatioAlso: AR Turnover | Reporting, Metrics, and Forecasting | The number of times during a period that a business collects and replaces its average Accounts Receivable balance. | Read |
| Accrual Accounting | Accounting, Write-Offs, and Tax Concepts | An accounting method that records revenue when earned and expenses when incurred, even if cash is received or paid later. | Read |
| Acknowledgment of Debt | Commercial Debt Collection | A debtor's written or otherwise documented recognition that an obligation or stated balance is owed. | Read |
| Active Collection Matter | TORO Recovery Terminology | An unpaid customer account the business has intentionally placed into an active collection workflow. | Read |
| Advance Payment | Payment Terms and Payment Processing | Payment received before the seller delivers the related products or services. | Read |
| Aged Debt Analysis | Accounts Receivable Fundamentals | A review of overdue debt grouped by how long it has remained unpaid. | Read |
| Aging Analysis | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | A review of unpaid balances by age to identify collection risk, trends, and accounts needing attention. | Read |
| Aging Schedule | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | A report that groups unpaid invoices by how long they have been outstanding or past due. | Read |
| Aging Trend | Aging and Portfolio Monitoring | The direction unpaid balances are moving over time, such as toward newer, older, or resolved aging groups. | Read |
Turn concepts into a controlled workflow
Put your Accounts receivable knowledge to work.
TORO Recovery keeps Receivables, next actions, documents, settlement activity, and authorized attorney handoffs connected in one Business workspace.