Run the Money Owed to You as a Dated Docket, Oldest First — Free
A small business does not fail on profit, it fails on a Tuesday when the supplier wants paying and the client from August has not. This docket runs your real entries — invoices paid in, costs out — from the cash you actually had, in date order, and reports the closing balance, the lowest point and the date it happened. The lowest point is the number to manage; the closing balance is the one everybody watches instead.
The proof surface
Free path: the docket computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
An invoice list shows what has been billed, not what has arrived, and a bank app shows today, not the shape of the quarter. Running the same entries as a dated ledger with a running balance turns two disconnected views into one docket with a lowest point on it — which is the figure that decides whether you can take on the next job.
How to use the receivables docket in four passes
An invoice on 30-day terms is a future entry with a date, not a maybe. Put it in with the date you expect it, and re-run the docket when it slips — a slip is exactly what the docket exists to show.
Rent, wages, insurance, the van, the accountant. They arrive whether or not the client pays, and they are what turns a late invoice into a negative balance.
The closing balance is a report; the lowest point is a warning. If it dips below zero, the fix is a date — chase one invoice earlier, or move one outgoing later.
Cash moves. A docket updated every Friday with the week's real entries is a forecast; the same docket run at the end of the quarter is an autopsy.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Harbour Light Fabrication · quarter to 31 Dec 2026 · opening £8,400 · invoice 218 £5,800 expected 12 Nov · steel delivery £1,850 on 6 Nov · wages fortnightly at £2,200. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Logging profit instead of cash
A profitable quarter with two late invoices still cannot pay the supplier on 6 November. The docket tracks money moving, not work earned.
Optimistic dates on the money in
Dating a 60-day payer at 30 days makes the lowest point disappear from the docket and appear in the bank. Use the terms you were given, plus the client's actual history.
Leaving out the owner's drawings
Money taken out is an outgoing entry like any other. A docket that ignores it reports a balance that will never be in the account.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting software with cash-flow forecasting | Proper, and priced per user per month with your data in their cloud | a monthly subscription that rises with the team |
| An accountant's cash-flow review | A quarterly conversation about the same numbers | an hourly fee |
| A business loan to cover a timing gap | Borrowing to fix a date, not a business model | interest plus arrangement fees |
| This page + the free receivables docket | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free receivables docket
Thirteen entries are already run from an opening £8,400, with the closing balance on the seal and the dip below zero marked on 6 November. Move the Northside invoice from 12 to 26 November and the dip deepens.
Open the free receivables docket →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every entry, the running balance, the lowest point and the closing figure, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This runs arithmetic on the entries you type in; it is not accounting, tax or financial advice, and it cannot verify a client's payment behaviour or a supplier's terms. Keep proper records, check figures against your bank and your accounts, and take qualified advice before borrowing or making a tax decision.