See how ARDEM helped a national industrial parts distributor create one controlled receivables workflow across 34 locations, more than 2,600 customer accounts, aging follow-up, remittance exceptions, credits, offsets, approval-controlled ledger cleanup, practical automation, and weekly governance.
MANAGED ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE OPERATIONS CASE STUDY
Reducing Over-30-Day Receivables by 51% Through Managed Accounts Receivable Operations
51%
Reduction in over-30-day AR
$3.7M to $1.8M
Aged receivables movement
2,633
Customers with open items
34 locations
National operating footprint
The Challenge
The distributor’s receivables workflow was highly exception-driven. Customer follow-up often began after balances were already past due, remittance information was incomplete, credits and possible offsets remained unresolved, and account knowledge was distributed across branches, sales teams, emails, and inconsistent ERP notes.
Finance leadership needed earlier follow-up, invoice-level visibility, cleaner ledger status, and a repeatable way to manage exceptions across a large national portfolio without losing control over offsets, write-offs, and customer treatment decisions.
The ARDEM Solution
ARDEM created managed accounts receivable operations around one centralized control file, portfolio segmentation, assigned ownership, structured customer outreach, daily ledger review, exception tracking, approval-based cleanup, practical automation, and weekly governance.
The operating model gave the client a consistent way to work customer and invoice-level activity, surface remittance and contact-data problems, route financial actions for approval, and measure movement across aging categories.
The Managed Accounts Receivable Workflow
ARDEM connected portfolio control, customer follow-up, ledger review, exception handling, approval-based cleanup, automation, and governance within one managed operating model.
Download the Full
Managed AR Operations
Case Study
Managed AR Operations
Case Study
For CFOs, Controllers, AR leaders, Directors of Credit and Collections, and finance operations teams managing large customer portfolios, aging pressure, unapplied cash, credits, offsets, contact-data gaps, or fragmented account ownership.
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Why ARDEM
One centralized working file connected customer-level and invoice-level activity, aging, outreach status, exceptions, offsets, and write-off candidates.
ARDEM worked around the client’s existing ERP and payment-application behavior without requiring system replacement.
Missing remittance, bounced emails, unapplied items, credits, possible offsets, and contact-data issues were tracked separately and followed through.
Offsets and write-off candidates were prepared for client review and executed only after approval.
Manual outreach established the operating rules before scripted reminders were introduced to scale communication safely.
Receipts, remaining balances, proposed ledger actions, delivery failures, and open decisions were reviewed through a recurring cadence.The Results
From January 14 to April 6, receivables over 30 days declined by 51%, from $3.7 million to $1.8 million. Credits also declined from approximately $2.3 million to $688,000, while 168 possible offsets and approximately 55 write-off candidates were identified and routed through controlled client review. The client gained clearer invoice-level visibility, a more scalable outreach model, and a repeatable operating cadence for managing aging, exceptions, approvals, and ledger cleanup.
The Aged Receivables Balance Was Only the Visible Problem
The Larger Risk Was Losing Cash Visibility, Ledger Clarity, and Portfolio Control
The client already had Prophet 21 and cash collections functionality. The missing layer was a controlled operating method for deciding which accounts required action, documenting customer and invoice status, resolving remittance gaps, separating credits and possible offsets, and keeping leadership current on open decisions.
Late follow-up allowed balances to move into older aging categories before action began. Branch-level payment practices, lump-sum or partial payments, incomplete remittance, credits, rebates, and inconsistent account notes added noise to the ledger and made collection priorities harder to interpret.
Another collector or a basic calling vendor would have increased activity without solving portfolio segmentation, approval rules, contact failures, unapplied cash, credits, offsets, write-off decisions, and reporting. The workflow required ownership from ERP extraction through ledger cleanup and weekly governance.
ARDEM created managed accounts receivable operations around the client’s existing Prophet 21 environment. The result was one controlled receivables file, earlier and more consistent outreach, visible exceptions, approval-based ledger cleanup, practical automation, and weekly management visibility across a national customer portfolio.
1
ERP Extraction and Master Control File
Extracted bucket-, customer-, and invoice-level data from Prophet 21 and created one working receivables file for execution.
2
Portfolio Segmentation and Ownership
Categorized accounts by amount, due status, follow-up status, exclusions, and criticality, then assigned clear ownership.
3
Controlled Customer Outreach
Sent statements and invoices, tracked responses, and used phone outreach selectively when email failed or no response was received.
4
Daily Ledger and Status Review
Reviewed current ERP activity and updated customer and invoice status based on payments, open items, and follow-up outcomes.
5
Exception and Approval-Based Cleanup
Tracked remittance gaps, credits, offsets, bounced emails, and write-off candidates, with client approval retained for ledger actions.
6
Automation and Weekly Governance
Introduced scripted reminders after process stabilization and reviewed receipts, balances, exceptions, and decisions every week.
What You’ll See in the Full PDF
The full case study explains:
- How Prophet 21 data was converted into one controlled customer- and invoice-level working file
- How accounts were segmented by aging, balance, follow-up status, exclusions, and criticality
- How earlier statement, invoice, email, and selective phone outreach improved follow-up consistency
- How missing remittance, bounced emails, credits, unapplied items, and possible offsets were tracked
- How proposed offsets and write-offs remained subject to client approval before execution
- How manual outreach was stabilized before scripted bulk reminders were introduced
- How weekly reporting gave leadership visibility into receipts, remaining balances, exceptions, and decisions
- How over-30-day receivables declined by 51% while credit balances were materially reduced
Managing Aged Receivables Across a Large Customer Portfolio?
Access the full case study to see how ARDEM combined portfolio segmentation, structured outreach, ledger review, exception handling, approval-controlled cleanup, practical automation, and weekly governance to improve receivables visibility and reduce aged balances.