How to keep track of invoices and payments (2025)

Your cash flow effectively lives or dies by how well you keep track of invoices and payments.

Sure, that may sound hyperbolic. But in practice, if you don't have a clear handle on outgoing and incoming payments in your business, your entire operation will be pure chaos.

Miss an overdue invoice? That's working capital — revenue you've earned — that you can't access.

Lose visibility on outgoing payments? That's a supplier relationship strained (and forecasting that goes sideways).

The good news is this: digitalisation has made managing invoices and payments faster and easier than ever. Modern accounting software automates recurring invoices, flags late payments, and generates reports that used to take hours.

Still, automation alone doesn't solve the problem.

Plenty of businesses have upgraded from spreadsheets to dedicated invoice management systems and still lost visibility. They're still constantly chasing context, reconciling mismatched data, and wondering why cash flow feels unpredictable despite "going digital" with their payment systems. And for businesses managing cross-border payments, the mess just gets messier when multiple foreign currencies are involved. Sound familiar?

If so, you're in the right place. In this guide, we'll cover why tracking invoices and payments matters, the risks of poor visibility, and share a handful of practical tips you can use to stay on top of all things invoicing and payments (without drowning in admin work).

Why tracking invoices and payments matters for SMEs

Visibility is the foundation of everything.

Without a proper invoice tracking system, you're essentially flying blind. You don't know what's paid, what's pending, or what's overdue until someone's already frustrated. Then your cash flow becomes unpredictable, and your forecasting turns into guesswork.

With real-time invoice and payment tracking, the opposite happens:

• Your entire finance department can spot errors before they compound
• Missed or late invoices get flagged immediately
• Duplicate payments also get flagged right away
• You can coordinate with suppliers and clients based on actual payment timelines (not vague estimates or outdated spreadsheets)

This all leads to more accurate forecasting, a healthier cash flow situation for the business, and better financial health across the board.

The risks of poor payment and invoice tracking

So what happens when you don't have visibility?

Let's flip the script. Poor tracking doesn't just mean inconvenience — it creates genuine operational problems that compound quickly. Overdue invoices pile up, accounts payable becomes a bottleneck, and business growth stalls because you're stuck reconciling errors instead of supporting strategic work.

Here's how poor payment and invoicing tracking can manifest in practice.

Missed invoice or payment due dates disrupt cash flow

Late or forgotten payments — incoming or outgoing — tend to leave you short on working capital.

When you miss due dates, cash flow becomes unpredictable. One delayed payment triggers another, creating a domino effect that makes it impossible to forecast what's actually available. This leads to revenue you've earned getting stuck in accounts receivable, with no clear timeline on when invoices will be paid. At the same time, you've already sent a handful of outgoing payments but you have no idea when they'll arrive.

The result? Your cash flow picture gets real messy,  real fast.

Poor visibility across accounts payable can slow business growth

When nobody can clearly see which invoices and payments are pending, approved or overdue, everything stalls. Decisions typically happen a lot slower and with less confidence when there's no clear source of truth for where incoming and outgoing payments sit.

Disconnected accounts payable and receivable processes also tend to tie up resources to work through manual reconciliation work instead of supporting growth initiatives. Your finance department can't function strategically when everyone's chasing down outstanding payments and trying to piece together incomplete data from multiple sources.

Disorganised records create blind spots in your invoice tracking system

Without real-time tracking, small mistakes (like mismatched amounts or outdated bank details) can go unnoticed... until they become bigger problems, that is.

Without a consistent invoice tracker or centralised process, invoices slip through the cracks. This can lead to duplicate invoices getting paid twice, supplier bills going unpaid entirely, and incomplete financial reporting that slowly chips away at the accuracy of your reports.

You're flying blind because your invoice data is scattered across email threads, paper files, and disconnected spreadsheets with no single source of truth.

Lack of real-time insight increases risk of errors and strained relationships

Unexpected payment delays lead to frustrated suppliers and customers, period.

They're left wondering where their money is while you scramble to figure out payment statuses. That damages trust and long-term relationships because you can't answer seemingly basic questions about supplier invoices or a customer's latest payment information.

The good news?

All of these risks are avoidable.

You just need the right systems and processes in place. Let's talk about what that actually looks like in practice.

How to keep track of invoices and payments (6 pro tips)

So how do you actually fix this?

The good news is you don't always need a massive finance tech stack overhaul or some complex enterprise system. You just need the right habits, the right tools, and a clear process for tracking invoices without losing your mind.

Here are six actionable tips to help you better keep track of invoices and payments.

1. Manage all incoming and outgoing payments through one platform

If you're trying to manage business payments and invoices across 10 different bank accounts and three separate software tools simultaneously, you're setting yourself up for chaos.

Seriously. Stop doing that.

Instead, try to centralise your entire payments ecosystem under one digital roof. When all things payment-related live in one place, you don't need to worry about messy data, incomplete paper trails, or spending hours reconciling transactions across multiple systems.

For international businesses working across multiple currencies, this becomes even more critical. Make sure you're working with a dedicated cross-border payment provider (ahem, like iBanFirst) that gives you access to a multi-currency account. That way you can send and receive payments across all the foreign currencies you transact in—without having to juggle separate foreign currency accounts for each one.

One platform means one single source of truth and far less friction when tracking payments or matching them to invoices. That's the foundation everything else builds on.

2. Choose a payment provider with real-time payment tracking

Okay, so you've centralised everything in one platform. That's a great start, but there's still more to the puzzle than just centralisation.

With some cross-border payment providers, you send money and then... nothing. It disappears into the void. Processing through intermediary banks means your electronic payments can take way longer than anticipated, with zero insight into where the money actually is or when it'll arrive.

Your supplier's asking when the payment will clear and you've got no idea.

That's a problem.

Make sure the cross-border payment provider you work with offers real-time payment tracking—like iBanFirst's Payment Tracker. This will give you transparent, timestamped updates on a payment's status throughout the entire journey — including which intermediary banks it's passing through—for most international payments. This way you can actually answer questions about where your international payments are at any given moment.

Seriously, clear and detailed payment tracking isn't a nice-to-have anymore—it's table stakes. If your payment provider can't tell you where your money is in real time, find one that can.

3. Use invoice tracking software with automated invoice matching and an integration with your payment provider

Invoice tracking software (which may come built into your accounting program or exist separately) lets you manage incoming invoices from suppliers and vendors automatically. When an invoice comes in, it gets matched to the corresponding transaction or purchase order.

• No manual data entry.
• No forgotten invoices.
• No duplicate payments.

Now here's where it all starts to come together.

You've got one centralised platform with real-time tracking, and you've got a dedicated system for managing invoices. Perfect. But if your accounting or invoice tracking software doesn't talk to your payment provider, you're still left manually reconciling everything. That defeats the entire purpose.

The key is integration.

Your invoice management system should to connect directly to your payment provider to help you build one cohesive finance tech stack. When that integration exists, you can automatically update the statuses of pending payments or invoices and match transactions to keep your books clean.

But not all platforms are created equal.

Here's a quick checklist to keep in mind when choosing an invoice management system.

How to choose the right invoice management and accounting software

While automation reduces workflow strain, tracking invoices and payments still requires attention and accuracy. Not all platforms offer the same functionalities, so here's what to look for when building your shortlist:

• Cloud-based accessibility: Your accounting software should be remotely accessible, not trapped on a desktop. If it's not cloud-based, move on.
• Multi-user access and permissions: Make sure the platform lets multiple users access the system with granular permissions, so junior team members can submit expenses without seeing sensitive payroll data.
• Pricing structure that fits your business: Most platforms use tiered pricing (Basic, Standard, Premium). Examine what actually comes with each tier before upgrading. Cost-effective doesn't mean cheap—it means the price matches the value you're getting.
• Core features to look for: Does it automatically generate recurring invoices? Categorise expenses without manual tagging? Generate profit and loss reports with existing data? Each feature should deliver real operational benefit.
• Data security and encryption: Examine what firewalls and encryption the service uses. Check their security certifications and track record. A credible platform makes this information readily available.
• Cost-effectiveness and ROI: Do the features translate into genuine time savings? Run the math. If a platform is costing you €200/month but saves 20 hours of reconciliation work, that's probably worth it. If it costs €1,000/mo and only saves an hour or two? Probably not.

The right platform for you will ultimately depend on your business size, complexity and specific needs—but these criteria should still help you separate the solutions worth considering from the rest.

4. Double-check all invoice details with every payment

Automation's great, but it doesn't catch everything.

When you're generating invoices through your accounting platform, make sure you're filling out and double-checking all of the relevant fields. For example, make sure the invoice subject or memo is immediately clear to both parties. This'll save both sides from hunting through line items to figure out what the payment's actually for.

Also, make sure to keep your payment details current. If your account details changed a few months ago but your recurring invoice template still has the old account numbers (or worse, if the old account is no longer active), that's a reconciliation problem waiting to happen.

Most accounting platforms will auto-generate invoice numbers correctly, but it's still worth a quick review from time to time to make sure all looks proper. And with each invoice you send, make sure the due date is correct and easy to see. When you start to automate invoice generation or duplicate past invoices to create new ones, dates are an easy one to miss.

5. Automate payment reminders and follow up on late payments quickly

Your accounting platform probably sends automatic payment reminders when invoices go past due. That's useful and worth activating for sure, but it's also not the silver bullet we'd all like it to be.

If you get notified that a client’s payment is late, don't just rely on the automated email. Instead, make a courtesy phone call or send a friendly email to check in and ask why the payment hasn't been processed yet. Most of the time, there'll be a logical explanation—someone forgot to approve it, it got lost in their system, they didn't realise the invoice had already been sent, and so on.

In most cases, they'll appreciate the gentle reminder, so long as you're friendly with it.

And make sure to either follow up with an email right after a call and reattach the invoice. Or if you're just sending an email, make sure the invoice is attached from the beginning. Don't make them dig through old messages to track it down. When you make paying you as frictionless as possible, you'll get paid faster (while keeping the relationship intact).

6. Run reports regularly to spot payment patterns

When you're generating reports, make sure you're not running reports purely to check the box and say you did it. You're looking for patterns.

• Which clients consistently pay late?
• Where are cash flow bottlenecks actually occurring?
• How strong is your cash conversion cycle compared to last quarter?

Run these reports weekly or monthly. Over time, the trends will become impossible to ignore.

You'll spot the clients who always push payment terms to the limit, the suppliers who deliver on time every single month, and the payment structures that actually work in your favour versus the ones that look good on paper but create constant friction.

From there, adjust accordingly.

• Renegotiate terms with serial late payers
• Build buffers into forecasts for clients who consistently delay
• Tighten up payment schedules where you're seeing recurring cash flow gaps

The financial KPIs you're tracking get more accurate, your forecasting gets sharper, and your overall finance strategy gets refined based on actual payment behaviour—not assumptions.

Why 10,000+ international businesses manage their cross-border payments with iBanFirst

You've got the infrastructure, you know what to track, you understand the gaps most businesses leave open when managing invoices and payments.

But here's what ties it all together:

The right payment provider.

Most of the advice in this guide—centralised platforms, real-time tracking, clean integration with invoice software—requires a payment provider that's built for it. Unless you're running a massive multinational enterprise business, most traditional banks aren't designed for this kind of visibility or speed, especially when you're managing cross-border payments across multiple currencies.

That's where specialised payment providers make the difference.

iBanFirst is built specifically for international businesses that need control over their cash flow without the friction traditional banking creates.

With an iBanFirst account, you can:

• Track international payments in real time with timestamped updates throughout the entire payment journey, so you always know where your money is
• Send and receive payments across 25+ currencies from one multi-currency account, eliminating the need to juggle separate foreign currency accounts
• Integrate directly with your accounting software for seamless reconciliation and invoice matching without a bunch of manual data entry
• Manage all cross-border payments from one platform with dedicated payments and FX specialists who actually understand international cash flow challenges

Over 10,000 international businesses already use iBanFirst to handle their invoices and payments—because when you're operating across borders, visibility and control aren't optional.

Ready to see how it works? Request an account or take the interactive product tour to explore how iBanFirst handles real-time payment tracking, multi-currency management, and seamless accounting integration.