Statement of account request letter: templates for vendors

Before you can reconcile a vendor statement, the vendor has to send one. Some vendors email statements every month without being asked. Many only send one on request, and some need asking three times. A clear request, sent on a fixed day and followed up on a schedule, gets most statements in during the first two weeks of the month.

This guide has the wording: a first request, two reminders, a request for a copy of a missing invoice, and a short note for vendors who say they have nothing open. Each is written as an email, since that is how almost every statement request goes today; the same text works as a letter on company letterhead.

Before you send anything

• Ask the right address. Statements come from the vendor's accounts receivable team, not your sales rep. If you have an AR email from past statements or remittance advice, use it. If not, a phone call to ask for one is worth it once.
• Say which statement. Ask for a statement of open items as of the last day of the month. An activity statement only lists the month's transactions and misses older open invoices.
• Send replies to a shared inbox. Use an AP inbox several people can see, so a reply does not sit unread in one person's mail while they are out.
• Expect suspicion. Vendors' AR teams see a lot of phishing. A plain-text email that names your company first, asks for nothing but a statement, and contains no attachment is more likely to be answered.

Template 1: the first request (day 3)

Subject: Harbor Supply Co.: statement of account for September 2026

Hello,

Please send your statement of account for September 2026 for Harbor Supply Co., showing all open items as of September 30.

You can reply to this email with the statement attached (PDF, Excel or CSV are all fine).

If you have no open items with Harbor Supply Co., a one-line reply saying so is all we need.

Thank you, Accounts Payable, Harbor Supply Co.

Replace the company name, month and date. Harbor Supply Co. is an example; use your company's name exactly as the vendor knows it from your purchase orders, since that is the name on their customer account.

Template 2: the first reminder (day 7)

Subject: Reminder: Harbor Supply Co. still needs your September 2026 statement

Hello,

We asked for your statement of account for September 2026 earlier this month and have not received it yet.

Please reply with the statement attached, showing all open items as of September 30. If you have no open items with Harbor Supply Co., please reply to say so.

Thank you, Accounts Payable, Harbor Supply Co.

Template 3: the last reminder (day 12)

Use the same subject line, so it lands in the same thread, and keep it short:

Hello,

This is our last reminder for your September 2026 statement for Harbor Supply Co. We reconcile vendor statements in the middle of the month, and we would like to include yours.

Thank you, Accounts Payable, Harbor Supply Co.

After this, stop emailing. A vendor that has ignored three emails needs a phone call, and the call is better spent on the vendors with large balances or recent credits.

Template 4: asking for a copy of an invoice

When a statement shows an invoice that is not in your AP, ask for a copy straight away, before it goes past due.

Subject: Harbor Supply Co.: please send a copy of invoice INV-49105

Hello,

Your statement for September 2026 shows invoice INV-49105, dated September 22, 2026, for $918.75. We do not have it in our system.

Please send a copy of the invoice so we can process it.

Thank you, Accounts Payable, Harbor Supply Co.

Include the number, date and amount exactly as printed on the statement, so the vendor's AR team can find it without asking you back.

Template 5: asking for a missing credit memo

Hello,

Your September 2026 statement shows credit memo CM 3302 for $512.60, which we have not received. Please send a copy of the credit memo so we can apply it.

Thank you, Accounts Payable, Harbor Supply Co.

The schedule

Why day 3: your own month-end close is usually far enough along that your AP export for the month is ready, and the vendor's AR team has generally run their month-end statements by then. If your close runs later, move the whole schedule.

Leave at least four days between emails to the same vendor. Two emails in two days reads as an automated system gone wrong.

Keeping track

Whatever sends the emails, keep a list per month: vendor, date asked, reminders sent, date received, and "no open items" where a vendor said so. That list is the start of your vendor statement reconciliation for the month, and at month end it shows whom to call.

Sending these without doing it by hand

With ten vendors, copying these emails takes ten minutes. With a hundred, the sending and tracking is most of the job.

Statement Match sends the request on day 3 and the reminders on day 7 and day 12 to every key vendor without a statement, then stops. Each email names your company first, sends replies to your AP inbox, and gives the vendor a no-login link to upload a PDF, Excel or CSV statement, or to say they have no open items. When a statement shows an invoice missing from your AP, one click sends the invoice copy request. The sample month shows the statements and the exception list that come out of it.