A spreadsheet is enough for credit control when you have a small number of customers and overdue invoices, and one person has time to update it and chase by hand. Credit control software is worth it when overdue invoices outgrow that person’s time, because it syncs with your ledger, sends reminders on a schedule and can add late fees. Entry prices for software start at about £45 a month.
In short
- Spreadsheet: free if you already have Excel or Google Sheets, fully flexible, but every update and every chase is manual.
- Software: from about £45 a month, syncs with Xero or QuickBooks, sends reminders and statements automatically.
- Middle step: the reminders built into Xero and QuickBooks Online automate the first emails at no extra cost.
Spreadsheet vs software side by side
| Excel or Google Sheets | Credit control software | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included if you already have the software | From about £45 a month for small business tools |
| Setup | Minutes; any layout you like | A connection to your ledger and a reminder schedule |
| Data | Copied in by hand or exported from the ledger | Syncs with Xero, QuickBooks or your ERP |
| Reminders | Written and sent by hand | Sent on a schedule before and after the due date |
| Late fees and interest | Calculated and invoiced by hand | Added automatically by some tools |
| Aging report | Built with formulas | Live, from the ledger |
| Team visibility | One shared file; edits can clash | Shared view of who chased what and when |
| Error risk | Manual entry and formula errors | Lower, because data comes from the ledger |
When is a spreadsheet enough?
A spreadsheet is enough when three things are true. You have few customers on credit terms. Most invoices are paid after one reminder. One person can update the sheet every week and send the chases. In that case, add the free reminders in Xero or QuickBooks Online and keep an aging report in Excel. The AR aging report template gives you the buckets and formulas.
When does credit control software pay for itself?
Software pays for itself when the time spent updating the sheet and chasing costs more than the subscription, or when invoices are paid late because nobody chased them on time. Research by London Economics for the UK government found that businesses affected by late payment spend on average 86 hours a year of staff time chasing it. At £45 to £79 a month, a small business tool costs £540 to £948 a year.
Other signs that a spreadsheet has reached its limit:
- More than one person chases, and they cannot see each other’s notes.
- Late fees or statutory interest are due but nobody calculates them.
- The sheet is out of date by the time someone chases from it.
- You need a different chase schedule for different customer groups.
How reliable are spreadsheets?
Spreadsheets contain errors more often than most users expect. In a review of field audits presented at the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG) 2015 conference, Raymond Panko reported that the studies found errors in 94% of the spreadsheets they examined. Across 14 laboratory studies with 967 participants, the average cell error rate was 3.9%. A credit control sheet that is re-keyed from the ledger each week carries this risk; a tool that syncs with the ledger removes the re-keying step.
What does each option cost?
| Option | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Excel or Google Sheets | Included in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace |
| Xero or QuickBooks Online reminders | Included in the accounting plan |
| Statement add-on (for example Statey) | From £8 |
| Small business credit control (for example in2 collect, Paidnice, Satago) | From £45 to £79 |
| Credit control for a team (for example Chaser) | From £199 |
Examples in alphabetical order. Prices are the entry tier on each vendor’s own pricing page, before VAT. The credit control software pricing guide lists every tier.
Can software add late payment interest a spreadsheet cannot?
A spreadsheet can calculate interest, but someone must enter the formula, invoice the charge and stop it when the invoice is paid. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, a UK supplier can claim interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, which is 11.75% a year with the base rate at 3.75%, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice. Some credit control tools add this charge to the ledger automatically.
How do you move from a spreadsheet to software?
- Clean up your customer contact details in the ledger, because the tool will email the contacts it finds there.
- Set one reminder schedule for all customers first.
- Run the tool alongside the spreadsheet for one month, then retire the sheet.
- Add customer groups, statements and late fees once the basic schedule works.
Common questions
Is Excel good enough for credit control?
Excel is good enough when you have few customers on credit terms, most pay after one reminder and one person keeps the sheet up to date. Add the free invoice reminders in Xero or QuickBooks Online to automate the first emails. Move to software when chasing takes more time than the subscription costs.
What does credit control software do that a spreadsheet cannot?
Credit control software syncs overdue invoices from your ledger, sends reminders and statements on a schedule, records who chased what, and in some tools adds late fees or interest to the invoice. A spreadsheet only records what someone types into it, and every chase is sent by hand.
How much does credit control software cost compared to a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet costs nothing extra if you already have Excel or Google Sheets. Small business credit control tools start at about £45 to £79 a month, and team tools such as Chaser start at £199 a month. The reminders in Xero and QuickBooks Online are included in those plans.
How common are spreadsheet errors?
Research presented at the EuSpRIG 2015 conference by Raymond Panko reported errors in 94% of spreadsheets examined in field audits, and an average cell error rate of 3.9% across laboratory studies. Re-keying ledger data into a credit control sheet each week adds this risk.
Sources
- Raymond R. Panko, What We Don’t Know About Spreadsheet Errors Today, EuSpRIG 2015 conference proceedings.
- London Economics for the Department for Business and Trade and the Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Late payments research: impact on the UK economy.
- Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Bank of England Bank Rate.
- Software prices: each vendor’s own pricing page, as listed in the credit control software pricing guide.
No vendor paid to appear on this page.
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