Consultants and professional services: recover unpaid invoices
You delivered the work. Now get paid. A $29 lawyer-backed letter of demand is the fastest way to collect on overdue invoices — no sign-up required.
Professional services: the highest rate of invoice disputes
Consultants, accountants, lawyers, and agencies face a unique challenge: the work is intangible. Clients often claim they never received the deliverable, dispute the scope, or simply stop responding. A formal letter of demand triggers a legal paper trail and often prompts payment without further escalation.
For recurring retainer agreements, a letter of demand citing the specific unpaid months and the contract terms is particularly effective — it makes ignoring the debt legally risky for the client.
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Send a $29 lawyer-backed letter of demand in 5 minutes. No sign-up required.
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Fill in creditor and debtor details plus the invoice. Takes 5 minutes.
Letter sent today
Lawyer-backed PDF generated and emailed to your debtor.
Follow-up automated
Day 7 and 14 reminders. Lawyer referral offer at Day 14 if unpaid.
Professional Services debt types we handle
Unpaid consulting fees
Project fees or retainers not paid after work is delivered and invoiced.
Accounting & bookkeeping
Ongoing accounting fees, tax return fees, or BAS preparation invoices.
Marketing & agency
Unpaid retainers, campaign fees, or creative project invoices.
IT & software
Development fees, SaaS invoices, licensing, or maintenance contracts.
Legal & compliance
Solicitor invoices, compliance consulting, or regulatory advisory fees.
Training & coaching
Corporate training programs or coaching engagements not paid after delivery.
Professional services in the 2026 Late Payer Index
Our 2026 Australian Debt Collection Report reveals an unusual pattern for professional services. Insolvency risk in the sector is low — only 1.34 failures per 1,000 businesses per year (0.4× the national average of 3.42). But payment behaviour is among the worst in the country: 11 of the top 40 slowest-paying large Australian businesses (27.5%) are in Professional, Scientific & Technical Services, most commonly law firms, technology vendors, and consulting groups.
Named professional-services payers in the Top 40
| Entity | Sub-sector | 95th-pct days |
|---|---|---|
| Hewlett-Packard Australia | Technology | 986 |
| Gadens | Law firm | 252 |
| Infor (ANZ Holdings) | Software | 192 |
| Slater & Gordon | Law firm | 179 |
Source: Commonwealth Payment Times Reports Register, 18 May 2026. Figures are each entity's own statutory disclosure of the 95th-percentile time taken to pay small business suppliers.
The industry median 95th-percentile payment time across all 386 large professional services entities is 51 days — not the slowest sector (construction tops that at 67), but the sector with the longest tail of egregiously slow payers. For consultants, agencies, and accountants supplying these firms, the practical effect is that your slowest 5% of invoices to tier-one customers can run months past contracted terms before being paid.
Why this matters for your collections strategy
PTRR data is public and admissible in debt recovery proceedings. When you send a letter of demand to a debtor whose own statutory disclosure shows them paying small business suppliers in 200+ days, citing that disclosure puts the debtor on notice that the regulator already knows. It is also one of the few negotiating levers that operates independently of your size or theirs — the data is fixed, public, and built from the debtor's own filings.
Frequently asked questions
You delivered. Now collect.
Send a $29 letter of demand to your client today — takes 5 minutes.
Send $29 letter of demand