Last updated November 6, 2026
General information, not tax or legal advice. The rules depend on your country and your situation, so check anything with a tax or legal consequence with your accountant.
A statement of account is a dated summary of what a client has been invoiced, what they've paid and what they still owe. It adds no new charge. Send one monthly to clients with several open invoices, or whenever your records and theirs seem to disagree.
What does a statement of account include?
A statement of account includes your details, the client's, a statement date, each invoice and payment in the period, and the closing balance. Most also show how much of that balance is overdue. The list:
- The words "Statement of account", so nobody mistakes it for an invoice
- Your business name and contact details, and the client's name
- The statement date and the period it covers
- The opening balance, if you use the balance-forward layout
- Each invoice with its number, date, due date and amount
- Each payment with its date and amount
- The closing balance, including VAT
- An age summary of that balance
- How to pay, and who to ask if something looks wrong
A worked statement of account
Here's a complete statement of account for an invented studio's invented client, dated 31 October 2026. Every invoice is on 14-day terms, and all figures include VAT.
| Date | Details | Due | Invoiced | Paid | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct | Balance brought forward (INV-2026-0088 of 2 Sep) | 16 Sep | €1,800.00 | ||
| 6 Oct | Payment received, part of INV-2026-0088 | €800.00 | €1,000.00 | ||
| 9 Oct | Invoice INV-2026-0104 | 23 Oct | €2,400.00 | €3,400.00 | |
| 20 Oct | Payment received, INV-2026-0104 | €2,400.00 | €1,000.00 | ||
| 23 Oct | Invoice INV-2026-0117 | 6 Nov | €1,560.00 | €2,560.00 | |
| 30 Oct | Invoice INV-2026-0123 | 13 Nov | €720.00 | €3,280.00 | |
| 31 Oct | Balance due | €3,280.00 |
Under it goes the age summary:
| Not yet due | 1–30 days overdue | 31–60 days overdue | Over 60 days overdue | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €2,280.00 | €0.00 | €1,000.00 | €0.00 | €3,280.00 |
The €1,000 is what's left of INV-2026-0088, which was due on 16 September and is 45 days overdue at 31 October. The €2,280 is the two newest invoices, neither of them due yet.
To check it before you send it: opening balance + invoiced − paid = closing balance. That's €1,800 + €4,680 − €3,200 = €3,280.
Open-item or balance-forward: which layout should you use?
An open-item statement lists only what's unpaid, while a balance-forward statement shows all the activity for the period. The example above is balance-forward. The same position as open-item looks like this:
| Invoice | Date | Due | Original | Paid | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INV-2026-0088 | 2 Sep | 16 Sep | €1,800.00 | €800.00 | €1,000.00 |
| INV-2026-0117 | 23 Oct | 6 Nov | €1,560.00 | €1,560.00 | |
| INV-2026-0123 | 30 Oct | 13 Nov | €720.00 | €720.00 | |
| Total | €3,280.00 |
| Your client | Use |
|---|---|
| Pays invoice by invoice, and asks what's outstanding | Open-item |
| Gets many invoices a month, and pays in batches | Balance-forward |
| Disputes something or says they've paid | Balance-forward, because it shows every payment |
| Has one old invoice to chase | Neither. Send a reminder |
How is a statement of account different from an invoice or a reminder?
A statement of account differs from an invoice and a reminder because it covers the whole relationship, while they each cover one document.
| Document | Covers | Asks for | Tax effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice | One supply | Payment for that supply | Yes, usually creates VAT |
| Reminder | One overdue invoice | Payment of that invoice | None |
| Statement of account | Everything in a period | Agreement of the balance, then payment | None |
| Aged receivables report | All customers | Nothing. It's for your eyes | None |
A statement doesn't replace invoices for VAT purposes. The details the EU VAT Directive requires on an invoice, set out in Article 226, aren't on it, and the client's accountant will still want the invoices themselves. If an invoice is wrong, a statement can't correct it, and the fix is a credit note.
When should you send a statement of account, and what do you say?
Send a statement of account monthly to clients who get several invoices, straight after your month-end checks. It's also worth sending one before a year-end, or before a difficult conversation about money, so you're both working from the same page. Keep the cover note short:
Please find attached your statement as at 31 October 2026. The balance is €3,280.00, of which €1,000.00 is overdue: that's the remainder of invoice INV-2026-0088, due 16 September. Please let me know if anything here doesn't match your records, and if you can, when we can expect the overdue amount.
Send it to whoever pays your invoices. Your day-to-day contact may never see their accounts system.
What if the client's figures don't match?
If a client's figures don't match your statement of account, ask them for their list of what they think is open and go through the two side by side. It's almost always one of these:
| Their figure is | Probably because |
|---|---|
| Lower by one invoice | They never received it, or it's waiting for approval |
| Lower by a recent payment you haven't shown | The payment crossed with your statement, or you haven't recorded it |
| Higher | You recorded a payment against the wrong customer |
| Different by a small amount | A bank charge or an exchange rate |
Fix anything on your side first. The same list of checks appears in the guide to invoice reconciliation, which is worth running before you send statements at all. A statement that turns out to be wrong will cost you more credibility than no statement.
Building a statement of account from ERPFlow
ERPFlow has no statement of account document, and it doesn't send statements. You build one in a spreadsheet or a document, from what the customer's record shows.
- A customer's Invoices tab lists their invoices.
- The Analytics tab shows their outstanding amount and their invoices by status. Its figures are net of tax, with the tax beneath, in your base currency, so add the two together before you compare them with a statement that includes VAT.
- Each invoice's Payments card lists what was received and when.
- The CSV export of invoices gives a row per invoice line, with the customer, number, dates, status and line amounts, for all customers. It doesn't include payments, so those come from each invoice.
For an overdue invoice, Send payment reminder emails that one invoice with its PDF, the days overdue and the amount due. It works one invoice at a time and only on invoices already overdue, so it doesn't replace a statement of the whole account.