GlossaryCash & funding
What is DSO (days sales outstanding)?
DSO — days sales outstanding — measures the average number of days between invoicing and collection. It translates into days what your customers owe you.
In practice, in France
DSO is compared against two benchmarks. The first is contractual: your own payment terms, within the caps set by French law. The second is sectoral: construction, consulting, and retail do not share the same norms, and a high DSO does not mean the same thing everywhere.
The gap between the term granted and the term actually observed is the useful information. It separates what stems from a commercial decision from what stems from a collection failure — two problems with different causes and different fixes.
Watch for the averaging effect: a reasonable DSO can hide a handful of very old receivables buried in a mass that pays quickly. That is why it should always be read alongside the aged balance, never on its own.
In Odoo
DSO is calculated from the customer balance outstanding and revenue for the period, both available from standard reports.
Its reliability depends on invoice matching: unmatched payments artificially inflate the outstanding balance, and DSO worsens on screen without anything having actually changed.
Common mistakes
- Tracking it without looking at the spread behind the average.
- Comparing it to a generic benchmark rather than sector norms.
- Calculating it on poorly matched accounts, which produces a false alarm.
These definitions are for guidance and do not replace professional advice. Each entry carries its last-updated date. Filing deadlines are not listed here: they change every year and live in the tax calendar.