GLOSSARY
DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)
Average number of days between invoice issuance and cash receipt. The single most-watched working-capital metric in cross-border B2B; cross-border DSO averages ~67 days vs. ~34 days domestic.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) measures how long it takes to collect cash after a sale closes. Standard formula: (Accounts Receivable / Total Credit Sales) × Days in Period.
Why it matters
DSO converts directly into working capital. A $50M-revenue exporter with a 67-day cross-border DSO carries roughly $9.2M in receivables at any moment; cutting DSO by 10 days releases ~$1.4M in cash without raising new debt. That's why every collections, invoicing, and cash-application improvement is ultimately benchmarked in DSO days.
Related terms
- Cash Application
- Collections
- Working Capital
- Aging Bucket