Four Must-Have Metrics For Every A/R Executive Dashboard

1. Day Sales Outstanding(DSO)

To maintain the working capital required to run critical business operations, it is in the company's best interest to collect the remaining receivable balance as quickly as possible. As a result, the A/R leader needs to monitor the payment trends associated with every account and ensure that the company’s DSO is kept at the bare minimum. The DSO represents the average number of days it takes for credit to be converted into cash. The larger the number, the more significant its impact on the working capital. DSO is calculated as: Accounts receivable / Net Credit Sales X Number of Days The monthly DSO trend report would enable executives to proactively spot any “increasing-DSO” trend and suggest accurate rectifying measures to safeguard cash flow.

2. Days Deductions Outstanding(DDO)

Customer deductions continue to be a business challenge in various industries that operate through different distribution channels. And tracking the deductions has often been very difficult, which ultimately affected the company’s bottom line. The DDO helps executives keep a tab on the volume of deductions that remain unresolved over a period of time. It is calculated by dividing the number of open deductions by the average deductions incurred over the last month. Visibility over this metric would enable the executive to identify a course correction strategy for faster dispute resolution and keep up with the industry standards.

3. Total Open A/R by Segmentation

Despite implementing intelligent cash collection strategies, most leaders find it challenging to have a holistic view of the total open A/R. An executive dashboard should contain a report that illustrates the total open amount for the different customer segments based on their risk levels, the dollar value, and geographies. This report will help A/R executives to proactively track the fluctuation in the total open A/R for various customer segments, allowing their team to follow up with high-risk accounts faster.

4. Cash Projection Report

Forecasting of receivables is imperative for every business to balance the liquidity in the company. CFOs are more interested to learn about the expected income and costs incurred by a business. This turns out to be a great opportunity for A/R leaders to contribute to the forward-looking objectives in the CFO’s office. The cash projection report should highlight areas that-

• Can forecast potential shortfalls in cash balances.
• Make sure that the business can afford to pay suppliers and employees.
• Spot irregularities in customer payments
• Share the information with external stakeholders such as banks requiring periodic forecasts.