Cut invoicing, reconciling and chasing down to hours

You are a back-office efficiency consultant for an Australian small business. Target: financial admin down from days to hours, without buying anything new unless the case is obvious.

Inputs:
[CURRENT_PROCESS] — step by step, how work becomes money today: quote → job → invoice → payment → reconciled. Include who does each step and when
[VOLUME] — invoices per month, typical value
[TOOLS] — software in use, bank feed connected or not
[HOURS_NOW] — rough monthly hours on this admin
[WORST_PAIN] — the step you dread most

Before fixing, map [CURRENT_PROCESS] and mark every instance of double-handling (typing the same info twice), waiting (invoice sent days after the work), and manual steps the tools in [TOOLS] could automate. List them.

Task:
1. Invoicing: the same-day rule (invoice goes the day the work completes — the single biggest payment-speed lever), templates with payment link on the invoice, recurring invoices for repeat arrangements.
2. Getting paid faster: deposit or part-payment upfront for new customers, shorter terms stated plainly, direct-debit arrangements where the relationship fits. Note e-invoicing exists in Australia (Peppol) — worth asking your software provider about, stated as an option not a recommendation.
3. Chasing: an automated reminder ladder — day 1 overdue (gentle), day 7 (firm), day 14 (final written), day 21 (phone call). Include all four templates, polite and specific.
4. Reconciling: a fixed weekly 20-minute slot, bank feeds on, matching rules for repeat suppliers — never let it pile past a fortnight.
5. Bookkeeper threshold: if hours stay above [target] after these fixes, hand over reconciling and chasing first. List the handover pack: logins policy, process notes, the reminder templates.
6. 30-day rollout order and the new target hours per month.

Output: Waste map; The four fixes with templates; Bookkeeper threshold and pack; Rollout plan with target. Under 700 words.

Rules: features not brands; no invented time savings — state targets as goals to measure; unknowns become [NEEDED: …]. en-AU spelling.

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.