Advanced Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Course – Geneva, 21 Dec 2026 – 1 Jan 2027

Advanced Cash Flow and Working Capital Management is a 2-week training course for finance managers, FP&A leads and credit controllers who decide how much cash is tied up in receivables, stock and supplier terms, and it closes with each participant drafting a Working Capital Release Plan. Rising funding costs and stretched supply chains make every day of unpaid invoices or idle inventory a direct drain on liquidity. Jupiter Prime Training runs this course for finance professionals who own the cash conversion cycle.

Why Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Matters Now

Three forces push cash flow and working capital management up the finance agenda. Higher borrowing costs mean cash locked in debtors and warehouses now carries a visible interest charge. Customers and suppliers renegotiate terms more aggressively, so commercial teams can quietly erode cash without finance noticing. Lenders and investors increasingly read operating cash flow, not profit, as the test of earnings quality. A business that steers these forces releases cash to fund growth internally; one that ignores them reports profits while its bank balance shrinks. The course rests on the cash conversion cycle, days sales outstanding, days inventory outstanding and days payables outstanding as linked measures.

Who Gains Most from Cash Flow and Working Capital Management

• Specialists who set credit limits, payment terms and collection escalation for customer accounts
• Planners who model inventory levels, safety stock and reorder points against service targets
• Analysts who build cash flow bridges and explain variance between profit and operating cash
• Practitioners who negotiate supplier terms and run early payment or reverse factoring schemes
• Controllers who report working capital metrics and targets to executive committees

A business unit gains most when finance, sales operations and procurement leads attend together, because each controls one side of the cash conversion cycle and none can release cash alone.

Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Capabilities

These outcomes turn the balance sheet lines for debtors, stock and creditors into levers with owners, targets and measured cash effects.

• Calculate the cash conversion cycle by business unit, customer segment and product family — the chief financial officer
• Design a credit and collections strategy with segmented dunning and dispute resolution — sales directors and credit committees
• Specify inventory policies that balance service levels against stock holding cost — supply chain and operations heads
• Weigh supplier term extensions against supply chain finance and early payment discounts — procurement and key suppliers
• Build an indirect cash flow bridge linking profit, working capital movements and capital expenditure — lenders and investors
• Test cash release targets against sales growth and seasonality — the executive committee

Key Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Terms

• Cash conversion cycle — the number of days between paying suppliers for inputs and collecting cash from customers for the resulting sales.
• Days sales outstanding — the average number of days customers take to pay invoices, measured against credit sales.
• Days inventory outstanding — the average number of days stock is held before it is sold or consumed.
• Days payables outstanding — the average number of days a business takes to pay its suppliers.
• Reverse factoring — a buyer-led arrangement where a funder pays approved supplier invoices early, priced on the buyer's credit standing.
• Free cash flow — operating cash flow after capital expenditure, available for debt service, dividends or reinvestment.

Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Day by Day

Day 1: Cash Versus Profit

• Indirect Cash Flow Statement Reading — Where Profit Turns Into Cash
• Earnings Quality Signals — Accruals, Provisions and Cash Gaps
• Working Capital Intensity Benchmarks — Sector Comparison of Capital Tied Up
• Cost of Capital Tied Up — Interest Charge on Idle Balances
• Stakeholder Map of the Cycle — Sales, Operations and Procurement Ownership

Day 2: Cash Conversion Cycle Diagnostics

• DSO, DIO and DPO Calculation Methods — Consistent Measurement Across Units
• Count-Back and Average Methods — Choosing the Fair Metric
• Segmentation by Customer and Product — Locating Trapped Cash
• Cycle Trend Decomposition — Volume, Mix and Terms Effects
• Working Capital Heat Map — Prioritising Release Opportunities

Day 3: Credit Policy and Customer Terms

• Credit Scoring Models — Limits for New and Existing Customers
• Payment Terms Architecture — Standard, Negotiated and Exception Terms
• Credit Insurance and Security — Protecting High-Exposure Accounts
• Order-to-Cash Process Mapping — Invoice Accuracy and Billing Delays
• Commercial Incentives Alignment — Sales Bonuses Linked to Collected Revenue

Day 4: Collections and Dispute Resolution

• Segmented Dunning Strategies — Contact Cadence by Risk Tier
• Dispute Root-Cause Logs — Pricing, Delivery and Documentation Errors
• Collector Performance Dashboards — Promise-to-Pay Tracking
• Bad Debt Provisioning Methods — Expected Loss on Aged Balances
• Receivables Finance Options — Factoring and Invoice Discounting Trade-Offs

Day 5: Inventory Optimisation

• ABC and XYZ Classification — Value and Demand Variability Segments
• Safety Stock Calculation — Service Level Versus Holding Cost
• Economic Order Quantity and Reorder Points — Replenishment Rules
• Slow-Moving and Obsolete Stock Reviews — Write-Down and Disposal Decisions
• Consignment and Vendor-Managed Inventory — Shifting Stock Ownership

Day 6: Payables and Procure-to-Pay

• Supplier Segmentation — Strategic, Leverage and Routine Vendors
• Payment Term Harmonisation — Removing Early and Off-Contract Payments
• Early Payment Discount Evaluation — Annualised Return Comparison
• Payment Run Discipline — Scheduled Batches and Approval Cut-Offs
• Supplier Health Monitoring — Avoiding Supply Disruption From Stretched Terms

Day 7: Supply Chain Finance

• Reverse Factoring Programmes — Buyer, Supplier and Funder Economics
• Dynamic Discounting — Self-Funded Early Payment Options
• Inventory Finance Structures — Borrowing Against Stock Positions
• Accounting and Disclosure Considerations — Debt Reclassification Risk
• Platform Selection Criteria — Onboarding Suppliers in Construction and Retail

Day 8: Rolling Cash Flow Forecasts

• Driver-Based Forecast Models — Linking Sales Volume to Cash Movements
• Working Capital Days Assumptions — Translating Targets Into Balances
• Rolling Forecast Cadence — Monthly Reforecast and Horizon Extension
• Scenario Modelling — Growth, Downturn and Supplier Shock Cases
• Forecast-to-Actual Reconciliation — Learning From Cash Surprises

Day 9: Targets, Incentives and Reporting

• Cash Release Target Setting — Top-Down Ambition Versus Bottom-Up Evidence
• Working Capital Scorecards — Unit-Level Accountability Metrics
• Incentive Plan Redesign — Rewarding Cash Alongside Profit
• Board Reporting Packs — Free Cash Flow and Cycle Trends
• Sustaining Routines — Monthly Working Capital Councils

Day 10: Practising the Working Capital Release Plan

• Cycle Diagnostic Rehearsal — Applying Segmentation to a Distributor
• Collections Redesign Case — Applying Dunning Tiers to a Contractor
• Inventory Policy Exercise — Applying Safety Stock Rules to a Manufacturer
• Forecast Scenario Run — Applying Driver Models to Release Targets
• Working Capital Release Plan — Levers, Owners, Targets and Milestones

Applying Cash Flow and Working Capital Management After the Course

• Produce a working capital heat map by business unit and present the three largest cash release opportunities to the finance director.
• Pilot segmented dunning on the highest-risk customer tier and track promise-to-pay outcomes and days sales outstanding over the following month.

Cash Flow and Working Capital Management Questions (FAQ)

What is advanced cash flow and working capital management and why does it matter now?

Advanced cash flow and working capital management is the discipline of releasing cash tied up in receivables, inventory and payables. It matters now because higher funding costs make every idle day of stock or unpaid invoices a direct charge on liquidity.

Which roles gain most from advanced cash flow and working capital management training?

Finance managers, FP&A leads and credit controllers gain most. Credit specialists sharpen terms and collections, planners refine stock policies, and analysts connect profit to cash so executives see where liquidity is trapped.

How does advanced cash flow and working capital management differ from a treasury course?

Advanced cash flow and working capital management works upstream of the bank account. A treasury course positions, pools and invests cash already collected, while this course changes the customer, inventory and supplier decisions that determine how much cash arrives in the first place.

What do you bring back from advanced cash flow and working capital management training?

You bring back a structured release plan with levers, owners and cash targets. You also return with diagnostic templates for the cash conversion cycle, segmented collections and inventory policies that your finance function can deploy immediately.

Cash Flow and Working Capital Management: The Way Forward

The Working Capital Release Plan names each lever, its owner and the cash it should free. Its first use is the next budget cycle, where the finance director and unit heads agree days targets for debtors, stock and creditors. Revisit its supplier assumptions after one quarter, when real payment behaviour shows whether extended terms strained key vendors.