We have an ongoing battle between sales and finance over billing milestones, leaving our Cash Collections and Accounts Receivable governance unowned because neither department wants to chase overdue client payments. How do we assign accountability for an essential operational seat that nobody wants to own?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When critical governance floats between departments, cash flow suffers and finger-pointing flourishes. In EOS, every task, process, and outcome must roll up to exactly one seat on the Accountability Chart. You do not run an organization by volunteerism.

First, determine the logical operational home for the role. Chasing invoices and securing cash receipts is fundamentally a Finance and Accounting function. Sales may maintain customer relationships, but billing terms, collections workflows, and accounts receivable governance belong under the Finance seat. If the Finance leader claims they do not want to own it, that is an issue of capacity or process design, not structural placement.

Bring the issue to your leadership Level 10 Meeting and use IDS to solve it permanently. Have the Integrator assign ownership of accounts receivable to the Finance seat on the Accountability Chart. Once the seat owner is locked in, break the function down into clear, documented roles:

- Establishing credit terms and milestone billing triggers
- Issuing timely automated invoices and reminders
- Managing collections escalation protocols
- Reporting aging metrics weekly on the Scorecard

If the Finance leader does not have the personal hours to make collection calls, their job as seat owner is to delegate the execution downward. They can hire a dedicated AR specialist or automate past-due alerts using software workflows. The leader does not have to make every call, but they must own the outcome.