{"id":8840,"date":"2026-04-30T11:29:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/?post_type=nieuwsitem&p=8840"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:29:02","slug":"you-act-as-a-banker-for-your-customers","status":"publish","type":"nieuwsitem","link":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/nieuwsitem\/fungeer-jij-als-bankier-voor-je-klanten\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you function as a banker for your customers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When economic uncertainty increases, large market players try to protect their own liquidity position by delaying payments to suppliers. As a result, you as an SME entrepreneur inadvertently act as banker for your customers. An increase in DSO by just a few days can quickly tie up hundreds of thousands of euros in working capital for an average medium-sized business. Providing generous supplier credit often seems like a necessary service, but the real cost is significant. At current interest rates, every euro tied up in an unpaid invoice is a euro you have to finance elsewhere or miss out on returns. In addition, the law of probability applies: the longer an invoice is outstanding, the greater the risk of default due to insolvency of the debtor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The unruly practice<\/h2>\n

Legislators have recognised this imbalance in the market. Since 1 July 2022, the law has been in force that requires large companies to apply a maximum 30-day payment term to their SME suppliers. While this provides a strong legal framework, we at Xolv Finance see that practice is often more recalcitrant than theory. The balance of power in supply chains still too often makes SMEs reluctant to enforce these rights hard for fear of damaging the commercial relationship. This makes active DSO steering and the use of flexible financing even more important.<\/span><\/p>\n

The return on investment of DSO optimisation<\/h2>\n

To understand the impact of working capital management, a comparison can be made between two scenarios for a fictitious company with an annual turnover of \u20ac10,000,000. In the first scenario with slow payers, the average DSO is 65 days and \u20ac1,780,821 of capital is tied up, while free cash flow is at zero as a reference and the impact on growth manifests itself in an investment freeze or growth slowdown. In the second scenario, where optimisation has been implemented, the average DSO is 35 days and capital tied up is reduced to \u20ac958,904. This results in a released cash flow of \u20ac821,917 and a direct impact on the company in the form of accelerated innovation and expansion. Reducing the DSO from 65 to 35 days thus provides a direct liquidity injection of over \u20ac820,000, capital that can be used for the company's core business without external funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

From defensive to offensive working capital management<\/h2>\n

For entrepreneurs, it is important to make the transition from wait-and-see debt collection to proactive working capital management. Digitisation of the \u2018Order-to-Cash\u2019 cycle plays an important role in this, as errors in invoicing are the most common reason for payment delays and automation reduces administrative turnaround time. In addition, strategic credit insurance is crucial, not only as protection against non-payment, but also because of the valuable data that provide insight into which customers should be steered tighter on payment terms. Finally, hybrid forms of financing, such as modern variants of factoring and \u2018Reverse Factoring\u2019, make it possible to liquidate invoices as early as the day they are sent, decoupling growth from the payment speed of debtors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stronger balance<\/h2>\n

Lowering your DSO is the most efficient way to strengthen your balance sheet. It creates a degree of independence that is essential to seize market opportunities as they arise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to know how much working capital is currently \u2018parked\u2019 in your company? Xolv Finance's specialists will be happy to perform a Quickscan to identify your improvement potential.<\/span><\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Often the focus of entrepreneurs is on sales and margin. These are, of course, engines of growth. But often the fuel, liquidity, is still overlooked. In the current economic climate, we see a worrying trend: payment delays are increasing, and this has an impact on business continuity. So your accounts receivable management, and specifically Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), is no longer just an administrative KPI, but a strategic tool for survival and growth.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":8833,"template":"","onderwerp":[19],"class_list":["post-8840","nieuwsitem","type-nieuwsitem","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","onderwerp-werkkapitaalfinanciering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuwsitem\/8840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuwsitem"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nieuwsitem"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"onderwerp","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xolv.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/onderwerp?post=8840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}