Working Capital Days and Working Capital Cycle: Meaning and Formula
Working capital days tell you how long a company's money stays stuck in stock and in unpaid bills before it comes back as cash.
A rupee's journey
Cash goes out to buy raw materials. It sits as stock. It is sold, and the customer owes the money. Then the customer pays and the cash comes back.
Creditor days (the time the company takes to pay its own suppliers) shorten the cycle. They are not in this site's data yet, so the numbers below show stock and customers only.
The formula
Inventory days work the same way: stock ÷ (sales ÷ 365)
Where 24 companies stand
Inventory days plus debtor days. Fewer days means cash comes back sooner.
Inventory days + debtor days, FY26. Shortest first.
Customers paying faster
Sai Life's customers took 136 days to pay in FY20. By FY26, they took 62 days. Cash from each sale comes back much sooner.
Company: Sai Life. Debtor days each year.
Customers paying slower
Kaynes's customers took 77 days to pay in FY25. In FY26, they took 154 days. That much more money is waiting to come in.
Company: Kaynes. Debtor days each year. See what this did to its cash in the cash flow vs profit lesson.
Three ways these numbers fool you
Check a company
Working capital days and cycle: common questions
What does working capital days mean?
It is the number of days a company's money stays stuck in its day-to-day business: in stock waiting to be sold, and in sales waiting to be paid for, less the time it takes to pay its own suppliers.
What is the working capital cycle formula?
Working capital cycle = inventory days + debtor days − creditor days. Inventory days = stock ÷ sales × 365. Debtor days = money owed by customers ÷ sales × 365. Creditor days = money owed to suppliers ÷ purchases × 365.
What are debtor days?
The average number of days customers take to pay after a sale. 90 debtor days means customers pay, on average, about three months after buying.
What are inventory days?
The average number of days the company holds stock (raw materials, half-made goods and finished goods) before it is sold.
What are good working capital days?
Fewer days is better: cash comes back sooner. But it depends on the business. Compare with companies in the same sector, and watch whether the number is rising or falling.