Xero Overdue Invoice Summary Report
Get a daily summary of overdue invoices with aging breakdown and collection priority.
Nora pulls overdue invoice data from Xero each morning and sends a summary report via Gmail. Shows total overdue amount, customer breakdown, and aged buckets (30, 60, 90+ days). Helps finance teams prioritize collection calls and spot problem customers.
Nora runs daily at 8 AM, connecting to Xero to pull all unpaid invoices past their due date. It groups these records by customer, calculates the days overdue for each invoice, and sorts them into aging buckets of 30, 60, and 90+ days. Nora then formats this data into an HTML summary table with detailed invoice rows and emails it to the finance team via Gmail.
The finance manager skips the manual process of running aged receivables reports and cross-referencing contact details. They start their morning reading the summary directly in their inbox to see which accounts hold the most overdue debt. The manager still decides which customers require a phone call, whether to negotiate payment plans, or if an account needs to be put on credit hold.
Runs daily at 8 am using Xero and Gmail, run by your Finance Manager.
How it works
- Daily schedule triggers the run — At 8 AM every weekday, the internal cron schedule initiates the reporting task. Nora authenticates with Xero and Gmail using the stored OAuth credentials, establishing a secure connection to begin the daily data extraction and reporting sequence for the finance team.
- Pulls open invoices from Xero — Nora queries the Xero API for all invoices with an unpaid status and a due date strictly before the current date. It retrieves the invoice number, total amount due, currency, and the associated customer contact record to build the foundation of the report.
- Handles empty overdue results — If the Xero query returns zero overdue invoices for the day, Nora determines there is nothing to report and terminates the workflow early. It skips generating the HTML document and does not send an email, keeping the team inbox clear of unnecessary notifications.
- Groups and calculates aging buckets — Nora organizes the retrieved invoices by customer. It calculates the exact days overdue for each individual invoice and assigns the financial totals into standard aging categories of 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 90 days, and over 90 days.
- Generates the HTML summary report — The categorized data is formatted into a structured HTML document. Nora creates a top-level summary showing total overdue debt, followed by a prioritized list of customers sorted by their oldest outstanding balances and the total amounts they owe the business.
- Sends the email via Gmail — Nora creates a new message using the Gmail API, embedding the HTML report directly in the email body. It sends the message to the designated finance team address and any secondary recipients, completing the daily automation run.
What this replaces
A finance manager logs into Xero each morning to run the aged receivables report. They export the data to a spreadsheet, manually group the invoices by customer, and sort them to find the largest or oldest debts. They then look up contact details in Xero for the worst offenders and paste everything into an email to brief the broader team.
- Logging into Xero to generate an aged receivables report.
- Exporting the report to a spreadsheet for manual sorting.
- Looking up individual customer contact details in the Xero directory.
- Drafting an email summary for the finance team.
Rough estimate rather than a measured figure: about 15 minutes a day, based on generating the report, sorting a spreadsheet of 40-50 overdue invoices, and drafting the daily email.
What it needs to run
Accounts and plans
- Xero organization with active invoicing
- Google Workspace or standard Gmail account
Access it asks for
- Xero accounting access (to read invoice statuses, due dates, and contacts)
- mcp__gmail__send_email (to send the final summary report to the finance team)
What Nora reads
- Xero invoice statuses, due dates, and outstanding balances
- Xero customer contact details and names
What Nora writes
- Sends a new email message via Gmail to the designated finance team recipients
- Creates a draft email via Gmail if configured for manual review before sending
When it goes wrong
- Xero API rate limit is exceeded during extraction Nora pauses the extraction process and waits for the Xero rate limit window to reset. It resumes pulling the remaining invoice data once the restriction clears to complete the report.
- Customer contact record has missing details in Xero If an overdue invoice belongs to a customer with a blank email or phone number in Xero, Nora flags the customer as missing contact info in the report rather than failing.
- No invoices are currently past their due date Nora determines the overdue balance is zero and terminates the workflow immediately. It does not generate a blank report and sends no email, leaving the inbox clear.
- Gmail access token expires before sending the report Nora attempts to use the stored refresh token to obtain a new access token. If the refresh token is invalid, it pauses the schedule and asks you in chat to reconnect.
Who this is for
Worth it if
- Finance teams at 20-50 person agencies managing hundreds of monthly client invoices.
- Wholesale distributors whose cash flow depends on tight 14-day payment terms.
- Accounts receivable clerks spending the first hour of their day compiling status updates.
Not worth it if
- Retail businesses that take payment entirely at the point of sale.
- Companies with very low invoice volume where checking Xero natively takes under two minutes.
- Teams using specialized debt collection software that already handles aging summaries.
A worked example
Harbour Kitchen Supplies issues around 200 invoices a month to local restaurants. Nora is configured to pull overdue balances daily at 8 AM and email the summary to the finance manager and the general manager.
Subject: Daily Overdue Invoice Summary - Oct 14 Total Overdue: $14,250.00 Aging Breakdown: 1-30 Days: $8,000.00 31-60 Days: $4,500.00 90+ Days: $1,750.00 Priority Accounts for Collection: 1. The Coastal Bistro - $6,200.00 (3 invoices, oldest 65 days) Contact: accounts@coastalbistro.example.com 2. Northside Cafe - $1,750.00 (1 invoice, oldest 92 days) Contact: 555-0192 3. City Hotel - $2,300.00 (2 invoices, oldest 35 days) Contact: payable@cityhotel.example.com
Frequently asked questions
How do I change the minimum overdue amount Nora includes in the report?
You tell Nora directly in your chat channel. If you decide you only want to see invoices with a balance over fifty dollars, you send a message asking it to ignore smaller amounts. Nora updates its instructions for the next morning. There is no settings page or filters menu to navigate.
Does Nora send emails directly to the customers who owe money?
No, this automation only sends an internal summary report to your own finance team via Gmail. It reads the contact information from Xero to display it in your report, but it does not write or send messages to external parties. You retain full control over actual debt collection communication.
What happens if an invoice is disputed and we agreed to delay payment?
If the invoice still shows as overdue in Xero, Nora includes it in the daily summary. To prevent this, you can ask Nora to filter out invoices containing specific text in the reference field, or you can adjust the expected due date directly in Xero so it falls out of the overdue query.
Can I change who receives the daily email if someone is on leave?
Yes. You send a message to Nora in your chat channel instructing it to route the report to a different email address or add a temporary recipient. When the person returns from leave, you simply tell Nora to revert the recipient list to the original finance team address.
Connects to
Related automations
- Auto-Reconcile Bank Transactions Daily — Close your books in hours instead of days with automatic bank reconciliation.
- Automated Mileage Reimbursement Processing — Process mileage expenses in minutes instead of managing spreadsheets.
- Auto-Categorize Expenses by Pattern Learning — Stop manually categorizing every receipt—Nora learns your patterns.
- Automatic 1099 Contractor Tracking — Never miss a 1099 filing deadline with automated tracking.
- Xero Invoice Reminder Automation — Automatically send friendly invoice payment reminders before they become overdue.
- Xero Bank Reconciliation Check — Verify bank and Xero balances match, flag mismatches for review.
- Xero Weekly Expense Report — Track company spending with categorized expense summaries sent each week.
- Xero Monthly Revenue Dashboard — Monitor monthly revenue, invoice trends, and forecast with automated weekly updates.