Shadowing Practice: Business English for Accounts Receivable | (Free PDF) Essential Phrases & Vocabulary - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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if you work with accounts receivable and english is your second language then this video is for you
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if you work with accounts receivable and english is your second language then this video is for you
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if you're looking to boost your english level make sure you
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watch the video all the way to the end as there
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will be something here for everyone in this class you're going to learn the specific phrases
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and vocabulary you'll need as an accounts receivable officer to talk about
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day-to-day transactions why customers haven't paid you and how to collect money from your customers
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i'll give you 20 seconds to produce some cash or
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so i'll shoot you maybe a more polite away than that
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and lastly we're going to learn how to explain the variations
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in the balance sheet for accounts receivable from one period to
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another welcome to the channel where you learn the business English skills you need to succeed.
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If you haven't already, please hit the subscribe button,
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hit the notifications button so you can stay up to date with any new videos that I release.
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So let's jump into our first part of the class where we talk about the day-to-day transactions for an accounts receivable officer.
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Invoices.
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This is the document that we send to our clients
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or customers which list the product or service they purchased
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and the amounts so we can say accounts receivable officers raise invoice
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and send them to customers the verb we use with invoice is raise
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when there is a mistake with the invoice we need to raise a credit note
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so we can say accounts receivable officers raise credit notes
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when the invoice is incorrect and again the verb we use is raise
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if you want some alternatives we can say emit
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or issue the word invoice is also a verb
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so you can say ar officers invoice their customers our next
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term is billing now billing refers to the process of raising
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many invoices for many customers usually a company will bill all their customers at the end of the month
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so we can either say accounts receivable officers do the billing at the end of the month
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so the verb we use is do with billing
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or accounts receivable officers bill at the end of the month
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we can simply use billing as a verb in this case bill
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our next word is allocate so this is the verb we want to use
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when talking about putting a payment to a particular customer account
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or an invoice so we can say accounts receivable officers allocate payments to the appropriate customer accounts
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or accounts receivable officers allocate payments to the appropriate invoices notice here the preposition we use with allocation
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or allocate is two our last piece of essential vocabulary is credit score
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or credit rating this is the score we give to our customers to assess
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if we will give them credit or not
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so we can say accounts receivable officers assess the credit score of new customers to decide to give them credit
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or not So let's jump into our second part of the video where we need to explain why customers didn't pay us.
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Just a quick note with vocabulary.
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You will hear people use the terms outstanding debtors or overdue debtors.
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They both mean the same thing.
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They're customers that didn't pay us when they should have.
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A great model you can use to help explain to someone why your customers didn't pay you are the three W's.
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why your customer didn't pay,
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meaning the motive or reason,
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what is your plan to collect the money?
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And lastly, when will the customer pay?
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So you can use this model to help you write in a report
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or you can simply use it in a meeting as well.
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So let's see these three W's in action.
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What would be some examples of reasons why our customers didn't pay us?
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It could be because the customer claims they didn't receive the invoice.
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The approving manager is away.
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The customer is disputing the charge,
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which means they don't agree with the value.
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the customer is having cash flow issues
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or perhaps the customer refuses to speak with us
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so now we have the wires let's have a look at
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the what's what will we do to collect the money
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so let's look at our first wire the customer claims they didn't receive the invoice
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so the action point could be invoice was resent on
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and he mentioned the date
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and customer has confirmed receipt the next one we have placed customer on credit hold until outstanding invoices are paid
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credit hold simply means to stop giving more credit okay so
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if the customer is disputing the charges that's the reason they didn't pay us
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if it's unresolved you could say currently being discussed between the sales team
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and the customer if it's resolved you could say all amounts have been agreed
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and a credit note was issued to the customer
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if the customer is having cash flow issues you could say
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that the customer is on credit hold
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and he's on a payment plan any new sales will need to be approved by the credit team and
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if they refuse to speak to you your action point here
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could be account was sent to our legal team for recovery our last w is the
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when so when do we expect the customer to pay
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so you could write or say customer will pay on
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and then you mention the date we're expecting payment on date
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if it's unresolved in this case we won't need to say anything
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if it's resolved you could say that the payment is confirmed for whatever the date is
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and if they're on a payment plan you could mention the amount that they'll pay per month
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so in this case we could say we have agreed to a one thousand dollar per month payment plan
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and then the last one we have provided a doubtful debt for the full amount
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let's see how that would look
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if we put it all in a sentence taking into consideration our three w's
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and the phrases from the previous table the customer claims they
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didn't receive invoice number 21 for seven thousand dollars invoice was recent on the seventh of the first
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and the customer has confirmed receipt payment expected for the 15th of the second
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and that's all you need to do think about the three w's
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and use the words from the table to help you our
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third part of the class is the language we can use
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to help collect money from our customers in a professional way
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so generally our first point of contact we use friendly language
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but at each subsequent point of contact the language starts to escalate
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and become a little bit more serious on our first point
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of contact we could say this is a friendly reminder
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that your invoice
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or invoices is past the due date could you please process the payment at your earliest convenience
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or we would like to kindly remind you
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that the payment was due on mention the date please let us know
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when we can expect the payments to be made on our
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second point of contact we would start to escalate further it
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appears the payment has still not been received we would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter
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or in relation to the call
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or email sent on the you mentioned the date we have still not received the payment
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which was due on mention the date could you please advise us as soon as possible
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when the payment will be made generally at this point it's the time you start to involve the salesperson
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that was responsible for selling the goods
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or service to this particular customer we want them to help us
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because we don't want to ruin the relationship between the salesperson and the customer.
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And we ask them to help us collect the debt.
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You can say hi and you mentioned the salesperson or commercial person's name internally.
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I hope you're well.
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I've tried two times to collect payment for the attached invoice,
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but we still haven't received payment or received the reply from the finance team.
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Before I warn the client about sending their account to the credit agency for collection,
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could you speak with your contact to make them aware of the situation
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and let me know when the payment will be made?
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Many thanks.
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If that doesn't work, we would then send this message to the client or customer.
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This is a final notice.
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Your payment is now number of day is overdue.
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If payment is not received by,
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mention the date, we will suspend your account.
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It's really important to give people dates or deadlines.
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If this still doesn't work,
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generally we then start to threaten sending to a collections agency,
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but you should give the salesperson one last try to help you recover the money and try and save the relationship.
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If that doesn't work, we say your account is now seriously overdue.
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If payment is not received within X days,
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we will have no other option than to forward your account to our collection agency.
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Hopefully you don't have to do this very often,
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but what's important is to keep everyone involved in the transaction up to date,
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like your collections manager and the person responsible for the sale.
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in the last part of the class we'll be looking at
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the situation where you need to explain the variance in the
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balance sheet for accounts receivable from one period to another now
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our accounts receivable balance is comprised of all our customer balances
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and what makes that move is sales payments from our customers
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and provision for doubtful debts
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if your company chooses to include the doubtful debts in the
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consolidated number let's start with the concept of how sales have an effect on the accounts receivable movement
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if you can imagine your accounts receivable opening balance was zero
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if your sales were a hundred thousand for january your accounts
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receivable balance at the end of january would be a hundred
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thousand as well assuming all your customers paid their January invoices of $100,000 in February,
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then you had $120,000 of sales in February,
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your accounts receivable balance at the end of February would be $120,000, right?
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So if the balance at the end of January was $100,000 and now it's $120,000,
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there would be a $20,000 increase in the balance.
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And that's all because of the higher sales in the current period compared to the previous period.
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So in this case, we would say 20,000 increase due to higher sales in the current period.
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If the sales in the current period were lower,
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it would mean that there would be a decrease in the accounts receivable balance in the current period,
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in which case we say 20,000 decrease due to lower sales in the current period.
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Our next reason is how payments or collections have an effect on the AR movement.
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Let's suppose your opening balance is $40,000 in January.
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You received no payments and your sales were $100,000.
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Your closing balance would be $140,000 at the end of January.
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This balance represents the sales from January plus the overdue invoices from December.
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In February, we received payments of $120,000.
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As this $120,000 payment is higher than the sales of the previous period,
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we can assume that we have received money for overdue invoices related to previous months.
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If our sales in February were the same as January,
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the only reason there would be a difference in the closing
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balances would be due to the payments we received in the current period.
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That's what this 20k decrease represents, collection of overdue invoices.
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So we can say 20,000 decrease due to strong collection of overdue invoices.
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If it were the reverse,
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you would say $20,000 increase due to overdue invoices.
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So our audience knows the reason is the lack of payments and is not related to sales.
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The last reason is our movements in the doubtful debts provision.
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Doubtful debts isn't really accounts receivable,
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but some companies include it in the consolidated accounts receivable balance.
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so I thought it would be good to include it.
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If your company includes it in the consolidated number,
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movements from one period to another will also affect our consolidated accounts receivable balance.
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The things that affect the doubtful debts provision would be any additional provisions for customers that are unlikely to pay their account,
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any customer payments you receive, and any write-offs.
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So they are the accounts that definitely won't be paid.
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Here I have summarized everything I just talked about into a
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little table with all the reasons why the accounts receivable balance would increase from one period to the next.
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As you can see here,
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it would be our higher sales in the current period,
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overdue invoices
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and specific movements in the doubtful debts balance then we have our reason for accounts receivable decreasing as well
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which is lower sales in the current period strong collection of overdue invoices
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and our doubtful debt movements a great idea would be to
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download the pdf document in the description of this video
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and keep them somewhere close to you for easy access in
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the future just to quickly note the reasons for the doubtful debt movements would also affect the consolidated ar number
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if we're looking at doubtful debts in isolation it would be
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the opposite i've got some working examples of these in just
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a moment now we've gone over the main reasons how do we then communicate
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that to the relevant stakeholders i'll show you three models one where the balance increases where it decreases
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and then a combination of both here we can see how we would communicate
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if the ar balanced increased i like to start off with the total difference
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and then give them the specific reasons below we need to make sure
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that each difference adds up to the total difference
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if there are some overdue invoices some companies like to mention those specific customers specifically if that invoice is significant
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you can also mention why they didn't pay following the model in the previous section of the video
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then we have the communication
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if the ar balance decreased i like to put the brackets
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around the number to show they are a credit in regards
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to the doubtful debt provision you may want to specify the
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customer you are recognizing the provision for this is another opportunity to give visibility to everyone involved with customers
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that are not paying and here we have a combination of increases
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and decreases which is the most common scenario just make sure you get the brackets in the correct order
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and that they all add together to equal the total and
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that concludes our lesson on accounts receivable if you like the vocabulary
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and the phrases
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and you want easy access to them in the future you
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can download the pdf i've left the link here in the description of the video
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and if there was something i missed please write it in the comment section hit the like button
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and help me share my channel with any other accounts receivable officers that need to give their english a boost
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Why practice speaking with this video?
This YouTube video on business English for accounts receivable offers a unique opportunity for English learners, especially those working in finance. Practicing speaking skills using this content not only helps you improve your language proficiency but also equips you with vital industry-specific vocabulary.
By watching and repeating the phrases, you can enhance your fluency in dealing with day-to-day transactions such as billing, invoicing, and managing customer accounts. The video also addresses common scenarios like why customers delay payments, allowing viewers to practice contextually relevant dialogues. This practical approach makes it an ideal resource for those looking to learn English with YouTube methods while boosting their confidence in professional conversations.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
This lesson provides several key grammatical structures that are essential for effective communication in an accounts receivable context. Here are some significant phrases highlighted in the video:
- Raise an invoice - This structure conveys the action of creating and sending an invoice to a customer. For example, "Accounts receivable officers raise invoices to maintain accurate records."
- Allocate payments - This expression is used to describe the process of assigning payments to specific customer accounts or invoices. You might hear, "Accounts receivable officers allocate payments to ensure proper accounting."
- Assess the credit score - This phrase involves evaluating a customer's creditworthiness before extending credit. An example sentence could be, "To mitigate risk, accounts receivable officers assess the credit score of new clients."
Utilizing the shadowing technique with these phrases can dramatically improve your retention and speaking skills, as you mimic a native speaker's pronunciation and intonation.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice with the video, pay attention to some tricky words and phrases that may pose pronunciation challenges:
- Invoice - This word can be mispronounced if not familiar. Focus on articulating clearly to ensure understanding when using this term in conversation.
- Allocate - The stress on the second syllable can be confusing. Ensure you pronounce it as /ˈæl.ə.keɪt/ to sound more natural.
- Credit score - The term consists of two descriptors that need to be spoken fluidly. Pay attention to linking sounds between the words to achieve a more conversational style.
By focusing on these aspects while using a shadowing site to practice, you're more likely to overcome these pronunciation barriers. This will not only enhance your speaking clarity but also improve your overall confidence in using business English in real-world scenarios.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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