The work finished in March. The invoice went out in May.

Most businesses measure how long customers take to pay. Far fewer measure how long they take to ask.

By Steve 4 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The work finished in March. The invoice went out in May.

Ask a finance function how the cash cycle is performing and you will usually get debtor days. It is a clean number, it is on the aged debt report, and it has an obvious owner. What it measures, though, is only the second half of the journey: the clock starts the moment an invoice is raised. Everything that happens before that moment, work completed, hours recorded, materials consumed, is invisible to the metric and often invisible to management. In service businesses, contracting, professional firms, agencies, installers, maintenance providers, this pre-invoice…

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