What is a good DSO by industry in 2026?

Key Takeaways

• In our view, a good DSO is your payment terms plus a few days; for context, listed companies average 45 days in the US and 52 in Europe (NYU Stern, January 2026) and the median German company 24 (Deutsche Bundesbank, 2024 data).
• Among US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over, DSO runs from 32 days in food to 76 in professional and technical services (US Census Bureau, Q2 2026, our arithmetic).
• Manufacturing reads 44 days in France (Banque de France, 2025 data) and 24 in Germany; in our reading, the gap comes mostly from what each statistic counts.
• DSO worsened for a third year at the largest North American companies and deteriorated in 40 of 50 industries (The Hackett Group, October 2026).

In This Article

• Key Takeaways
• What is the average DSO by industry in 2026?
• Why do published DSO benchmarks disagree by a factor of two?
• Which industries run the longest DSO, and why?
• How does DSO differ between the US, Europe and Germany?
• Is DSO getting better or worse?
• How do you set your own DSO target?
• What moves DSO, and where does AR automation fit?

What is the average DSO by industry in 2026?

Among US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over, average DSO runs from 32 days in food to 76 in professional services (US Census Bureau, Q2 2026); listed US companies average 45 (NYU Stern, 2026).

Compare like with like: each column is a different population and a different statistic.

DSO by industry in days: five published sources

How each number was made (whole days; n/a means the source publishes no matching industry). Our arithmetic: US Census Bureau (from published amounts), NYU Stern and Bundesbank (published ratios converted to days). Stated in days by the publisher: Banque de France.

• US Census Bureau, Quarterly Financial Report, released 8 September 2026: trade receivables net of allowance at the end of Q2 2026, divided by net sales of the latest four quarters, times 365. Our arithmetic from the published figures; all sales, including any cash sales. With sales rising in Q2 2026, a single-quarter base reads 2 to 6 days lower. Manufacturing overall is left out because the report’s size-class tables give 47 or 51 days for it.
• NYU Stern (Aswath Damodaran), data as of January 2026: aggregated receivables divided by aggregated sales of listed non-financial companies (4,822 US, 5,757 European), times 365.
• Deutsche Bundesbank, May 2026, preliminary: median across German companies of trade receivables as a percentage of revenue, 2024, times 3.65.
• Banque de France, Bulletin, October 2026: published in days; unweighted mean of company ratios, receivables divided by revenue including VAT, times 360; 153,819 firms excluding micro-enterprises, 2025.

Retail (16 days, US Census Bureau) and hospitality (6 days, Banque de France) are left out because customers mostly pay at the till; real estate and financial companies are not trade businesses.

Days sales outstanding (DSO) is the average number of days a company takes to collect payment after a sale on terms: receivables divided by sales on terms, times the days in the period. The DSO formula guide walks through the calculation, and the DSO calculator does it for you.

For a DSO median measured directly, the Credit Research Foundation reports 37.5 days for its survey participants in Q2 2026, after 40.1 in Q1 and 36.7 a year earlier; best possible DSO was 34.0 (Credit Research Foundation, 2026). These are survey medians for domestic trade receivables, not a target for every company.

Takeaway: industry tells you what is normal; your payment terms tell you what is good.

Why do published DSO benchmarks disagree by a factor of two?

Published DSO benchmarks disagree because they count different companies and compute different statistics: aggregates or medians, 365 or 360 days, revenue with or without VAT.

The same label gives different answers. Manufacturing reads 44 days in France and 24 in Germany. Electrical equipment reads 60 days for US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over and 94 for listed US companies.

Two French definitions lower the figure, not raise it: revenue including VAT and a 360-day year. On 365 days, 41.5 becomes 42.1, which explains little of the gap to Germany.

Why Germany reads 24 days is our reading of the definitions, not a statement by the Bundesbank:

• Not the median. The Bundesbank’s aggregate ratio for all companies is 6.3% of revenue, 23 days, close to the median’s 24 days.
• Not company size. Companies with revenue of EUR 50 million and more have a median of 6.7%, also 24 days.
• What counts as a trade receivable, likely. The tables show short-term receivables from affiliated companies as a separate line, 16.0% of total assets in 2024 against 7.4% for trade receivables. Part of what a group sells through its own companies may sit outside the trade line. These datasets cannot prove it.

All four datasets also divide by total sales, including cash and card sales, so a company that sells only on terms reads higher than the benchmark. The AR turnover ratio guide shows the same NYU Stern and Bundesbank data as turns per year.

Takeaway: compare like with like: same statistic, same day count, same population.

Which industries run the longest DSO, and why?

Project-based and service industries run longest, about 60 to 100 days: engineering and construction, professional and IT services, and electrical equipment.

Engineering and construction run 100 days for listed US companies and 93 for listed European ones (NYU Stern, January 2026); computer systems design runs 72 days for US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over (US Census Bureau, Q2 2026). The likely reason is how the work is billed (our reading; the datasets do not split DSO by cause):

• Progress billing and retention. Part of each project invoice is held until acceptance; the construction receivables guide covers retention and progress billing.
• Milestones and approvals. A service invoice waits until the customer signs off the work behind it.
• Capital goods. Large equipment orders often carry long agreed terms.

The shortest DSO sits in fast-moving goods: food at 32 days, non-durable wholesale at 30 and motor vehicles and parts at 28 for US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over (US Census Bureau, Q2 2026). Commerce in France (24 days) and trade in Germany (18) both include retail.

Takeaway: long DSO often reflects how the work is billed, not how customers behave.

How does DSO differ between the US, Europe and Germany?

Listed European groups average 52 days and listed US companies 45 (NYU Stern, 2026); French firms average 42 (Banque de France, 2025) and the median German company 24 (Bundesbank, 2024).

French client payment times held at 42 days of revenue in 2025, a low since 2007, the first year of the series, when they stood at 56.5 (Banque de France, October 2026).

In Germany, where you sit in the distribution matters more than the median. Days of revenue, 2024, lower quartile / median / upper quartile (Deutsche Bundesbank, May 2026):

• All sectors: 10 / 24 / 43 days
• Manufacturing: 11 / 24 / 39 days
• Construction: 14 / 28 / 49 days
• Trade: 8 / 18 / 32 days

Read “good” as the quartile you sit in: the lower quartile collects fastest.

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Intrum’s European Payment Report 2026, a survey of 8,385 businesses in 20 countries, found the gap between agreed and actual B2B payment time widened from 16 days in 2023 to 20 days (Intrum press release, April 2026).

Takeaway: benchmark against the region and the statistic that match your own report.

Is DSO getting better or worse?

DSO is getting worse at the largest North American companies: it worsened for a third year and deteriorated in 40 of 50 industries (The Hackett Group, October 2026).

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Across the 1,000 largest non-financial companies headquartered in North America, DSO rose 2.1 days in fiscal 2025, and aggregate receivables grew 11%, “nearly twice the pace of revenue growth” (The Hackett Group, October 2026). The release reports changes, not levels. Other series are flat or mixed:

• The Credit Research Foundation’s survey median was 37.5 days in Q2 2026, down 2.6 days on Q1 but 0.8 days above a year earlier (Credit Research Foundation, 2026).
• French firms held at 42 days in 2025 (41.5, after 41.9 in 2024), a low since 2007 (Banque de France, October 2026).

Compare your own rolling twelve-month DSO with the same period a year earlier before you compare it with any industry figure. Late-payment prevalence by region is in the accounts receivable statistics; when DSO itself misleads, use the measures in DSO vs ADD, CEI and best possible DSO.

Takeaway: your own trend beats any industry average.

How do you set your own DSO target?

Set your DSO target at your payment terms plus the lateness you cannot remove, then check it against the benchmark row that matches your statistic and population.

1. Calculate DSO the same way every period: sales on terms, the same receivables balance, the same day count (DSO formula guide).
2. Read it against your payment terms: every day beyond terms is lateness.
3. Separate lateness from terms with best possible DSO and average days delinquent.
4. Pick the benchmark row that matches your statistic, population and region.
5. Set the target as terms plus the lateness you cannot remove, per entity and per customer segment.

Worked example (illustrative, USD). A machinery company books USD 120.0 million of sales on terms a year and carries USD 28.0 million of receivables. DSO is 28.0 / 120.0 x 365 = 85.2 days. Its terms are net 60, so 25.2 days are lateness, about USD 8.3 million of cash (120.0 / 365 x 25.2).

The same 85 days would be early on net 90 terms and 55 days late on net 30. The machinery rows (53 days for US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over, 69 for listed US companies) cannot tell these cases apart; the terms can.

Our rule of thumb, arithmetic rather than a published benchmark: a DSO close to your terms plus your average days delinquent is in line. In the Credit Research Foundation’s Q2 2026 medians, best possible DSO (34.0) plus average days delinquent (3.7) comes to 37.7, next to the 37.5-day DSO median.

• Seasonal sales: use the countback method; a peak month distorts the simple formula.
• The money: one day is annual sales on terms divided by 365, about USD 329,000 here (what one day of DSO ties up).
• Entities: a blended DSO hides the gap; groups that run AR across several legal entities set targets per entity.

Takeaway: industry norms are context; your terms are the target.

What moves DSO, and where does AR automation fit?

Payment terms, follow-up speed on overdue invoices and cash application speed move DSO; CollectPulse: DSO down 8-12 days on average (Transformance customer data, 2026).

• Terms and invoice accuracy. A wrong price or order reference gets an invoice paid late however well it is chased (DSO reduction playbook).
• Follow-up on overdue invoices. Reminders and calls once an invoice passes its due date.
• Cash application. A payment received but not applied leaves the invoice open until it is cleared (how to match a payment with no reference).
• Disputes and deductions. An open dispute keeps the invoice in receivables until resolved.

On the illustrative machinery company, 8 to 12 fewer days would release about USD 2.6 million to 3.9 million (120.0 / 365 x 8 and x 12): arithmetic on an example, not a promise.

CollectPulse works the AR collections follow-up and ClearMatch the cash application. When an item does not resolve on its own, Vero, the Transformance agent, investigates the exception from Customer 360 plus internal and external information and proposes the next step with its evidence. A person approves, and postings follow your approval thresholds.

Transformance reads open items, customer master data, bank statements and remittances, and writes clearing postings, journal entries and ERP updates, including reversals. SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Odoo run in production with customers; Oracle and Infor are supported (ERP integrations guide). To put a number on the gap between your DSO and your terms, Book a Call.

Takeaway: close the gap to your terms first; the industry figure is context.

Who Transformance is for

• ERP: finance teams that run AR in SAP S/4HANA (on-premises, private or public cloud), SAP ECC, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations or Business Central, or Odoo, all running in production with customers; Oracle and Infor are supported.
• Size: mid-market to large enterprise, 250 to 2,000+ employees, including groups with several entities and shared service centers.
• Payment volume: from under 1,000 to over 100,000 payments a month.
• Industries: manufacturing, consumer goods and food and beverage, logistics, e-commerce, agriculture, energy and professional services.
• Scope: cash application alone, or the full order-to-cash: cash application, deductions, AR collections and cash forecasting.

Conclusion: use the industry as context and your terms as the target

Read the table for context, pick the row that matches your statistic and region, and set your target against your own payment terms.

Key terms

• Days sales outstanding (DSO): the average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale on terms.
• Best possible DSO: the DSO you would have if no receivable were past due.
• Average days delinquent: the average number of days invoices are paid after the due date.
• Payment terms: the agreed number of days to pay an invoice.
• Receivables turnover ratio: net sales on terms divided by average receivables; 365 divided by it equals DSO.

Related guides

• Which ERP systems does Transformance integrate with?
• How do you calculate DSO for seasonal sales with the countback method?
• How much cash does one day of DSO tie up?
• What is a good accounts receivable turnover ratio by industry?
• How to reduce DSO: a playbook

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good DSO?

A good DSO is close to your payment terms plus a few days of lateness. For context, Credit Research Foundation survey participants ran a median of 37.5 days in Q2 2026 (Credit Research Foundation, 2026) and the median German company 24 days (Deutsche Bundesbank, 2024 data).

What is the average DSO by industry?

Among US corporations with assets of USD 50M and over, food runs about 32 days, machinery 53, chemicals 65 and professional and technical services 76 (US Census Bureau, Q2 2026, our arithmetic from published receivables and sales). Listed machinery companies run 69 days in the US and 67 in Europe (NYU Stern, January 2026).

What is a good DSO for B2B companies?

For B2B companies, a good DSO is within a few days of the agreed terms: about 33 to 35 days on net 30 and 63 to 65 on net 60, whatever the industry average says. That is our rule of thumb, set next to the Credit Research Foundation’s Q2 2026 median of 3.7 average days delinquent.

Why do DSO benchmarks differ so much between sources?

They use different statistics (aggregate, mean or median), day counts (365 or 360), revenue with or without VAT and different populations, so manufacturing reads 44 days in France and 24 in Germany.

Which ERP systems does Transformance work with?

SAP S/4HANA (on-premises, private or public cloud), SAP ECC, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Business Central, and Odoo, all running in production with customers; Oracle and Infor are supported. The ERP connection typically takes 2-3 days; your IT team may be involved.

Which companies is Transformance built for?

Mid-market to large enterprise teams with 250 to 2,000+ employees, handling from under 1,000 to over 100,000 payments a month, including groups with several entities and shared service centers.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

A full rollout takes up to 4-8 weeks. Cost depends on scope (cash application alone or the full order-to-cash) and the number of entities: Book a Call.