If you hire a collections company to collect outstanding receivables, they may ask for a percentage of the balance. But DSO is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to analyzing business performance. Business owners should assess days sales outstanding alongside other KPIs and financial ratios to get a full understanding of business health. In accountancy, days sales outstanding (also called DSO and days receivables) is a calculation used by a company to estimate the size of their outstanding accounts receivable. Days sales outstanding is an accounting ratio you can easily calculate to determine how many days it’s taking your customers to pay you.

• In an increasingly volatile economic environment where every penny counts, these benefits cannot be overlooked.
• If the result is a low DSO, it means that the business takes a few days to collect its receivables.
• But the more common approach is to use the ending balance for simplicity, as the difference in methodology rarely has a material impact on the B/S forecast.
• Be sure and subtract any returns or adjustments, and if you don’t track cash sales automatically, you’ll have to subtract those as well.
• As a metric attempting to gauge the efficiency of a business, days sales outstanding comes with a limitation that is important for any investor to consider.
• Let’s say you run a B2B company that generates about $365 million in credit sales.

Days sales outstanding is an element of the cash conversion cycle and may also be referred to as days receivables or average collection period. If a company wants to find out whether its values are too high or too low, only a comparison with companies from the same industry is recommended. This can then be used to assess how one compares to the competition and whether it is necessary to take measures to reduce the accounts receivable days. The accounts receivable days obtained above imply that the company collects payments from its customers in 60.83 days.

Accounts receivable days: Equation

The ratio is calculated by dividing the ending accounts receivable by the total credit sales for the period and multiplying it by the number of days in the period. Sometimes, a lack of convenient payment methods is all that stops a customer from paying on time. By adding multiple payment options like credit cards, debit cards, electronic fund transfers, and checks, businesses can reduce the friction of payments. Days Sales Outstanding is often confused for “the time it takes to fully collect unpaid invoices.” Mathematically, there is no direct relationship between DSO and the number of days it takes a company to get paid. DSO is a measurement of the number of an average day’s sales that are tied up in receivables awaiting collection.

Changes in DSO (up or down) reflex changes in key inputs from a company’s balance sheet. Many companies will try to establish a benchmark for DSO in their industry and compare themselves with that. Companies will also monitor their days sales outstanding (DSO) and take note of any changes as indicators of the changing efficiency of their AR processes. Let’s say you run a B2B company that generates about $365 million in credit sales. If your average accounts receivable (AR) balance for a given month is $48 million, that means you have 48 days worth of sales sitting on your book.

• To make this more attractive to customers, you can give them cash discounts or other rebates.
• It is important to remember that the formula for calculating DSO only accounts for credit sales.
• Biltrust’s Order-to-Cash Automation Software reduces DSO and your AR team’s manual work, optimizes your cash flow and more.
• If this happens, the opportunity for you to grow your company may not happen because you won’t have enough cash.

If your business has a high DSO, consider evaluating your credit policies, including to whom you extend credit. If your DSO begins to climb, it may mean more of your should you hire a virtual accountant cash is tied up in accounts receivable. Delinquent Days Sales Outstanding (DDSO) is a good alternative for credit collection assessment or for use alongside DSO.

Interpreting DSR Results

If DSO is getting longer, accounts receivable is increasing or average sales per day are decreasing. Similarly, a decrease in average sales per day could indicate the need for more sales staff or better utilization. Determining the days sales outstanding is an important tool for measuring the liquidity of a company’s current assets. Due to the high importance of cash in operating a business, it is in the company’s best interests to collect receivable balances as quickly as possible.

When it comes time to collect payments from customers, don’t delay on getting invoices sent out. You may not always be able to control how quickly customers pay you once they have your invoice in hand. But sending out invoices as quickly as possible once you’ve delivered a product or service is one action you can take to improve the speed of payments.

Why is Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) important?

DSO is an indicator of how many average days worth of sales are tied up in receivables. If a company can lower their days sales outstanding (DSO), they can increase the cash available to their business for investments, payroll and purchasing. On the other hand, a low DSO is more favorable to a company’s collection process.

This metric helps businesses track the efficiency of their accounts receivable process and the overall health of their cash flow. This calculation provides valuable insights into how quickly your business collects payments from customers and manages its accounts receivable. It helps identify potential issues with cash flow and highlights areas for improvement within your procurement process. Another significant aspect of evaluating cash flow in procurement is its impact on working capital management. By monitoring days sales in receivables, businesses can better forecast future cash inflows and outflows, enabling them to optimize their working capital position.

Why would days sales in receivables increase?

By implementing strategies to mitigate these factors’ negative impacts, companies can optimize their financial efficiency in procurement operations. Then, find out the net credit sales made during the same period – these are sales made on credit minus any returns or discounts given to customers. Once you have these figures handy, divide your total accounts receivable by net credit sales and multiply it by the number of days in the chosen time period. Understanding and monitoring DSR allows businesses to make informed decisions regarding credit terms and collection strategies. It helps them stay proactive in managing their accounts receivable balances while maintaining healthy customer relationships.

When it comes to evaluating cash flow in procurement, using the Days Sales in Receivables (DSR) formula can provide valuable insights. However, there are some common mistakes that people often make when using this formula. To truly interpret the DSR results, it’s essential to compare them with industry benchmarks or historical data from previous periods. This will allow you to identify trends and determine if improvements have been made over time. Analyzing a company’s A/R days gives a detailed insight into its credit and collection process efficiency. If the metric is tracked and mapped to a chart, you can learn about the company’s ability to collect receivables and if it is affected by any particular pattern.

The formula used to calculate account receivable days is applied to the total payments due to be collected from the customers rather than for anyone invoice due from a customer in particular. Well, if industry standards suggest that most businesses collect payment within five days or less, then an average collection period of 7.5 days could indicate room for improvement in managing accounts receivable. Evaluating cash flow in procurement provides valuable insights into how money flows within an organization’s purchasing activities. It enables businesses to identify inefficiencies in the payment cycle while optimizing working capital management and mitigating collection risks. By leveraging this information effectively, companies can enhance their financial stability and ensure long-term success.

It is important to remember that the formula for calculating DSO only accounts for credit sales. While cash sales may be considered to have a DSO of 0, they are not factored into DSO calculations. If they were factored into the calculation, they would decrease the DSO, and companies with a high proportion of cash sales would have lower DSOs than those with a high proportion of credit sales. In general, small businesses rely more heavily on steady cash flow than large, diversified companies.

For example, a manufacturer selling heavy equipment is more likely to have a higher DSO than a service business. My Accounting Course  is a world-class educational resource developed by experts to simplify accounting, finance, & investment analysis topics, so students and professionals can learn and propel their careers. By using modern automation tools, accounts receivable (AR) professionals can elevate their contributions by reducing their manual work and focusing on higher-level tasks. Companies can lower DSO is by automating and optimizing their order-to-cash process. Access and download collection of free Templates to help power your productivity and performance.

Because this is an average general KPI, though, choosing a time period that’s too low may introduce undesirable artifacts in the data. Accounts receivable days is the number of days that a customer invoice is outstanding before it is collected. The measurement is usually applied to the entire set of invoices that a company has outstanding at any point in time, rather than to a single invoice. When measured at the individual customer level, the measurement can indicate when a customer is having cash flow troubles, since it will attempt to stretch out the amount of time before it pays invoices. Losing revenue puts you in a vulnerable position because you may have to seek outside financing to increase your cash flow. If you don’t have the funds to pay your monthly operating expenses, your interest payment may increase your cash burden.

A high DSR indicates that it takes longer for your business to collect payment, which could be a sign of poor credit management or ineffective collection processes. On the other hand, a low DSR means that your company is collecting payments quickly, indicating strong financial efficiency. Automate credit and collections processes to make them more efficient and help reduce the AR days. A report from PYMNTS suggests that 88% of businesses that have automated their accounts receivable processes have seen a significant reduction in days sales outstanding (DSO or AR days). Accounts Receivable Days (A/R days) is a metric that allows you to determine the average time it takes for your business to collect outstanding payments from customers. It signifies the duration an invoice remains unpaid before it is eventually settled.

Comparing your DSR with industry benchmarks offers valuable insights but should not be taken as gospel truth without considering factors like customer base and market conditions specific to your organization. Automating the order-to-cash cycle can improve invoicing accuracy and client satisfaction and optimize cash flow. The Billtrust Blog offers informative accounting insights, advice on automated AR best practices, tips and tricks, and strategies to optimize your AR processes. Similarly to decisions about payment terms, you can also make decisions about the credit requirements of your clients. It’s often easier to decide to adjust payment terms based on a client’s credit history before completing any work than it is to deal with collecting from a late-paying client after you’ve delivered the work. A client’s credit history may give you insight on how to adjust your payment terms and credit policies when working with them.