AR and AP health dashboard: Master Cash Flow Before Month-End

Key takeaways

• An AR and AP health dashboard centralizes receivables, payables, and forward looking cash visibility, turning month end fire drills into proactive cash control.
• Design for roles, partners and CFOs see daily summaries, collectors and AP staff get task oriented views, with drill downs and alerts.
• Track overdue trends with roll forward logic, measure collector productivity rigorously, and manage AR and AP disputes with clear SLAs, escalation, and exclusions from standard DSO.
• Build a cash impact view that merges expected AR collections, scheduled AP payments, and statutory outflows, compare best case and base case scenarios to expose risk.
• Standardize masters, aging logic, and KPI definitions across entities, automate integration from Zoho Books or Tally, bank statements, and GSTR 2B files.
• Run operating rhythms, daily AR huddles, weekly AP committees, cross functional dispute reviews, and a month end checklist integrated into the dashboard.
• Adopt practical KPI formulas, DSO, CEI, discount capture, approval lead time, forecast variance, liquidity runway, and working capital days, with aging buckets and vendor priority scoring.
• Start simple, maintain data hygiene, enforce PTP logging and approvals for exceptions, avoid static reporting traps, and iterate as users adopt the dashboard.

Table of contents

What is an AR and AP Health Dashboard?

An AR and AP health dashboard is your financial cockpit, a real time display that pulls KPIs, trends, alerts, and summaries directly from ERP systems like Zoho Books or Tally. Unlike static monthly reports, this dashboard delivers dynamic, role based views with drill downs and automation. It watches three areas, AR, AP, and their cash impact, giving timely visibility for confident decisions.

Stop reacting at month end, start steering cash daily with clear, actionable visibility.

Must Have Dashboard Widgets

Your AR section needs several key widgets. Start with DSO to track collection efficiency, add aging buckets to segment receivables by due status, monitor overdue trends to spot risk early, track collector productivity through contacts made, PTP kept rates, and cash collected versus targets, and maintain a dispute tracker for contested invoices.

The AP section mirrors this discipline, use aging analysis for payables, a vendor payment schedule for due versus overdue and discount opportunities, and a dispute tracker for GSTIN mismatches or quantity variances.

The cash view ties it together, show expected collections, scheduled payments, and statutory outflows like GST, producing a unified liquidity forecast.

• Update cadence, partners and CFOs need daily high level summaries, collectors and AP staff need multiple updates per day.
• Role based views, keep focus tight, not everyone needs everything, give drill downs where needed.

Further reading, Accounts Receivable Dashboard guide, Accounts Payable Dashboard guide, KPIs and dashboards you need to monitor cash health, AP dashboards to optimize accounts payable, AR dashboard key features, AP dashboards overview.

AR Module, Focus Areas and Design

Tracking Overdue Trends Effectively

Use roll forward logic to track the movement of overdue receivables across buckets, opening overdue plus new overdues minus collections and credit notes equals closing overdue by bucket. Read patterns closely, spikes may indicate customer concentration risk, for example when more than 20 percent of overdues come from one customer. Set alerts when DSO worsens, if your 60 plus days bucket grows by 15 percent month over month, notify immediately.

Trends reveal trajectory, not just position, they are your early warning system.

Measuring Collector Productivity

Go beyond activity counts, connect effort to outcomes. Track contacts per day, PTPs logged and kept, aim for 80 percent kept as SLA, cash collected versus target, and accounts touched. Use correlation views to link activity to DSO reduction, break down performance by collector and region so comparisons respect portfolio context.

Managing the AR Dispute Tracker

Capture reason, disputed amount, owner, target resolution date, and status aging. Define escalation rules, for example disputes unresolved beyond 15 days escalate. Exclude disputed amounts from standard DSO, keep them visible with separate aging.

Helpful resources, AR dashboard practices, Key AR dashboard features.

AP Module, Focus Areas and Design

Building Your Vendor Payment Schedule

Start with approved bills, due dates, payment terms, early discount availability, and GST related holds. Create a priority logic that scores each payment obligation, weight due date urgency at 40 percent, penalties and discount opportunities at 30 percent, vendor criticality at 20 percent, cash availability at 10 percent. Produce a weekly payment batch plan, show totals, capture approvals, and track execution.

Setting Up the AP Dispute Tracker

Log GSTIN mismatches, quantity variances, and pending GRN confirmations, track aging and SLAs, aim for 90 percent resolution within 7 days. Monitor root causes, repeat GSTIN issues usually indicate master data gaps, and remember disputes affect AP aging accuracy and vendor trust.

Adding the Compliance Layer

Integrate GST controls, build checkpoints for GSTR 2B matching to prevent payment holds, treat journal vouchers and credit notes separately from bills for accurate aging in Zoho Books or Tally. Validate input tax credit eligibility prior to approval to avoid filing surprises.

More guidance, AP dashboard practices, Modern AP dashboards.

Cash Impact View, Bringing AR and AP Together

The cash impact view rolls up expected AR collections, scheduled AP payments, statutory outflows, and internal transfers into daily and weekly liquidity bands. Build best case and base case scenarios, best case assumes all PTPs are kept and payments on time, base case applies historical collection rates and realistic delays. The gap exposes risk exposure.

Make it actionable, show forecast variance as percentage deviation from plan, display covenant buffers for bank facilities, use working capital utilization indicators. Decisions become clearer, whether to draw overdraft, capture early discounts, or sweep cash from subsidiaries to optimize liquidity.

Reference material, KPIs and dashboards for cash health, AR dashboard examples, AP dashboard examples.

Data Design and Build, How to Implement the Dashboard

Identifying Data Sources

Pull masters and transactions from Zoho Books or Tally, import bank statements for payment matching, download GSTR 2B for GST reconciliation, and ingest email attachments for vendor bills where required.

Building the Data Model

Standardize customer and vendor codes across entities, normalize ledger names and state codes for GST. Calculate aging correctly, due date equals invoice date plus payment terms, compare against receipt date, adjust for partial payments, credit notes, and advances. Map bank narrative patterns, link common descriptions to the right party or invoice, for example, NEFT from ABC Corp matches to ABC Corporation receivables automatically.

Establishing Governance Rules

Define KPIs centrally, agree DSO definitions, total sales or credit sales, and ensure consistency. Set refresh frequencies, transactions at least daily, master data weekly unless onboarding frequently. Create role based access controls, CEOs see consolidated multi entity views, regional managers see their territories, collectors see their assignments, which prevents overload and protects confidentiality.

More background, AR governance pointers, AP governance pointers.

Operating Rhythms and Playbooks

Daily AR Huddles

Run a focused 15 minute standup, review overnight collections against promises, check overdue movements, unblock big accounts, and assign same day follow ups. Keep deeper issues for separate sessions to avoid drift.

Short, sharp cadences sustain momentum, long meetings drain energy.

Weekly AP Committee Meetings

Every Monday, review proposed payment schedules against cash, approve or defer, document reasons and new target dates, and track vendor escalations and disputes.

Cross Functional Dispute Reviews

Meet bi weekly across sales, procurement, and finance, tackle aged AR disputes with sales for customer context, and AP disputes with procurement for vendor leverage. Track commitments with dates and owners, build accountability into the cadence.

Month End Checklist Integration

Use the dashboard to verify cut offs, confirm GST reconciliation, ensure disputes are excluded from standard aging, and review collector productivity versus monthly targets. Automate validations where feasible to reduce manual effort.

Key KPIs and Formulas, Quick Reference Guide

Essential AR Metrics

• DSO, calculate as AR balance divided by credit revenue, multiplied by number of days, example, AR 45 lakhs, monthly credit revenue 30 lakhs, DSO 45 days.
• CEI, [(Beginning AR plus Credit Sales minus Ending AR) divided by (Beginning AR plus Credit Sales minus Disputed AR)] times 100, aim above 90 percent.
• Overdue percentage, overdue AR divided by total AR, for example 15 lakhs overdue out of 45 lakhs total equals 33 percent.
• Collector productivity, contacts per day, 20 to 30 is typical, PTP kept rate at 80 percent, and cash collected versus target, aim for full attainment by day 25.

Critical AP Metrics

• Due versus overdue percentage, overdue AP divided by total AP, keep under 10 percent.
• Discount capture rate, captured discounts divided by eligible discounts, times 100, target above 70 percent.
• Average approval lead time, total approval days divided by bills, anything beyond 3 days indicates bottlenecks.

Cash Impact Indicators

• Forecast variance, (Actual minus Projected) divided by Projected, beyond 10 percent implies calibration needed.
• Liquidity runway, available cash divided by average daily burn, below 30 days requires immediate action.
• Working capital days, DIO plus DSO minus DPO, reduce without harming vendor relationships.

Practical Aging Buckets and Scoring

Use standard buckets, Current, 0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and 90 plus, adjust for your terms, for example 0 to 45, 46 to 75, if you offer 45 day terms.

Vendor priority scoring, (Days until due times 0.4) plus (Penalty risk times 0.3) plus (Vendor criticality times 0.2) plus (Cash availability times 0.1), lower scores get paid first.

Dispute SLA tracking, trigger escalation beyond 7 days, aim for 90 percent resolution within SLA.

References, AR KPI references, AP KPI references, AR feature guide, AP dashboard tips, Cash health KPIs.

Example Dashboard Layouts, Practical India Context

SME Manufacturing Company Case Study

Pune based manufacturer, revenue 35 crores, Tally Prime, 2 collectors and 1 AP executive. The AR summary shows a 15 percent spike in 31 to 60 days after Diwali, Collector A keeps 85 percent of PTPs with 22 daily contacts, Collector B keeps 70 percent while handling larger accounts, DSO at 52 days against a 45 day target.

AP summary shows 18 lakhs due this week, 2.5 lakhs eligible for 2 percent early discount, disputes of 2 lakhs due to GSTIN mismatches across 3 vendors, average 5 days aging.

Cash view projects 6 weeks, week 1 inflows 25 lakhs versus outflows 18 lakhs, by week 6 cumulative collections 1.5 crores, payments 1.2 crores, runway steady at 45 days.

Before and After Impact

After adopting the dashboard, DSO drops from 52 to 42 days in three months, overdue percentage reduces by 25 percent, early discount capture rises from 40 percent to 85 percent, saving 3.6 lakhs annually. Month end closure time falls from 10 to 6 days, finance overtime down 40 percent, and leadership gains continuous cash visibility.

CA Firm Managing Multiple Clients

Chennai based CA firm with 30 SME clients uses a multi entity dashboard, consolidated AR 12 crores with drill downs. Each client has specific thresholds, retail targets 30 day DSO, projects business accepts 60. Dispute categories are standardized, analysis shows 40 percent of disputes driven by GST rate confusion, enabling targeted client education.

Resources, AR dashboard examples, AP dashboard examples, Cash health KPIs.

How Technology Platforms Support AR/AP Dashboards

Choosing the Right Tools

1. AI Accountant, automates ingestion of bank and card statements, normalizes transactions for invoice matching, posts to Zoho Books or Tally with GSTIN validation, and builds real time AR and AP dashboards with overdue tracking, collector productivity, and cash forecasts across entities, with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications.
2. QuickBooks, built in dashboards with standard aging and basic customization, suitable for small businesses.
3. Xero, clean dashboards with mobile access, advanced analytics typically via add ons.
4. FreshBooks, simple dashboards for small businesses and freelancers, limited multi entity capability.
5. Zoho Analytics, deep integration with Zoho Books for custom dashboards, some technical effort required for advanced setups.

Integration Capabilities

Modern platforms streamline data integration, AI Accountant syncs masters from Zoho Books and Tally, processes normalized data, and writes cleaned results back, eliminating manual entry. It ingests PDFs, Excel, and scanned images, extracts relevant fields automatically, handles splits, internal transfers, and complex GST reconciliations. CA firms benefit from multi entity support, switch between clients without re login, maintain org specific learning, and generate consolidated views easily.

See, KPIs and dashboards for cash health.

Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Data Hygiene Fundamentals

• Deduplicate masters, standardize names, validate GSTINs, and maintain consistent coding across entities.
• Run weekly GSTR 2B reconciliation, reduce mismatches early, lower filing pressure.
• Enforce PTP logging after every collection interaction, otherwise productivity metrics lose meaning.
• Require approval workflows for exceptions, payment priority overrides or unusual credit terms should be documented with clear audit trails.

Pitfalls to Avoid

• Do not rely only on static aging, trends matter, position without trajectory hides brewing risk.
• Avoid focusing on collections alone, measure activity and outcomes, or collectors will cherry pick easy accounts.
• Do not hide disputes by excluding them entirely from aging, age them separately and visibly.
• Start simple, expand as adoption grows, better a simple dashboard used daily than a complex one ignored.
• Use dashboards to surface issues, then apply judgment and context before action.

References, AR dashboard best practices, AP dashboard best practices.

FAQ

Taking Action, Your Next Steps

You do not need perfection to start, pick the biggest visibility gap, overdue trends or vendor payment scheduling, and get that working well first. Document current processes, collector call tracking, AP dispute logging, and management reports used today, then identify quick wins. Check data readiness, clean masters, extract aging reliably, and standardize categorization. Choose technology aligned to complexity, Excel for simple cases, automation for growing organizations. Involve the team early, collectors, AP staff, and leadership, so the dashboard reflects real workflows and priorities.

Remember, the goal is not prettier reports, it is a shift from reactive firefighting to proactive cash management. When you can answer, what is our cash position, anytime, with confidence, your AR and AP health dashboard is doing its job.