Outstanding account balance until / at / on / for April 27, 2010

Question

Hi teachers,

Can you tell me if which subject for an email is correct? I have to inform a customer, assume company A, about his outstanding account balance.

1. Outstanding account balance of company A until April 27, 2010.

2. Outstanding account balance of company A on April 27, 2010.

3. Outstanding account balance of company A at April 27, 2010.

4. Outstanding account balance of company A for April 27, 2010.

Thank you very much

Tinanam

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

#2 and #3 both work for me.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Typically, the "Re" or "subject" is a simple title of the matter in particular which needs not be in detail. So "Outstanding account balance" is sufficient. However, to answer your question, I would say:
Outstanding account balance of company A as of April 27, 2010.

Because you have April 27th, 2010

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Mr. Wordy,

Thanks for your help.

1. Can you please tell me why "at" is correct and "for" is not? My understanding is a bit confused because I've seen on the news people write ".....for 2pm" or "......for April 28".

2. I have to give a report daily to a customer (mostly filling ocean bill no., departure, arrival, product models shipped, and goes on), would 'for' be in correct usage in "BTXXXX report for April 28, 2010"?

3. If 'Outstanding' were to remove, would you change your choice?

Account balance at / on / for / until April 29th, 2010.

Thank you so much.

Tinanam

Mr Wordy · Answer

1. "for" is not impossible. It just seems, in this exact context, a looser fit than some of the other options.

2. Yes.

3. No, this doesn't affect the choice of preposition. (In fact, now you mention it, the word "Outstanding" does seem a bit redundant.)

I think I agree with dimsumexpress, actually, that "as of" might be your best choice. (Some people find "as of" a bit jargony, but I think it's OK here.)

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Mr. Wordy,

BTXXXX report for April 29, 2010

BTXXXX report for April 30, 2010

BTXXXX report for May 1, 2010 and on...

Can you please tell me if "on" also work? BTXXXX is the customer name and code.

Thank you.

Tinanam

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Dimsumpress,

Thank you for "as of".

Because I have to send about 20 email about outstanding account, so the company name in the subject will help track which email belongs to which company.

Have a good day.

Tinanam

Mr Wordy · Answer

tinanam0102
BTXX report for April 29, 2010

BTXX report for April 30, 2010

BTXX report for May 1, 2010 and on...

Can you please tell me if "on" also work? BTXXXX is the customer name and code.

"on" is not impossible, but "for" reads better to me.

I am assuming that the report contains data pertaining to (or "as of") the date given (as opposed to the report simply being produced on that date, and containing data relating to some other period of time).

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Hi Tinanam,

tinanam0102Because I have to send about 20 email about outstanding account, so the company name in the subject will help track which email belongs to which company.

Business correspondence is different than regular emails in terms of format and style.
If you are sending a notice to company X, informing them of the matter, and you have on the "subject" line "Outstanding balance to company X..." don't you think it's kind of silly ? I suggest that You keep track of the emails which you have sent to the 20 companies in a different way.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Mr Wordy
tinanam0102
BTXX report for April 29, 2010

BTXX report for April 30, 2010

BTXX report for May 1, 2010 and on...

I am assuming that the report contains data pertaining to (or "as of") the date given (as opposed to the report simply being produced on that date, and containing data relating to some other period of time).

Hi Mr. Wordy,

1. "Some other period" - Do you mean like weekends?

"BTXXXX report for" is a format we have to follow. (I see our accounts manager use "on" in their email anouncement.) Every day I send a report with updates from our factory, one of which contains estimated ex-factory date which is a pre-alert for BTXXXX. Ex-factory dates will take place in the future after the report sent to this customer, never precede the report date, unless other complicated matter arises. I work alternate Saturdays, so sometimes I will have to put the updates from the past weekend into the Monday report when I am back to the office on Monday. And the date will be Monday's date. Do you mean in this situation "on" would be better?

2. I have seen:

We're going away for the weekend.

We're going away on a long weekend.

Does this mean for is "from the start of Saturday to the end of Sunday? And what's "on" in the second sentence?

Thank you very much.

Tinanam

Mr Wordy · Answer

tinanam0102
1. "Some other period" - Do you mean like weekends?

"BTXX report for" is a format we have to follow. (I see our accounts manager use "on" in their email anouncement.) Every day I send a report with updates from our factory, one of which contains estimated ex-factory date which is a pre-alert for BTXXXX. Ex-factory dates will take place in the future after the report sent to this customer, never precede the report date, unless other complicated matter arises. I work alternate Saturdays, so sometimes I will have to put the updates from the past weekend into the Monday report when I am back to the office on Monday. And the date will be Monday's date. Do you mean in this situation "on" would be better?In all cases like this, "for" seems fine. My point, really, was to exclude reports of historical data (data months or years old, say), where "for <today's date>" might be misleading.
tinanam0102
2. I have seen:

We're going away for the weekend.

We're going away on a long weekend.

Does this mean for is "from the start of Saturday to the end of Sunday? And what's "on" in the second sentence?

Regardless of preposition, the "weekend" always covers Saturday and Sunday, with a "long" weekend extended for an extra day or two. The difference between "for" and "on" in your two sentences is kind of hard to explain. To me, "for" just means "for the duration of", while "on" carries over extra connotations from "on holiday" (or "on vacation"), making it seem more like a "proper" holiday. An added complication is that I think AmE uses "on the weekend" (rather than my "at the weekend"), with, I believe, no such connotations. "on the weekend" is not part of my vocabulary, and an AmE speaker would have to confirm his or her perceptions about these usages.

These uses of "for" and "on" aren't directly relevant to your question about report titles.

Outstanding account balance until / at / on / for April 27, 2010

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