Plain-English explanations of each figure in the table above, and what a beginner typically looks at. These are educational descriptions only, not advice.
- Debtor Days
- The average number of days the company takes to collect payment from its customers after a sale.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads fewer days as cash coming in faster. A rising trend can mean customers are taking longer to pay, which ties up cash; readers compare it to the company's own past and to peers.
- Inventory Days
- The average number of days goods sit as inventory before being sold.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads lower inventory days as stock moving quickly. A rising trend can signal slowing sales or overstocking; the right level varies a lot by industry, so comparison matters.
- Days Payable
- The average number of days the company takes to pay its own suppliers.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads more days as the company holding onto cash longer — useful, within reason. Reading it next to debtor days shows whether the company collects from customers faster than it pays suppliers.
- Cash Conversion Cycle
- The number of days it takes to turn money spent on inventory back into cash from customers: inventory days plus debtor days minus days payable.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads a shorter cycle as cash being tied up for less time. A negative cycle — paying suppliers after collecting from customers — is generally a sign of strong working-capital efficiency.
- Working Capital Days
- How many days of sales are tied up in the day-to-day running of the business (receivables and inventory, net of payables).How a beginner reads it: A beginner watches the trend: fewer days means less cash locked into operations. A steadily rising figure can mean growth is consuming more and more cash to sustain.
- ROCE %
- Return on Capital Employed — operating profit as a percentage of the total capital (equity plus debt) the business uses. It measures how efficiently the company turns all its capital into operating profit.How a beginner reads it: A beginner uses ROCE to judge how well a company uses every rupee of capital, regardless of how it is financed. Consistency over many years often matters more to readers than a single high year.