DAYS SALES OUTSTANDING Definition

DAYS SALES OUTSTANDING (DS0), also known as Collection Period (period average), is a financial indicator that shows both the age, in terms of days, of a companys accounts receivable and the average time it takes to turn the receivables into cash. It is compared to company and industry averages, as well as company selling terms (e.g., Net 30) for determination of acceptability by the company. DSO is calculated: DSO = (Total Receivables/Total Credit Sales in the Period Analyzed) x Number of Days in the Period Analyzed. Note: Only credit sales are to be used. Cash sales are excluded.

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CYCLE COUNT is a partial count of a single inventory location as opposed to a Complete Count, i.e., a complete count of a single inventory location. An organization should not wait to do a complete count; usually once a year. The best way to ensure that a minimum of 97% accuracy is maintained in inventory on an ongoing basis is to continually count your products. That is, count part of your inventory every day, and count each item several times per year. This process is called "cycle counting."

PORTFOLIO is a term for describing all the investments that an entity owns. A diversified portfolio contains a variety of investments.

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