DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)

What this report shows

DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) is the average number of days a customer takes to pay an invoice after it's issued. Lower is better — it means your money comes back to you faster.

The metric is computed over invoices that were paid in the last 90 days, comparing each invoice's issue date to its payment date.

How to read it

• DSO (overall) — the headline number — average days-to-pay across every invoice paid in the window.
• Invoices paid — sample size. A small number means the average is volatile and a single late payment can swing it.
• Cash collected — sum of the invoice totals in the window. Gives context for the DSO figure.
• Slowest customer — which customer is dragging the average up. Useful as a starting point for collections conversations.

Common questions

• Why doesn't my unpaid invoice count? DSO measures realized days-to-pay, so only paid invoices contribute. Outstanding invoices show up in the aging report instead.
• Why does the number jump day-to-day? The window slides forward each night. A large payment dropping in or out can move the average several days.
• Is high DSO always bad? Not necessarily — some customer segments have longer agreed payment terms. Compare against the agreed terms, not against zero.

What to do if numbers look wrong

1. Spot-check a few recent paid invoices in `/admin/invoices` — confirm the paid-at and issued-at timestamps are sensible.
2. Look at the slowest customer detail — sometimes a single invoice with a wildly wrong date is the culprit.
3. If the average looks impossibly high, check for an old invoice that was just now marked paid (a stale invoice closing out skews the recent average).