INDUSTRY 101

How Salesforce-Native Accounts Receivable Management Can Boost Your Business

Managing accounts receivable (AR) is crucial for any business that extends credit to customers. When done right, it keeps cash flowing, ensures timely collections, and strengthens customer trust. But as your company grows, manual tasks and outdated tools like spreadsheets often fall behind. Finance teams are under pressure to move fast, reduce errors, and provide real-time insights—all while delivering a seamless experience for customers.

That’s where Salesforce-native accounts receivable management comes in. This purpose-built solution streamlines collections processes while maintaining comprehensive visibility across finance and customer-facing teams. By combining the automation of finance systems, the visibility of CRM, and the flexibility of a unified platform, it transforms your AR process from a cost center into a strategic advantage.

Accounts Receivable Management—What Is It?

Accounts receivable management is the structured process of tracking, collecting, and managing payments owed by customers. It plays a vital role in keeping your cash flow stable, minimizing write-offs, and supporting growth.

Just as important, accounts receivable management connects finance with customer-facing teams. It ensures your business gets paid on time while maintaining positive relationships with clients—especially in services businesses where repeat revenue and renewals matter.

The advantages of implementing Salesforce-native AR management extend beyond efficiency—they create a unified financial ecosystem where your billing, collections, and customer relationship data work together seamlessly.

The five steps to managing accounts receivable

Managing accounts receivable is like running a smooth relay: each step hands off to the next, keeping momentum and cash flow steady. Here’s how modern services organizations approach it:

Step	Description	Best Practice
Create a credit application process	Avoid problems. Know your customers before offering credit.	Set clear credit policies. Decide who qualifies for credit and under what terms. Make sure customers understand due dates, penalties, and expectations upfront.
Send invoices promptly	Ensure customers know what they owe, and when it’s due. Accuracy and timing matter.	Use AR automation software to send invoices on time, reduce manual errors, and offer convenient payment options. This accelerates the cash cycle and minimizes the admin burden.
Set clear  payment terms	Reduce delays or disputes. Define expectations and penalties early.	Encourage early payments. Offer discounts or incentives for early settlement. This not only improves cash flow but also helps you forecast more reliably.
Monitor and report	Track who’s paid and who hasn’t. Use real-time reports and dashboards.	Regularly monitor Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), aging reports, and collection rates. These indicators help you spot slow payments early and be proactive.
Record AR activity	Ensure compliance and support forecasting. Keep your financial records up to date.	Review and improve continuously. Don’t let your AR process go stale. Regularly audit your policies, tools, and team workflows to identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Upgrade where needed to keep pace with your company’s growth.

Keeping your accounts receivable management process sharp isn’t just about getting paid—it’s about staying cash-positive, strengthening customer trust, and giving your finance team the confidence to forecast accurately.

Why Businesses Struggle with Legacy AR Tools

Many organizations still rely on outdated accounts receivable management tools—think spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and manual processes. While they might have worked at smaller scales, they quickly become bottlenecks as businesses grow. The result? Delayed collections, higher Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), frustrated teams, and cash flow uncertainty.

Here are the core issues finance and services leaders face with legacy systems:

1. Disconnected systems and data silos

When sales, billing, and finance each work in their own platforms, it creates fractured workflows and incomplete visibility. Without a unified view, teams waste time reconciling data and risk making decisions based on outdated or inaccurate information.

A connected solution eliminates these silos and ensures all teams are working from the same real-time source of truth.

2. Manual processes and inefficiencies

Processing paper invoices, chasing emails, and logging payments manually doesn’t scale. These repetitive tasks drain productivity and increase the risk of errors—especially as transaction volumes grow.

Automation can reclaim hours each week and redirect team focus toward strategy, not administration.

3. Limited visibility and reporting

Legacy tools often lack the dashboards or analytics finance leaders need. Without real-time insights, it’s hard to track performance, forecast cash flow, or identify at-risk accounts before it’s too late.

With modern financial process automation, teams can access up-to-date metrics instantly and make smarter, faster decisions.

4. Scaling challenges

As your business grows, your AR process gets more complex. More customers. More invoices. More rules. Legacy systems simply weren’t built for this level of scale or sophistication.

That’s where AR automation software can make a measurable difference—supporting growth without adding headcount.

What is Accounts Receivable Automation and Why It Matters

So, what is accounts receivable automation? It’s the use of modern digital tools to automate and streamline your invoice-to-cash cycle. Instead of managing spreadsheets or chasing payments manually, AR automation software handles tasks like invoicing, reminders, payment processing, and reconciliation—freeing up your team for higher-value work.

Modern finance automation tools connect seamlessly with your CRM billing and accounting systems. This allows everyone—from sales to finance—to work from the same set of real-time data, improving accuracy and team collaboration. The result? Faster payments, fewer errors, and healthier cash flow.

What modern AR automation can do for you

Today’s AR automation software isn’t just about digitizing invoices—it’s about transforming how finance teams operate. It brings together all the essential processes and features you need to manage receivables efficiently:

Process/Capability	How Automation Helps
Invoice generation	Automatically sends timely, accurate invoices—no delays or manual entry.
Payment collection	Lets customers pay in multiple ways and triggers reminders to reduce late payments.
Reconciliation	Matches payments to invoices instantly, reducing errors and speeding cash application.
Reporting	Real-time dashboards show exactly who owes what—and how your cash flow is trending.

All this works seamlessly with your existing accounting or CRM billing platform, keeping everything in sync, eliminating silos and reducing friction across teams.

Impact on efficiency and cash flow

When teams automate their accounts receivable management, they see results fast. Payments arrive quicker. Errors disappear. Teams gain back hours every week. Most importantly, finance automation tools reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)—improving cash flow and making revenue more predictable.

For growing services organizations, this is about stability and scale, not just productivity.

Building a unified financial platform

Modern financial process automation doesn’t just fix isolated tasks. It connects billing, collections, and reporting in one environment—giving every team access to shared, real-time financial data.

By eliminating fragmented workflows, you gain:

Stronger internal controls
Faster period close cycles
Better alignment across finance, sales, and operations

When this kind of unified platform is native to Salesforce, it becomes very powerful. That’s because customer, contract, and payment data already live in Salesforce.

Evolution of AR technology

AR used to be all paper, spreadsheets, and manual work. Then came standalone software to help with some tasks. Today’s best AR automation software lives inside the platforms you already use, like Salesforce. That means:

Your team gets real-time visibility and smoother workflows across departments.
Your customers enjoy more accurate billing and convenient payment options.
Your business stays agile, with scalable, data-driven financial operations.

Salesforce-Native Accounts Receivable Solutions

If your teams already use Salesforce, bringing your AR process into the same environment is a natural next step. Salesforce doesn’t offer built-in AR functionality—but it’s designed to support Salesforce-native accounts receivable management through apps built directly on the platform.

Why native AR tools outperform bolt-on systems?

Here’s how native AR tools differ from traditional integrations and why it matters for your business:

Benefit	Why It Matters
Unified customer data	Everyone works from the same record—no switching between tools or duplicate entry.
Instant updates	Changes to invoices or payments sync across all teams in real time.
Automated workflows	Run billing, reminders, and collections right inside Salesforce.
Better collaboration	Sales, service, and finance can see the same account and work together faster.

Key advantages for your Salesforce environment

Complete customer view – Customer activity, billing, and payment info in one place.
Faster billing and collections – Invoicing and follow-ups happen within your existing Salesforce workflows.
Clear financial insights – Real-time dashboards show how your cash position is trending.
Easy customization – Because it’s built on Salesforce, you can adapt it to your business needs easily.

Managing AR within Salesforce creates a smoother, faster, and more transparent process that helps your business get paid faster and keep customers happy.

Is your organization ready for native AR?

Here’s how to determine if your business is positioned to maximize the benefits of Salesforce-native accounts receivable:

If your team is juggling complex billing schedules, recurring invoices, or custom payment terms, you’ll want a solution that can scale with you. A native tool like Certinia supports:

Automated invoice creation and reminders
Real-time tracking of payments and balances
Full visibility across teams using the same customer record

It’s especially valuable for service businesses that rely on collaboration between finance, sales, and delivery teams.

Implementation considerations

Rolling out Salesforce-native accounts receivable management means more than just installing software—it’s about alignment. You’ll want to:

Ensure your AR processes align with your Salesforce workflows
Train teams to take advantage of shared visibility and automation features
Set benchmarks for user adoption and financial outcomes

Certinia’s native interface makes onboarding easy, especially for teams already using Salesforce daily.

Next steps in your AR transformation journey

Assess pain points – Identify where manual work, delays, or visibility gaps are costing your team time or revenue.
Explore options – Consider a demo of Certinia Accounts Receivable to see native automation in action.
Plan your rollout – Define success metrics, prepare your team, and begin transforming your AR process.

With a strategically implemented native AR solution, your organization can achieve significant reductions in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), enhance cross-functional collaboration, and provide finance leadership with the real-time visibility essential for data-driven decision-making.

Ready to transform your accounts receivable processes? Contact our solution experts today to discuss how Salesforce-native AR can address your specific business challenges and accelerate your financial operations.