Instead of issuing a remittance advice to customers with each invoice, a business may, instead, choose to issue a statement of account to each customer at regular Intervals, typically every month.
A statement of account shows how much the customer still owes. It may show the total amount owed by the customer at the date of the previous statement of account, the new invoices issued to the customer since then, the amounts the customer has paid, and, finally, the total amount still owed by the customer.
An example of a statement of account is shown below. This has been issued by a business called Disks and Labels Ltd to its customer, J Forrester Wholesale Supplies Ltd.
76 Wood End Road
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE4 9AJ
Tel: 0141 839 4444
A customer may return the statement of account with the next payment. If so, the statement of account may also be used in a similar way to a remittance advice.
When the customer receives the monthly statement of account, the customer will reconcile it against the record held of the previous transactions. Any discrepancies are queried with the supplier. Because the statement is produced by a supplier, it acts as a useful external check of the internal records of the customer.
Statements of account represent the ledger account of the customer in the supplier's books of account