What Would Faster Collections Put in the Bank?
A free Excel DSO calculator for testing a change to your credit days. Enter your sales by channel, the credit days each channel takes today and the days you’re aiming for, and any early-payment discount. It shows the cash collected and the receivables balance under both, week by week for 13 weeks. Built by experienced finance professionals.
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- Experienced finance professionals
- Channel by channel, week by week
- Excel 2021, Microsoft 365 or the web
- No credit card required
One input sheet. Everything else is calculated.
You type into one sheet. The model works out when each week’s sales and your existing receivables turn into cash, under your current credit days and under your target, and builds the dashboard from it.
Cover and instructions
An index linking to every sheet, the OK or Error checks from the calculation and dashboard sheets, and step-by-step instructions for the input sheet.
I1 — Input
Company name and forecast start date. Up to six sales channels, each with its first week’s sales, a weekly increase, the credit days it takes today, the credit days you’re aiming for and an early-payment discount. And up to five amounts of existing receivables, each with the days until you expect it paid.
What it gives you back
C1 — Scenario calculations
Weekly sales by channel; the week each one is collected under today’s credit days and under the target; receivables collected and a receivables roll-forward for both; and the difference, channel by channel and week by week.
O1 — Dashboard
Pick any of the 13 weeks. See receivables collected and the receivables balance under both cases, charts of all 13 weeks, and that week’s receipts by channel.
Collection period summary
A weighted-average collection period for each case, weighted by first-week sales, so you can see the change in days at a glance.
Receivables fall to a lower level. That’s working capital you no longer need.
When you shorten credit days, there are a few weeks when customers pay both old invoices and new ones. That’s when receivables drop to their new level and most of the extra cash arrives. After that the gap widens a little each week as sales grow — and the discount, if you offer one, is paid every week.
DSO tells you how many days. It doesn’t tell you which week the cash comes.
The DSO formula gives you one number for the whole business, and multiplying the days you cut by one day of sales tells you roughly how much less working capital a change would need — covered in how much cash is tied up in accounts receivable. It doesn’t tell you when that cash arrives, or what a discount costs you on the way.
So this calculator works channel by channel and week by week. Change the credit days on one channel, add a discount on another, and see the receivables balance and the cash collected under both cases for 13 weeks. What a lower working capital requirement is worth — and whether a discount is a fair price for it — is covered in how reducing DSO improves cash flow.
Six things it works out so you don’t have to.
All of it runs from the one input sheet, from the forecast start date you set.
Weekly sales by channel
Each channel starts at the first-week amount you enter and grows by the weekly increase you set, for 13 weeks.
A collection date for every week’s sales
Each week’s sales are collected the number of credit days later that you set for that channel — once at today’s days, once at the target.
Cash sales handled separately
A channel with zero credit days is collected in the same week, so it never sits in receivables.
Your existing receivables
Up to five amounts already owed at the start date, each collected the number of days after the start that you enter — the same in both cases.
Early-payment discounts
A discount you enter is taken off the cash collected on that channel, but only where the target credit days are shorter than today’s.
Checks built in
The calculation and dashboard sheets report OK or Error, including a check that each week’s collections match the receipts behind them.
What to gather before you open the file.
Most of it comes from your sales report and your AR aging report.
From your accounting system
- Sales for a typical recent week, split into up to six channels or customer groups
- How many days each channel actually takes to pay today — not just its terms
- What customers owe you at the start date, grouped into up to five amounts by when you expect them paid
From your team
- How much weekly sales are expected to grow over the quarter
- The credit days you could realistically reach for each channel
- Any early-payment discount you’re considering, and for which channels
“How many days each channel takes” means how customers really pay, not the terms on the invoice. Our AR payment behavior analysis template measures it from your invoice and payment history.
How to use the DSO Cash Impact Calculator: four steps.
Then change one input at a time — one channel’s days, or one discount — to see which change does most of the work.
General inputs
On I1_Input: your company name and the forecast start date. Week 1 starts on that date.
Sales and credit days
For each channel: the first week’s sales, the weekly increase, the credit days it takes today, the credit days you’re aiming for, and any early-payment discount.
Existing receivables
Enter up to five amounts already owed at the start date, each with the days from the start date until you expect it paid.
Read the dashboard
On O1_Dashboard, pick a week. Compare receivables collected and the receivables balance under both cases, and see which channels drive the difference.
Is this template right for you? Honestly.
This template is for you if:
- You sell on credit through more than one channel or customer group, on different terms.
- You’re considering shorter terms or an early-payment discount and want to see the cash first.
- You want to show a lender or partner what a collections plan would do, week by week.
- You know roughly how many days each channel takes to pay today.
This is not for you if:
- You need each open invoice in the week it will be paid — use the AR collection forecast template.
- You want your whole cash position, payments included — use the 13-week cash flow template.
- You have more than six channels, need multi-currency, or expect sales to swing week to week rather than grow steadily.
- You run Excel 2019 or earlier — the model relies on XLOOKUP, which they do not have.
This is a self-serve model. If you would rather have your collection days measured from your ledger and brought down with your team, talk to us.
Use it with the rest of your cash flow.
This template tests a change to your credit days. These help you size it, aim it and forecast it.
DSO Cash Impact Calculator questions, answered honestly.
What does the DSO Cash Impact Calculator do?
What does the extra cash it shows mean?
How is the discount applied?
What is the weighted-average collection period?
Which version of Excel do I need?
How is it different from the AR collection forecast template?
Is it really free? What do you ask for?
What if I want help bringing my DSO down?
Want your collection days brought down — and kept down?
Testing the change is the first step. Making it stick — terms that hold, invoices out on time, late payers chased on the day — is what changes your cash. EasePro’s Cash Flow Management Services build that from your own receivables and run it with your team.
Founders from global advisory firms, supported by an in-house trained team of finance professionals. Big Four-grade depth with our own standards for accuracy and data security.