Accounts receivable for wholesale and distribution, account by account.
Many trade accounts, recurring invoices, payment runs, consolidated payments, remittances, deductions and part payments: in a wholesale or distribution business, accounts receivable becomes an operation of its own. Steinfin keeps it organised, followed up and actionable, from the reminder through to knowing what each payment actually paid.
Follow-upCustomer paysOften several invoices at once
Remittance received?
YesMatch to invoices
NoUnapplied cash, review
Also watch forShort paymentDeductionQueryPromise
The real problem
Wholesale AR is an account problem, not just an invoice problem.
One trade customer can have 18 open invoices at once: some current, some past due, three covered by a payment-run promise, one queried and a payment sitting unmatched. Sending 18 separate reminders is poor AR. The account needs to be worked as one connected picture.
Trade account, exampleAtlas Trade Ltd
18 open items
Current7
Past due6
Promised3
Query1
Unapplied payment1
Next actionConfirm Friday's payment run with AP, chase the 6 past-due invoices together and get the remittance for last week's payment
Trade accounts
New invoices keep arriving while older ones are still open.
Trade customers buy again and again on agreed terms. So AR is continuous: new invoices every week, older ones still open, different due dates, promises, credits, deductions and payments that cover some invoices but not others.
Week 1
Invoice A£4,200$5,250€4,900C$7,150
Week 2
Invoice B£3,800$4,750€4,450C$6,450
Week 3
Invoice C£5,100$6,400€5,950C$8,650
Customer pays£6,200$7,750€7,250C$10,550Invoice A in full, plus part of B
Week 4
Invoice D£3,600$4,500€4,200C$6,100
Still openB: £1,800$2,250€2,100C$3,050 remainingC: £5,100$6,400€5,950C$8,650D: new
Illustrative amounts.
High volume
Hundreds of routine accounts, each needing steady attention.
The challenge is rarely one difficult customer. It is many accounts, frequent invoices, different terms, branches and entities, several payment runs and a steady flow of incoming payments, with exceptions mixed in. The work is keeping all of it moving without anything going quiet.
CustomersMany trade accounts
InvoicesRaised every week
PaymentsArriving in batches
ExceptionsShort pays, deductions, no remittance
Next actionsOwned and dated
Payment runs
A payment-run promise gets tracked to the day.
Customers pay weekly, twice a month or monthly, on their own AP cycle. "We will include these in Friday's run" is useful, but it is not payment. Steinfin records the invoices, the expected amount, the date and the contact, then checks. If the money does not arrive, follow-up continues.
Promise, examplePayment run Friday
Customer
Northfield Distribution
Invoices
INV-2214, INV-2219, INV-2231
Expected
£9,650$12,100€11,300C$16,400
Next action
Check receipt Monday
Account context
Follow-up that knows the whole account.
Before contacting a customer, Steinfin knows which invoices are current, overdue, disputed, already promised, possibly paid, waiting on a remittance or waiting on your input. Prioritisation looks at more than the oldest invoice:
Total customer balance
Past-due amount and age
Promise dates
Open disputes and deductions
How the customer usually pays
Your priorities
The next action date
Two different jobs
Getting paid, and knowing what the payment paid.
Wholesale and distribution businesses usually need both, and they fail in different ways.
One payment, many invoices. Sometimes no remittance.
Paid money and paid invoices are not always the same thing yet. A payment can arrive with no invoice reference, from a different payer name, covering many invoices, with the remittance following later or not at all. Until it is identified, invoices stay open, customers get chased for invoices they paid and the ledger stops being trusted.
With a remittance
Customer payment£48,250$60,350€56,450C$82,050
INV-1001£8,500$10,650€9,950C$14,450
INV-1002£12,750$15,950€14,900C$21,700
INV-1007£9,000$11,250€10,550C$15,300
INV-1010£18,000$22,500€21,050C$30,600
MatchedWithout a remittance
Amount
£7,350$9,200€8,600C$12,500
Reference
ACME PAYMENTS
Invoices
Unknown
Status
Unapplied
Next action
Obtain the remittance
Remittance receivedPayment allocated to INV-3310 and INV-3318
Short payments and deductions
When the payment is less than the invoice.
A difference can be a deduction, a pricing dispute, a damage or short-shipment claim, an expected credit, a customer error or simply unknown. Steinfin identifies, records, routes, tracks and follows up the difference. We do not assume it is valid, and we do not decide whether it is.
Common deduction reasons
Pricing discrepancy
Delivery or quantity issue
Damage claim
Promotional allowance
Short shipment
Credit expected
Documentation
Reason not given
Invoice£10,000$12,500€11,700C$17,000
Paid£9,700$12,150€11,350C$16,500
Difference£300$350€350C$500
Needs an explanation before the invoice can be closed.
Price, quantity and delivery questions, routed to your team.
Price mismatches, quantity discrepancies, missing or damaged goods, duplicate invoice claims, PO mismatches and reference problems all hold up payment. When a customer says goods were short, damaged or not delivered, Steinfin records it, routes it to your team, tracks the response and resumes follow-up once it is resolved. We do not decide whether a claim is valid, and we do not manage deliveries, returns or stock.
Client input requiredWith you
Customer
Carlton Retail Group
Issue
Short shipment claim
Invoice
INV-8831
Difference
£650$800€750C$1,100
Needed
Delivery confirmation from your team
Next action
Resume follow-up after your response
Credit notes
Tracking a credit, without issuing it.
Many account queries end in a credit. Steinfin tracks where each one stands so the account stays accurate and the customer is not chased for the wrong amount. Issuing and approving credits stays with you.
Customer expects a creditRecorded against the invoice
Credit requested from youWith the context attached
Credit issued by youYour decision and your document
Credit appliedBalance confirmed with the customer
The right contact
A pricing query is not solved by AP.
A trade account can involve AP, a buyer, procurement, a branch manager, a finance manager, receiving and your own account manager. Steinfin tracks who handles what, so each issue goes to the person who can actually resolve it.
Missing remittanceAP or remittance contact
Pricing queryBuyer, and your account manager
PO mismatchProcurement
Delivery claimReceiving, and your team
Payment run dateAP or finance manager
Account details
Good follow-up starts with good account details.
Wrong contacts and missing PO rules are why invoices bounce. For each trade account, Steinfin keeps the details the AR work relies on, using what you provide:
Account number
Billing and AP contacts
Remittance contact
Payment terms
Invoice currency
PO requirements
Branch or location
Payment method
Some large customers use their own supplier portals for invoices or payment status. Where that is part of the agreed workflow and access is given appropriately, we work with it. Steinfin does not integrate with customer portals.
From balance to reasons
The aging report shows a balance. The account holds the reasons.
A 90+ day balance may already be partly paid with the remittance missing, have one invoice disputed, three promised for Friday and a deduction waiting on you. Operational AR turns each balance into the next action.
Carlton Retail GroupDeduction awaiting your decision
Fictional customers and amounts.
Sales, finance and Steinfin
Account managers keep the relationship. Steinfin keeps the follow-up.
Trade customers can buy from you for years, so follow-up has to be consistent, professional and aware of the account. Account managers know the special arrangements and sensitivities; they should not have to run routine AR. Steinfin handles it and brings anything that needs commercial context back to them or to finance.
Sales and account management
Relationship and commercial context
Finance
Financial and commercial control
Steinfin
The AR workflow, followed up and tracked
Your customer
AP, procurement and payment
Steinfin manages
Monitoring outstanding customer accounts
Prioritising past-due balances
Following up payment status and promises
Routine customer communication, in your name
Identifying deductions and queries
Routing exceptions and requesting your input
Keeping a next action on every account
Cash collection and cash application
AR cleanup and regular reporting
Stays with you
Accepting or rejecting deductions
Issuing or approving credit notes
Deciding delivery and damage claims
Write-offs
Credit limits and credit approval
Pricing and commercial terms
Steinfin does not set credit limits, run credit checks, score customers or provide credit insurance.
Old open invoices, unmatched payments, deductions nobody decided, stale credits, old promises, duplicates and accounts with no recent follow-up. Cleanup sorts each item into a status and a next step, so ongoing work starts from a ledger you can trust.
Steinfin works alongside Xero, QuickBooks and Sage through authorised access you grant from your own account, or regular exports, such as open items and payments received. We never ask for your password. Your ERP and inventory systems stay as they are.
If you invoice in more than one currency, each invoice and payment is worked in its own currency. Amounts in different currencies are never added together without conversion.
Reporting
Regular reporting by trade account.
Each update shows account status, promises and payment runs, open queries and deductions, cash application exceptions where included, next actions and anything that needs your input. On Starter, that is a weekly report.
A good fit
Who Steinfin suits in wholesale and distribution.
B2B wholesalers and distributors
Recurring trade customers on payment terms
Significant invoice volume
Many open customer accounts
Regular past-due follow-up
Deductions and queries to track
Remittance and cash application work
A finance team without spare capacity
Also relevant to construction materials suppliers and manufacturer-distributors that bill trade accounts. Project contractors are covered on the construction page.
Probably not the right fit
When a trade business may not need Steinfin.
Mostly cash or card sales
Mostly prepaid customers
Very low B2B invoice volume
Consumer collections
Legal enforcement only
Pricing
No separate wholesale pricing.
The same plans apply to every industry. The monthly retainer scales with your ledger: customer count, invoice volume, communication workload, query and deduction volume, cash application needs and reporting. Plans start from £299$399€349C$499 a month.
Can Steinfin manage accounts receivable for wholesalers and distributors?
Yes. Steinfin runs day-to-day AR for B2B wholesalers and distributors: account-level follow-up, payment-run promises, deductions and queries, cash application and regular reporting, in your business's name.
Can Steinfin manage many customer accounts at once?
Yes. The service is built for ledgers with many trade accounts. Each account keeps a status and a next action, so routine accounts get consistent attention and exceptions do not get lost in the volume.
Can Steinfin follow up customers with multiple open invoices?
Yes. We work at account level: which invoices are current, past due, promised, disputed or already paid. One conversation covers the account instead of a stream of separate reminders.
Can Steinfin keep track of each customer's payment runs?
Yes. When a customer says invoices will be in a payment run, we record which invoices, the expected amount, the date and the contact, then check the payment arrived. If not, follow-up continues.
Can Steinfin handle customer deductions?
Yes, from the Growth plan. We identify the deduction, record the amount and the reason the customer gives, route it to your team and follow it up until it is resolved.
Who decides whether a deduction is valid?
You do. Steinfin never accepts or rejects a deduction, issues a credit note or writes off a difference without your explicit authority. We bring you the facts and follow up once you decide.
Can Steinfin help with missing remittances?
Yes, as part of cash application on the Scale plan. When money arrives without a remittance, we contact the customer's remittance or AP contact to confirm what it paid, then allocate it.
Can Steinfin help match one payment across multiple invoices?
Yes, as part of the Scale plan. We match consolidated payments to the right invoices using remittances and references, and flag anything that does not add up.
Can Steinfin help with unapplied cash?
Yes, as part of the Scale plan. We investigate payments that have arrived but are not yet matched, so customers are not followed up for invoices they have already paid. We never move money.
Can Steinfin clean up old trade receivables?
Yes, as part of the Scale plan. AR cleanup works through old open invoices, unmatched payments, stale deductions and credits, old promises and accounts with no recent follow-up, and gives each item a status and a next step.
Does Steinfin set credit limits or run credit checks?
No. Steinfin provides AR and credit control operations: follow-up, tracking, cash application and reporting. Credit limits, credit approval, credit scoring and credit insurance stay with you and your providers.
Can Steinfin work alongside our sales and account-management team?
Yes. Account managers keep the relationship and any special arrangements, and Steinfin handles routine follow-up, bringing anything that needs commercial context back to the right person.
Do we need to change our accounting or ERP system?
No. Steinfin works alongside Xero, QuickBooks and Sage through authorised access you grant from your own account, or regular exports. Your ERP or inventory system stays as it is.
How much does outsourced AR cost for wholesale businesses?
The same plans apply to every industry: a monthly retainer that scales with your ledger, including customer count, invoice volume, query and deduction volume and whether you need cash application. The pricing page shows current plans in your currency.
Know what every trade account owes, and what every payment paid.
See what is sitting inside your receivables. It starts with a free AR health check.
