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Cash Conversion Cycle Calculator

FreeAbout three minutesCash and working capital
What it does

Measures how many days your cash spends locked inside the business across debtors, stock and supplier terms.

How it helps

It shows where cash gets stuck and which lever is holding it. A shorter cycle funds growth without borrowing, and this tells you how many days, and how many dollars, are in play.

How this benchmark is calculated

The comparison you see is an indicative ProfitPulse benchmark, drawn from our own internal commercial ranges. It is intended as commercial context, not a formal industry survey and not financial advice. The benchmark flexes by broad industry category, business size and commercial complexity before you are scored.

In about three minutes, free, you will see their full cycle in days across debtors, stock and supplier terms, with each component banded against their industry.

Cash Conversion Cycle

Answer a few quick questions to see where you stand.

How the cash conversion cycle is calculated

The formula

Cash conversion cycle = debtor days plus stock days minus supplier days.

Worked example

With debtors at 60 days, stock at 60 days and suppliers at 45 days, the cycle is 75 days, the time your cash is tied up before customers pay you back.

How to read your result

Short means cash moves through the business efficiently. Worth a closer look means cash sits too long in one lever. Significant opportunity means real dollars are locked in the cycle and can be released in order.

What each figure means

  • Revenue for the last 12 months: Your total sales for the period, before any costs are taken out.
  • Accounts receivable balance today: Unpaid customer invoices currently owing to you.
  • Cost of goods sold for the last 12 months: Cost of goods sold, the direct cost of what you delivered in the period.
  • Inventory or work in progress balance today: The value of stock on hand, or work done but not yet invoiced.
  • Accounts payable balance today: Unpaid supplier invoices you currently owe.

Common questions

What is the cycle in plain terms?

The number of days your cash is tied up after you pay for stock and work, before customers pay you back.

Can it be negative?

Yes. Some businesses are paid before they pay suppliers, which funds growth without borrowing.

Which lever should I pull first?

Usually the largest of the three, debtors, stock or supplier terms, which the result helps you see.

How ProfitPulse can help

If cash is locked in the cycle, our fractional CFO support works each lever in the right order and holds the gain with a forward view.

More from ProfitPulse: what our work costs, building cash flow discipline and a fractional CFO across Queensland.