Also known as: DSO, days outstanding, average collection period
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) is the average number of days between issuing an invoice and receiving payment. A company with $100K in receivables and $10K in daily revenue has a 10-day DSO. For services businesses, DSO is the clearest single measure of cash-flow health. Lower is better. Sustained increases are an early warning of collection risk.
Where you'll see days sales outstanding (dso) in day-to-day work inside Helm.
Helm Analytics tracks DSO per account and workspace-wide, with historical trend data. The Operations Manager agent flags clients whose DSO is creeping up (a client that was 15 days now at 38 days, for example) before it becomes a material cash problem. When a client's payment cadence worsens, the Payment Recovery agent adjusts its dunning sequence accordingly.
Concepts that show up in the same workflows and reports.
Common questions and honest answers.
Net-30 terms with healthy payment behavior should produce DSO around 35-45 days. Net-15 terms with disciplined dunning can push DSO to 20-25. Sustained DSO above 60 is a cash-flow crisis in formation.
DSO = (Accounts Receivable / Total Credit Sales) × Number of Days. Helm computes this automatically from invoice and payment data. No spreadsheet required.
Slow invoicing (time-to-invoice), weak dunning, generous payment terms granted without discipline, and clients with worsening financials. Helm surfaces the first two proactively so you can address them before DSO deteriorates.
Helm is the AI work platform where these concepts stop being theory and start being your Monday morning.