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Cash Conversion Cycle Calculator

See how many days your cash is trapped between paying suppliers and getting paid.

The cash conversion cycle is the honest answer to "why are we profitable but always short of cash". It counts the days between paying for stock and collecting from the customer who eventually bought it. Every one of those days has to be financed by someone — and if it is not your supplier, it is your overdraft.

Cash conversion cycle

Days between cash leaving for stock and cash returning from customers.

Operating cycle (DIO + DSO)
Share funded by suppliers

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Your numbers

days

From the Inventory Turnover calculator.

days
days

The formula

CCC = DIO + DSO − DPO

A negative cycle means customers fund your operation — you are paid before your suppliers are.

What it means

Days Inventory Outstanding — full definition

Read in the glossary

How to use it

  1. 1

    Get DIO from inventory turnover: 365 divided by turns.

  2. 2

    Get DSO from receivables against revenue, and DPO from payables against COGS, over the same period.

  3. 3

    Add the first two and subtract the third. The result is the number of days of working capital your operation needs to fund.

Where it goes wrong

  • Stretching DPO improves the cycle on paper and damages supplier relationships in practice. Beyond agreed terms, you pay for it in price, priority and lead time.

  • A cycle that improves purely because sales fell is not an improvement. Read CCC alongside revenue, not on its own.

Worked example

Sixty-five days to finance

DIO 58, DSO 42, DPO 35 gives a cycle of 65 days. On 3.6m of annual revenue, that is roughly 640,000 of working capital permanently tied up. Cutting DIO to 45 by clearing slow stock and DSO to 35 by tightening collections brings the cycle to 45 days — and releases about 200,000 in cash without a single extra sale.

Common questions

Can the cash conversion cycle be negative?

Yes, and it is a strong position. Retailers who sell for cash and pay suppliers on 60-day terms are financed by their own customers.

Which lever should I pull first?

Usually DIO, because it is fully under your control. DSO depends on customers and DPO on suppliers; inventory depends only on how well you plan.

How often should this be measured?

Monthly, on a rolling basis. Quarterly measurement hides the seasonal swings that actually cause cash squeezes.

Let AWRA do this on your live data

This calculator works on one set of numbers. AWRA OpsHub keeps cash conversion cycle calculator results current across every item, supplier and location — automatically.