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I work for a few different contracting agencies and have had a very good relationship with one of them. Recently, they hadn't paid me for over a month and when I contacted them they solved the problem. However, according to my calculations they still owe me $5.

I almost don't think it's worth pointing out but I've already made notes on how I got the number after going through my bank statements, invoices and expense sheets.

How can I politely bring this up? (I feel like this is the kind of question that often gets weird answers over on https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/)

Also, any tips for a decent accounting system or app that helps keep track of these things would be appreciated. I try to keep a spreadsheet for each agency but could use something that reminds me if I have an outstanding invoice.

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  • You should ask a different question about "tips for a decent account system".
    – virolino
    Mar 13, 2019 at 11:39

2 Answers 2

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A big component of being an independent contractor is building and maintaining relationships with your clients. A big part of that is creating goodwill with your clients. For the sake of the relationship and whatever goodwill you have with this client, I'd recommend you overlook this. If you were talking about a larger amount of money, or if this occurs regularly then it would be something you'd want to resolve with the client. If this is a one time occurrence, I'd let it go.

As for how to track your time and expenses, there are a bazillion time and expense tracking applications and services available and there are a bazillion accounting applications and services available for invoicing.

Personally, I use My Hours for time tracking and Sage One for invoicing.

https://myhours.com/

https://www.sage.com/en-us/products/sage-one/

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For the sake of $5 and a very good relationship, it may just be worth leaving it unless $5 really means that much to you and/or this is happening frequently. (It could cost you more than that in your time just sorting it out.)

If you really want to chase it up, just send a quick email to accounts along these lines:

I'm afraid the amount I was paid last month seems to be short by $5 - I've attached my calculations, could you look into this for me and let me know?

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    I queried a discrepancy (what was meant to be 2% was 0.4% low...) Once they started checking they found they had made BIG mistakes over 3 years on my tax and owed me several K ...
    – Solar Mike
    Mar 10, 2019 at 12:16
  • @SolarMike But could have also gone the other way and you could have owed them several K?
    – Gregory Currie
    Mar 12, 2019 at 7:33
  • @GregroyCurrie No chance in my case they put 0 for the number of kids even though they had copies of the passports etc Bunch of incompetents...
    – Solar Mike
    Mar 12, 2019 at 7:41
  • @SolarMike I suppose my point is that once you see a discrepancy, you should go over the calculations yourself, and not rely on them fixing things.
    – Gregory Currie
    Mar 12, 2019 at 7:49
  • @GregroyCurrie How on earth do you think I found the 2% was 0.4% low... And once I found the issue THEY had to re-check their side and then they fixed it - seems tough for you to follow for some reason...
    – Solar Mike
    Mar 12, 2019 at 7:53

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