Steinfin takes over the day-to-day accounts receivable work: following up invoices, keeping queries moving and tracking every promise to pay. Your business keeps the commercial decisions, the customer relationships and a clear view of everything we do.
Accounts receivable outsourcing means using an external specialist to run some or all of the day-to-day work of getting invoices paid: following up with customers, tracking what they promise, keeping queries moving and keeping a clear record of every account.
With Steinfin, that work is done by a dedicated team, in your name and to rules you agree. You keep raising invoices in your own accounting system, and you keep the final say on anything commercial or sensitive.
It is not debt collection, and it is not software you have to run. It is your AR work, done for you as a managed service.
Handing the day-to-day work of getting invoices paid to an outside team, while keeping ownership of the decisions and the customer relationship.
Looking for how the work itself is run? See how accounts receivable management works day to day.
In most growing businesses, nobody's job is only accounts receivable. It gets done in fragments, between other priorities. Outsourcing gives the routine work one owner, and sends back only what needs your team.
Nobody owns it end to end, so follow-up depends on who has time this week.
One owner for the routine work. Your team hears about what needs them, and nothing else.
This is the practical scope. The routine work that takes hours every week moves to us. Anything that needs business judgement comes back to you, with the context attached.
Outsourcing the work is not handing over control. The calls that affect your customers and your business stay with you, and we agree up front exactly when something comes back to you.
The customer has asked to pay in two instalments, half this month and half next.
First request like this from them. Their previous invoices were paid on time.
Example. Most accounts never need this. Only exceptions come back to you.
Invoice volume tends to grow with the business. The time your team has for follow-up usually does not. The gap between the two is where invoices start to drift.
Both can work. They are two ways of getting the same job done, and the right choice depends on your volume, your team and how much you want to manage yourself. These are the practical differences.
| Question | Hiring in-house | Outsourcing to Steinfin |
|---|---|---|
| Getting set up | Recruit, onboard and train someone, then design the process they follow. | Agree the scope and your rules. The people and process are already in place. |
| How the cost works | Salary plus employer costs, recruitment, software and your management time. | One monthly fee, agreed up front and based on the scope. |
| Who manages the work | You manage the person and the process. | We manage the work. You see the results and make the decisions. |
| Holidays, sickness and leavers | Follow-up pauses unless someone else picks it up. | The work is not tied to one person's inbox. |
| Systems and reporting | You choose, pay for and maintain them. | Included, working alongside your accounting system. |
| When volume changes | Hire again, or ask the same person to do more. | Adjust the scope with us. |
| Often suits | Businesses with the volume and structure for a dedicated in-house role or team. | Businesses that want consistent AR work done without building a team for it yet. |
We do not claim outsourcing is always cheaper. For some businesses a dedicated in-house team is the right call. The free AR health check is a simple way to see which fits yours.
Some businesses hand over the whole receivables process. Others keep most of it in-house and use us for one part. We agree the scope with you at the start, based on what your ledger actually needs.
We run the day-to-day receivables process across your ledger, from reminders before the due date to follow-up, promises and queries.
Your team handles invoices while they are current. Once an invoice passes an agreed point, we take it on and see it through.
Your team stays in charge of AR. We take a defined share: overflow at busy times, specific customers, an older backlog, or cover while someone is away.
Outsourcing works best with a clear split. Your team keeps doing what only it can do. We do the rest, and keep you informed without needing to be managed.
Want the full process? See how Steinfin works, step by step.
You keep your accounting software. We work from it, through authorised access or exports, for invoice and customer information, do the follow-up, and send the picture back to you. This is how information moves.
We handle the routine follow-up professionally and in the way you have agreed. To your customers it feels like a well-organised accounts team, not an outside chase.
Outsourcing should give you more visibility, not less. Regular reporting shows where every account stands, including the last action, the customer's response, any promise or query, the next step and whether it has been paid. The few things that need you are kept apart from everything else.
When accounts receivable lives with one person, it pauses when they do. A managed process keeps going, because the history, the next actions and the follow-up are shared, not held in one inbox.
Outsourcing solves a specific problem: more receivables work than your team has time to do well. If that is not your situation, you may not need it yet.
Not sure which side you are on? The free AR health check will tell you honestly.
Applications for payment, retentions and long payment chains create a lot of AR administration on top of the actual work.
Credit control for constructionWeekly timesheet invoicing means high volume, and contractors still need paying whether or not clients have paid.
Credit control for recruitmentLarge trade ledgers with many accounts need steady attention that is hard to fit around orders and deliveries.
AR for wholesale and distributionProject billing, approvals and purchase orders mean invoices often wait on someone's sign-off before they can be paid.
For marketing agenciesFor professional servicesThe handover is gradual and agreed step by step. Nothing reaches your customers until you have signed off how we will work.
What is outstanding and where it is stuck.
Your process, key customers and anything sensitive.
Full support, overdue accounts or extra capacity.
Tone, timing and when things come back to you.
Link your accounting system. Invoicing stays the same.
We begin on the agreed accounts, and you see everything.
The free AR health check looks at your overdue invoices and shows where cash is being held up, plus a few practical things you can act on, whether or not you work with us. No cost, no obligation.
Only need help with overdue invoices? See outsourced credit control or invoice chasing.
It means using an external specialist to run some or all of the day-to-day work of getting invoices paid: reminders, overdue follow-up, tracking promises and queries, keeping account records and reporting. You keep ownership of your customers and the decisions. With Steinfin, the work is done by a dedicated team, in your name and to rules you agree.
Most of the routine work: checking what needs attention, reminders before and after the due date, overdue follow-up by email and phone, recording replies, tracking promises to pay, keeping queries moving, keeping account histories current and reporting. Decisions such as payment plans, credit terms, sensitive accounts and legal steps stay with you.
Yes. Steinfin only handles receivables work. Your bookkeeping, invoicing, supplier payments and the rest of your finance function stay exactly where they are.
Yes. Some businesses keep current invoices in-house and hand accounts over once they pass an agreed point. Others use us for extra capacity, specific customers or an older backlog. We agree the scope with you at the start.
We work as part of your team and contact customers in your name, using the wording and tone you approve. To your customers it reads as your own accounts team getting in touch. The relationship stays yours.
Yes. You decide how we speak to customers, which accounts we handle and which we leave to you, and when anything is escalated. You can step in on any account at any time.
Yes, and most businesses work this way. Your team keeps raising invoices and making the decisions. We handle the routine follow-up and bring back only what needs them. Every contact is recorded, so nobody gets chased twice.
We work from the accounting system you already use, through authorised access you grant from your own account, or regular exports, to see invoices, balances and customer contacts. Your records stay in your system and nothing about how you invoice changes. Follow-up, replies and next actions are recorded on our side and reported back to you.
Steinfin handles personal data in line with the GDPR. Access is limited to the people working on your account and scoped to what receivables work needs, and you can review or revoke it at any time. There is more detail on our security page.
We log it, find out what is behind it and keep it moving. If it needs information or a decision from you, we bring it to you with the context attached, then follow it through once you have decided.
Not always, and we will not pretend otherwise. Hiring means salary, employer costs, recruitment, software and management time. Outsourcing is one monthly fee agreed to a scope. Which works out better depends on your volume and how much capacity you need. The AR health check is a simple way to judge it.
Steinfin is a monthly retainer based on the scope you choose and the size of your ledger, agreed before we start. The current tiers are on the pricing page, shown in your local currency.
Once we have reviewed your ledger, agreed the scope and your rules, and connected your accounting system, we can begin. For most businesses that is a matter of days rather than months.
Start with a free AR health check. We will show you where your receivables are getting stuck and what outsourcing could take off your team.
Get a free AR health check