Every Thursday, a spreadsheet goes out
For several clients, your firm handles bills: they arrive, you enter them, and once a week you prepare a list of what should be paid. On Thursday it goes out as a spreadsheet. One client replies 'all fine'. Another says 'hold the builder, pay the rest'. A third replies on Monday, after half the suppliers have chased. A fourth replies with a question about a bill from three weeks ago.
Your bookkeeper then builds the payment batch in the client's bank or ledger, and the client logs in to authorise it. Some do, some forget. By the next Thursday it starts again, with last week's leftovers carried forward.
Why payment runs are so slow
The approval step happens by email, so it arrives in any shape. There is no single place where the client can see what is due, what is proposed and what is on hold. Cash matters too: clients want to know what paying the list will do to their balance, and a spreadsheet does not tell them.
Then the authorisation sits with the client in their bank, which you cannot see. You find out a payment did not go when the supplier calls the client and the client calls you.
What slow payment runs cost
Suppliers are paid late, which damages your clients' relationships and sometimes their terms. Early payment discounts are missed. Bookkeepers spend time chasing approvals and rebuilding lists. Holds agreed by email get forgotten, and a disputed bill is paid by mistake. The service you provide feels less valuable when it depends on the client doing half of it through their inbox.
| Step | By email today | With a proposal page |
|---|---|---|
| List of bills due | Spreadsheet attachment | Built from the ledger each week |
| Client decisions | Replies in free text | Approve, hold or part-pay per bill |
| Cash effect | Not shown | Balance before and after the run |
| Payment batch | Rebuilt by hand | File or batch generated from approvals |
| Confirmation | Found out when suppliers call | Paid status read back from the ledger |
How we build client payment runs
- Each week, bills due or overdue are read from the client's Xero or QuickBooks file and grouped into a proposed run, following the rules you and the client agree, such as paying by due date or prioritising key suppliers.
- The client receives a link to a simple page showing each bill, its supplier, amount, due date and any note from your team, plus the bank balance before and after.
- The client approves, holds or part-pays each bill with a tap, and can add a comment. Holds stay in place until they release them.
- Approved bills become a payment batch in the ledger or a bank payment file in the format their bank accepts, ready for the client to authorise in their own online banking.
- Your firm never holds authority to move the client's money. The final authorisation stays with the client in their bank.
- Once payments clear, the ledger marks bills as paid, and anything approved but not paid is flagged for a follow-up.
Supplier bank details are a common fraud target, so any bill whose supplier bank details changed recently is highlighted on the page and held until someone confirms the change by a known route.
A weekly run that takes minutes
Clients approve on their phone in a few minutes, seeing the effect on their cash as they decide. Your bookkeepers stop rebuilding lists and chasing replies. Holds and disputes are remembered. Suppliers get paid on time more often. And the payment service becomes a routine the client values rather than a weekly email they dread.
Is this your Thursday?
- You email clients a list of bills to approve each week.
- Replies come back in free text and need interpreting.
- Clients forget to authorise the batch in their bank.
- Holds on disputed bills have been forgotten before.
- Suppliers chase your clients because payments went late.