Days sales outstanding by industry ranges from a few days where customers pay at the point of sale to well past 60 days where progress billing, insurers or large buyers set the pace. The most useful public 2026 benchmarks come from Hackett, Atradius, Dun & Bradstreet and the Federal Reserve. This guide reads them industry by industry.
What is a good DSO, and why does the industry matter?
Days sales outstanding, or DSO, is the average number of days between a sale on credit and the cash arriving. The formula is receivables divided by credit sales, multiplied by the days in the period. Our days sales outstanding glossary entry walks through a worked example.
A good DSO is not a fixed number. It is your DSO compared with your own payment terms, and with businesses that get paid the same way you do. A retailer taking cards at the counter runs a DSO near zero, while a subcontractor paid after the general contractor is paid can wait 60 to 90 days without doing anything wrong.
Comparing those two businesses tells you nothing. Comparing each to its own industry, and to its own terms, tells you whether collections are working. That is why a single national average is only a starting point.
What do the 2026 public benchmarks actually say?
Four public sources are worth reading each year. They measure different populations, so their numbers are not interchangeable, but together they describe the market your invoices go out into.
The Hackett Group’s 2025 Working Capital Survey covers the 1,000 largest US public non-financial companies, using 2024 results. The cash conversion cycle improved 4% to 37 days, driven by payables stretching to 59 days, while DSO worsened for a second straight year as large customers pushed for longer terms (Hackett Group, 2025). The gap between top-quartile and median DSO performers was 18 days, which Hackett values at about $600 billion of receivables across the group (Hackett Group, 2025).
Atradius surveys companies that sell on credit terms. In its 2025 North America barometer, 43% of US credit-based B2B sales were overdue, and 5% of long-overdue invoices were written off as bad debt (Atradius, 2025). Canada reported 44% overdue and 6% written off, and Mexico 41% and 4% (Atradius, 2025). About 35% of US respondents said customer payment behavior had worsened over the year (Atradius, 2025).
Dun & Bradstreet aggregates real receivables aging from its trade-exchange participants across 203 US industry segments in 15 categories. In the first quarter of 2026, 16 of those 203 segments had 10% or more of their receivables dollars over 90 days past due, down from 18 segments the previous quarter (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026). The slowest segment, miscellaneous fabricated wire products, had 31.0% of dollars past 90 days and only 52.3% current (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026).
The Federal Reserve Banks’ Small Business Credit Survey shows the other side of your invoice. In the 2024 survey of 7,653 employer firms, 56% cited paying operating expenses and 51% cited uneven cash flows as a financial challenge in the prior 12 months (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025). The 2025 survey, published in March 2026, again found rising costs the most common challenge, with more than four in ten firms also citing tariff-related cost increases (Federal Reserve Banks, 2026). Those firms are your customers. When half of them report uneven cash flow, late payment is a structural condition, not a personal slight.
What are the DSO benchmarks by industry?
The table groups industries by how they get paid, because payment mechanics predict DSO better than sector labels do. Where a public source gives a number, it is cited. Where it does not, the pattern is described from how the money moves rather than from an invented figure.
| Industry group | Common terms | Where DSO usually sits | Main driver | Sourced data point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail, restaurants, fitness | Paid at sale | Days, not weeks | Card and cash settle within a few business days | Retail computers and software segment: 67.7% of receivables current, 11.5% past 90 days (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026) |
| E-commerce and marketplaces | Paid by processor | Short, but payout lag hides it | Processor and marketplace settlement cycles, reserves and holds | Order-to-cash is the largest F&A outsourcing process at 54.5% of spend (Grand View Research, 2026) |
| SaaS and subscriptions | Card monthly; Net 30 on annual invoices | Near terms on card; past terms on invoiced enterprise deals | Procurement queues and approval chains at larger customers | DSO at the largest US companies worsened for a second year as customers extended terms (Hackett Group, 2025) |
| Agencies, consulting, law firms | Net 30 | Commonly past terms | Milestone disputes, partner sign-off, clients managing their own cash | 51% of small employer firms report uneven cash flows (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025) |
| Construction and field services | Net 30 on paper, progress billing | Among the longest | Retainage, pay-when-paid clauses, lien-waiver exchanges | Construction is one of 15 categories D&B tracks; 16 of 203 US segments have 10% or more of dollars past 90 days (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026) |
| Manufacturing and wholesale | Net 30 to Net 60 | Terms plus a wait | Large buyers dictate terms; quantity and price disputes | Slowest US segment: fabricated wire products, 31.0% of dollars past 90 days, 52.3% current (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026) |
| Transportation and logistics | Net 30 to Net 45 through brokers and shippers | Past terms is normal | Broker payment cycles, paperwork disputes, factoring | Canadian transport: terms of about 43 days, 38% of credit sales overdue, 4% written off (Atradius, 2025) |
| Healthcare providers | Payer-driven, not terms | Long; tracked as days in AR | Claim adjudication, denials, patient balances | No comparable public B2B benchmark; track days in AR by payer instead |
| Staffing | Net 30 to Net 60 | Long relative to weekly payroll | Client terms outrun payroll funding | 56% of small employer firms cite paying operating expenses as a challenge (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025) |
| Agri-food and food distribution | Short terms on perishables | Past terms | Volume buyers, seasonal cash | US agri-food: 40% of B2B invoices overdue, 5% written off (Atradius, 2025) |
| Property management | Rent due on the first | Short | Tenant delinquency is the metric, not DSO | No B2B benchmark; track delinquency by unit and month |
| Nonprofits | Grants and pledges | Long and lumpy | Reimbursement-based funding and reporting conditions | No B2B benchmark; track grant receivable age by funder |
The pattern is consistent. Most B2B industries collect later than their stated terms, and the longest DSO sits wherever another party’s cash cycle comes between your invoice and your payment.
Why does DSO differ so much between industries?
Three things explain most of the gap. The first is who holds the money. In retail the customer pays at the till. In construction the owner pays the general contractor, who then pays you. In healthcare the insurer adjudicates the claim before anyone pays. Each layer adds days that no reminder email can remove.
The second is bargaining power. Hackett found DSO at the largest US companies worsened because their customers demanded longer terms, while those same companies stretched their own payables to 59 days (Hackett Group, 2025). If your customers are large and you are small, you are on the wrong end of both moves at once.
The third is invoice quality, and this one is yours to fix. Missing purchase-order numbers, wrong billing contacts, unclear line items and unresolved disputes all add days regardless of industry. A customer’s cash position is outside your control. Whether your invoice can be approved on first sight is not.
How do you compare your DSO to the benchmark?
Start by calculating DSO the same way every month. Use credit sales only, exclude cash and card sales settled at the point of sale, and use a trailing three-month window so one large invoice does not distort the result. Our DSO calculator applies this method and shows the cash tied up per day of DSO.
Then compare in this order. First against your own terms: Net 30 terms with a DSO of 38 is normal, and Net 30 with a DSO of 55 is a collections problem. Second against your industry group in the table above. Third, open the aging report and find which customers and which invoices create the gap, because DSO is an average and averages hide the two customers who owe most of the overdue balance.
One more check matters. Calculate DSO on current receivables only, ignoring anything past due. The difference between that number and your actual DSO is the part you can collect your way out of.
What moves DSO in the right direction?
The controllable levers are simple and unglamorous. Invoice within 24 to 48 hours of delivery, with the customer’s PO number and the right approver’s email on the invoice. Send a reminder before the due date, not after, so the invoice is already in the customer’s payment run.
Follow a fixed cadence of emails and calls once an invoice is past due, and log every promise to pay with a date. That cadence is what our DunningDesk process runs inside an accounts receivable engagement, with AR follow-up calls made under your own brand. Apply cash the same day it lands through a cash application routine, because a customer chased for an invoice they already paid will pay the next one later.
Then look at terms. Deposits on new customers, card on file for small accounts, and shorter terms for slow payers all reduce DSO without a single reminder. Hackett’s 18-day gap between median and top-quartile performers is the size of the prize when all of this is done consistently (Hackett Group, 2025).
Where will our first-party benchmark fit in?
The public sources above have gaps. Hackett covers only large public companies. Atradius reports by country and a handful of sectors. Dun & Bradstreet’s segment data is granular but built on trade-exchange participants, not the average owner-operated firm. None of them report DSO for home care agencies, NEMT providers, dental practices or agencies with fewer than 50 staff.
Our forthcoming AR days benchmark will fill part of that gap. It will report days sales outstanding by industry from anonymized client data across the 26 industries we serve, calculated one way every month, with the definitions and exclusions published on our methodology page. Until it is live, the table above is the most defensible public picture we can give you.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your own DSO before then, a dedicated accountant can rebuild the aging, calculate the number properly and set the reminder cadence inside your QuickBooks Online or Xero file. Pricing depends on volume and scope, so we send a custom quote within 1 business day.
Sources
- The Hackett Group, 2025 Working Capital Survey: thehackettgroup.com
- Atradius, B2B payment practices trends in North America 2025: group.atradius.com
- Dun & Bradstreet, U.S. Accounts Receivable Insights, Q1 2026: dnb.com
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Report on Employer Firms: fedsmallbusiness.org
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms: fedsmallbusiness.org
- Grand View Research, Finance and accounting BPO market report: grandviewresearch.com
Frequently asked questions
What is a good days sales outstanding by industry?
A good DSO is within about 10 days of your payment terms and at or below the typical pattern for how your industry gets paid. Retail and property management run close to zero because customers pay at the point of sale or on the first of the month. Agencies, manufacturers and transport firms commonly sit past Net 30, and construction and healthcare run longest because another party's cash cycle sits between invoice and payment. Compare to terms first, then to the industry table in this guide.
What is the average DSO in the United States?
There is no single official US average, because the public sources measure different populations. Hackett reports DSO for the 1,000 largest public companies and found it worsened for a second year in its 2025 survey (Hackett Group, 2025). Atradius found 43% of US credit-based B2B sales overdue in 2025 (Atradius, 2025). Dun & Bradstreet tracks receivables aging across 203 industry segments (Dun & Bradstreet, 2026). Use the source closest to your size and sector.
How do I calculate DSO for my business?
Divide accounts receivable by credit sales for the period, then multiply by the number of days in that period. Use credit sales only, not cash or card sales settled at the point of sale, and use a trailing three months so one large invoice does not distort the result. The DSO calculator on this site applies that method and shows how much cash each day of DSO ties up.
Why is my DSO higher than my payment terms?
Because some customers pay late, some invoices are disputed, and some never reached the right approver. Half of US small employer firms report uneven cash flows (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025), so a share of late payment is structural. The rest is invoice quality and follow-up. Open the aging report, sort by customer, and you will usually find that a small number of accounts create most of the gap.
Does a lower DSO always mean better collections?
Not always. DSO can fall because sales rose, because a large customer paid early, or because bad debts were written off and left the receivables balance. It can also fall for the wrong reason if you tighten terms so hard that good customers leave. Read DSO alongside the aging report, the write-off rate and sales volume. A steady DSO near terms with low write-offs is the healthy pattern.
Sources
- The Hackett Group, 2025 Working Capital Survey (US 1,000; DSO, DPO and cash conversion cycle)
- Atradius, B2B payment practices trends in North America 2025 (Payment Practices Barometer)
- Dun & Bradstreet, U.S. Accounts Receivable Insights: Q1 2026 industry highlights
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Report on Employer Firms: findings from the 2024 Small Business Credit Survey
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms: findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey
- Grand View Research, Finance and accounting BPO market report 2026 to 2033 (order-to-cash share)
