This guide will explain how to run the Aged Payable Detail report in Xero, offering insights into unpaid bills, credit notes, and overpayments.
Overview
The Aged Payable Detail report is a crucial tool in managing accounts payable, providing a breakdown of unpaid transactions by age, helping you:
- Track overdue bills.
- Identify unapplied credits.
- Maintain a clear and accurate accounts payable ledger.
The Aged Payable detail report shows outstanding transactions as at the report date, even if the bill has been paid since that date. The reports accuracy relies on correct data entry and consistent processes.
Prerequisites:
You need Xero advisor, standard & reports or read only user role to access this report.
For the most accurate results, review your AP daily or weekly depending on size of your business. It's best practice that before running this report:
- Reconcile first: always reconcile your bank accounts up to the reporting date
- Check for Duplicates: use Xero's duplicate bill detection feature to delete or void any duplicated bills.
- Check draft bills in Xero: Ensure where applicable draft bills have been approved. Delete any unnecessary drafts to ensure they don't accidently get approved. Note: Generally draft bills should only relate to non-Inventory bills.
- Check Lightspeed received POs: Review PO's received and ensure where applicable the bill has been 'sent to Xero'. Manually update the bill due date in Xero. (Note: Bills created from a lightspeed PO will use the sync date as the bill date and due date. This is a system limitation. To ensure accurate cash flow projections, you must manually update the bill due dates in Xero).
Currently supplier bills created from a lightspeed PO will use the sync date on both the bill date and due date. This is why you must manually update the due dates in Xero. We are working with the Vendor to enable this to be added on the PO.
Guide: Important: Inventory value, supplier bill dates & due dates
Step-by-Step Instructions
- In the Accounting menu, select Reports.
- Find and open the Aged Payables Detail report. You can use the search field in the top right corner.
- Select a Date or click the arrow Dropdown icon next to the date to choose a set reporting period, eg End of last month or End of last quarter.
- Select other options you want the report to show. See Customise the report below.
- Click Update.
You can also select a cell, eg due date, invoice reference or total, on the report to see the bill, expense claim, credit note or overpayment in detail.
Use the options at the top of the report to customise it. After selecting desired options, click Update to refresh the report with your choices.
- Ageing Periods: Choose number of periods to display. You can also choose to display by Period number (eg. 1 Month, 2 Month, 3 Months) or Date range (eg, Jan 2023, Dec 2022, Nov 2022)
- Ageing by: Xero allows you to choose to view aged payables by Due Date or Invoice Date. We recommend using due dates since the invoice dates may not be the suppliers 'actual invoice dates' due to integration limitatiosn. See guide Crosstack | Important: Inventory value, supplier bill dates & due dates
- Columns: Select the information you want to show on the report, such as Contact Account Number, Due date and Invoice Date
- Groupling/Summarising: Change the report layout by grouping or summarising the results. We recommend grouping by Contact
- Filter: Add a filer to refine the report results, then click apply
- More: This option allows you to show or hide, ageing label, decimals & percentage of total amount outstanding for each period.
Troubleshooting / FAQ's
Why is the bill I've already paid still showing on the report?
The report shows outstanding transactions as of the report date. A bill will appear on the report if it was awaiting payment on the report date, even if you have paid it since then.
What if a payment is dated before the bill date?
If a payment is dated before the bill date, it can reduce the total on the report if the report is run for a perod that does not include the bill.
Why are duplicate created from lightspeed Purchase order?
This can happen when users click on the 'send to Xero' button multiple times which results in duplicated bills synced to Xero. To learn how to prevent duplicates refer to guide Manage Supplier Bill duplicates in Xero from LS PO
Related Guides & Next Steps
- What's next: Once you have the report, you should review and apply any bill credits. Xero Guide here
- Deep Dive: To create a custom report layout with your preferred settings, refer to guide How to Create and Save a Custom Report for Future Use
- See Also: