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How much cash does your working capital cycle lock up?
Enter your stock holding period, customer payment terms and supplier credit days alongside your monthly cost of goods sold. This calculator shows how many days your cash is tied up in the working capital cycle and the pound value of the funding gap that creates — so you can judge whether short-term finance makes sense.
Example. The starting figures below are a made-up example company. Replace them with your own — nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.
Average days from paying for stock to selling it. Enter 0 if you carry no stock.
Average days from raising an invoice to receiving payment. Common terms: 14, 21, 30, 60.
Average days your suppliers allow before payment is due. The longer, the better for your cash.
Materials, bought-in stock and direct production costs — not overheads or wages.
Stock turnover
Receivables
Payables (offset)
- Working capital cycle
- 55 days
- Cash tied up in cycle
- £14,666.67
- Credicorp facility
- £500
- Weekly repayment
- £71.72
Your working capital gap exceeds our single facility limit, but a Credicorp Business Loan can bridge the immediate cash shortfall — covering the first portion of your cycle while you manage the remainder through supplier terms or staged draws.
How the calculation works
- Working capital cycle (days) = receivables days + stock turnover days − payables days. It measures the number of days from paying for your inputs to collecting cash from your customers.
- Cash requirement (£) = (monthly cost of goods ÷ 30) × working capital cycle. This is the pound value of the gap — the cash you need committed at any point to keep trading at your current rate.
- Payables terms are your natural offset: every extra day a supplier gives you reduces the cycle by one day and cuts your cash requirement proportionally. Negotiating longer terms is the cheapest working capital lever.
- This calculator uses steady-state averages. Your actual requirement will vary seasonally and by individual counterparty. An underwriter looks at bank statements and filed accounts, not typed averages.
Common questions
- What is working capital and why does it matter?
- Working capital is the cash a trading business needs to fund the gap between paying for its inputs and collecting from its customers. Even a profitable business can run short of cash if that gap is large and the cycle is slow — a classic cause of SME insolvency. Knowing your cycle in days is the first step to managing it.
- Can a Credicorp loan actually improve my working capital position?
- A short-term facility bridges a timing gap — for example, covering a stock purchase before the invoice you raised last month is paid. It does not change your underlying cycle; only extending payables terms or shortening receivables does that. Use it for the immediate squeeze, then pursue the structural fix.
- What if my payables days are longer than my stock plus receivables days?
- A negative working capital cycle means your suppliers are effectively financing your stock and part of your debtor book. That is a strong position — you collect cash before your payments fall due. Many successful retailers operate this way. No external working capital finance is needed in this scenario.
- Does running this calculation affect my credit file?
- No. This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data you enter is transmitted, stored or connected to your company. There is no search of any kind, soft or hard.
Gap identified — ready to bridge it?
See the exact cost of a Credicorp Business Loan, every pound itemised, before you apply. No sign-up, no credit check on the calculator.