CFOs refer to cash as the “oxygen” of their business. It is becoming increasingly apparent that accounts receivable automation can have significant impact on DSO. Even a reduction of one day of DSO can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings.
For this tip sheet, the Billtrust Data Team looked at our very own payments data to see how fast our customers received their online payments using our automated platform. What we found was that the average DSO from our B2B customers was just 25 days, versus the industry average of 40-50 days.
We’ve found that 3 features of accounts receivable automation are key:
- A flexible service suite that can accommodate a wide range of customer preferences including paper billing, invoices through email, buyer portals and invoices sent directly to AP portals. Invoicing that can reach the customer in the ways most convenient for them tends to yield faster payment and reduced DSO.
- Dynamic invoice matching that can automatically match a high percentage of payments to invoices and a fast exception handling process that can accurately match the rest. When cash is applied faster, cash flow increases and DSO is reduced.
- Buyer adoption of electronic invoicing and payment. Multiple studies have shown that electronic adoption can lead to DSO reductions of 3 -10 days.
Automating and accelerating your order-to-cash process can have a major impact on your DSO. Download the tip sheet to learn more.