How do I get clients to send their receipts and statements on time?
Ask for the exact thing, not for your receipts. One short message per client that names the date, the amount and the shop is easy to answer from a phone, where a general request gets put off. Send them on a set day well before the BAS is due, and save your phone calls for the few who still have not replied.
The same clients, every quarter. The statement for the second account, the receipt for the laptop, the loan statement, the certificate that never came. You send the reminder, they say they will look tonight, and the ATO's due date for the July to September quarter, 28 October, gets closer while you wait. Lodging as a registered BAS agent may give you more time, but the scramble only moves.
The message most bookkeepers send is the one clients have learned to ignore: please send your receipts. It asks them to work out what you need, so it goes on the pile of things to do later. A message that names the exact purchase, with the date, the amount and the shop, can be answered from their phone in the car park.
Write it per client, not per list. Keep it to a few sentences in their words, not accounting words, with the day you need it by and what it means for their BAS if it is not there. Clients answer a specific question. They put off a vague one.
That is a lot of messages to write by hand, which is why the chase gets put off. If you are happy to use a chatbot, paste your missing documents list, or the query lines out of Xero, into the free version of ChatGPT with client codes in place of names. Ask for one short message per client naming each missing item, then a short list of the worst few who need a phone call rather than a text. Read each message before it goes.
Then set the day. Send the first round on the same weekday each month, and a firmer second message to anyone still missing later that week. A set day turns the chase into a routine your clients come to expect, not a favour you have to ask.
The few who still have not replied are the ones worth ringing. By then you know exactly what is missing, so the call is short and specific.
A Three Fixes report looks at how documents reach you today and writes the steps, and the words to give a chatbot for the chase messages, for the tools you already use.
Sourced: Quarterly BAS for July, August and September is due 28 October, and lodging through a registered tax or BAS agent may give extra time, Australian Taxation Office (https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/business-activity-statements-bas/due-dates-for-lodging-and-paying-your-bas)
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