Late invoicing: how to drop DSO from 75 to 45
When a trip is completed, when does the customer get billed? For a typical EU trucking fleet, the answer is 3 weeks later. During that time, capital is frozen — DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) reaches 75 days.
Industry case: A €5M revenue 100-truck fleet with DSO 75 = €1M of frozen capital. At 12% financing cost × €1M = €120K/year of additional finance cost.
Why manual is slow
Three steps:
- Driver returns with paper CMR + POD
- Accounting team scans + creates customer invoice (5–10 days)
- Invoice posted + customer approval cycle (3–7 days)
Total: 8–17 days invoice cycle. Customer terms (e.g. 60 days) on top push DSO to 70–80.
Invoice triggered by trip event
Lognari generates the invoice within 3 hours of trip completion:
- Trip “completed” event (GPS + driver confirm)
- CMR + POD uploaded digitally (mobile scan)
- Customer contract rate + accessorials (detention, extra stop, ADR)
- Auto-issue invoice → e-invoicing system (Sovos/Foriba) → customer ERP
| Step | Manual | Lognari |
|---|---|---|
| Trip completed | t=0 | t=0 |
| Document scan | t+3 days | t+0.5 hr |
| Invoice issued | t+8 days | t+3 hr |
| Customer ERP | t+10 days | t+1 day |
| Collection | t+70 days | t+50 days |
Impact by fleet size
| Fleet | DSO 75 → DSO 50 | Released capital | Annual finance savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 trucks | −25 days | €340,000 | €40,000 |
| 300 trucks | −25 days | €1M | €120K |
| 1,000 trucks | −25 days | €3.4M | €400K+ |
Factoring side effect
Lower DSO unlocks higher pre-payment ratios from factoring providers (e.g. 85% → 92%). Two pilot fleets renegotiated on this basis successfully.
What’s next
If your DSO is 60+, automated invoicing infrastructure frees up your capital. A 30-day pilot typically recovers a 3-month payment.
Reach out via the contact section — reply within one business day.
