What is the days sales outstanding?

The average number of days between issuing an invoice and collecting the cash for it.

days sales outstanding stands for DSO.

How does it work?

DSO takes receivables outstanding, divides by credit sales over a period, and multiplies by the days in the period. A rising DSO means cash is taking longer to arrive. Finance teams use it as the headline measure of collections and of how much cash sits in receivables.

Why does it matter for agents?

The accounts receivable agent essay measures an agent on outcomes: cash recovered, exceptions handled, and DSO pressure relieved. Reminders sent is not an outcome. DSO is the number the agent is supposed to move.

What does the market data say?

Hackett’s 2026 North America survey found receivables are now the largest pool of trapped working capital at the 1,000 largest nonfinancial public companies. It also found that DSO worsened by 2.1 days in the year. The AR Automation Market 2026 study on this site carries the figures and the source.

Which essays cover it?

• What Is an AI Agent for Accounts Receivable?

Which terms are related?

• cash application
• dunning

@misc{couch2026whatisthedayssalesoutsta,
  author = {Couch, Chris},
  title = {What is the days sales outstanding?},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Ends at Cash},
  url = {https://chriscouch.ai/what-is/days-sales-outstanding/}
}