Invoiced sales vs cash collected in Xero for the same dates
What you invoiced and what customers paid rarely match for the same dates. Seeing both figures together, each with its own definition, shows how far apart they are without blurring them into one number.
By Manny Sidhu · Practical guide · Published · Updated
Two measures in one question
Ask for revenue and collections in the same question, with the dates set in the date controls, and Ask Alex answers each as its own part: Revenue, then Customer collections. Each part has its own figures and its own receipt. One question can cover up to three measures.
What each figure counts
Revenue is net invoiced sales: posted sales invoices minus sales credit notes, both excluding tax, by the date on each document.
Customer collections are payments recorded in Xero against sales invoices, minus refunds paid back to customers, by payment date.
Why the two figures differ
Tax: invoiced sales exclude tax, while payments are the amounts Xero recorded as paid, so they include the tax on the invoices.
Timing: an invoice counts on its own date and its payment counts on the payment date, so an invoice raised in one period is often paid in another.
Credits and refunds: a credit note reduces sales on its own date, but collections only fall when money is actually paid back. Money received as a prepayment or an overpayment, or recorded as a receive-money transaction, is not counted as a payment.
An illustrative example
Illustrative example, not customer data: for August, net invoiced sales are A$150,000 excluding GST, and customer collections are A$178,200, including payments for July invoices and the GST on every payment. The answer shows both figures side by side. It does not calculate a gap between them, because they measure different things.
When one part cannot be answered
Each part is checked on its own. If one part's records fall short, for example because they are in more than one currency, that part says why and the other part is still answered.
Days outside the Xero history AirCEO has synced are not counted as zero in either part.
What each answer shows
Every Ask Alex answer lists its source, scope, time, assumptions, and calculation for each part, along with the Xero invoices, credit notes, payments, and refunds behind each figure. The figures are calculated by code from those records.