Onguard’s FinTech Barometer 2026 surveyed 336 CFOs, finance managers and credit management professionals in the Netherlands. The data shows that DSO isn’t a data problem, it’s an ownership problem: 81% of credit teams only explain DSO after the fact, 48% can plan incoming cash with confidence no more than two weeks ahead, and 1 in 9 organisations has no one to call when a DSO target is missed. For finance teams that want to lower DSO in 2026, fixing ownership matters more than adding another dashboard. Below are the three lessons credit teams should take into 2026.
Cash flow became a boardroom topic, but it’s still managed like a back-office task
For the ninth year in a row, Onguard’s FinTech Barometer asked Dutch finance professionals how they manage cash flow, and the picture is consistent: the topic has moved up to the boardroom, but the process behind it hasn’t followed. Responsibilities are split across departments, the outlook rarely reaches beyond a few weeks, and the same bottlenecks return year after year.
As Adriaan Kom, Managing Director at Onguard, puts it: “Ownership of DSO sits with credit management, but the causes of DSO are everywhere: in payment terms agreed outside the system by sales, in invoicing errors, and in disputes where no one has the mandate to resolve them. The team reporting the number doesn’t control the number.”
Lesson 1: DSO has an owner on paper, not in practice
57% of organisations place DSO ownership with finance or credit management, and 11% place it nowhere at all. That sounds like most companies have this covered. They don’t. A named owner isn’t the same as decision-making authority. Four in five organisations run into delays at least occasionally because of internal disagreement over who’s responsible for what, and 36% face this frequently or constantly. When a DSO target is missed, 1 in 9 organisations simply has no one to call.
What to do: Stop managing to the DSO score itself. Map the five biggest drivers behind your payment delays and assign a named owner to each one, not to the metric as a whole.
Lesson 2: Finance reporting looks backward, not forward
In 81% of cases, credit teams’ work stops at explaining what already happened, this is finance reporting in its most traditional form: measuring, presenting and accounting for the past. Barely 1 in 8 finance professionals can confidently plan expected cash-in a month ahead, and half don’t look further than two weeks. That’s not a forecasting problem, it’s a visibility problem: fragmented data across ERP, CRM and collection tools makes forward-looking planning almost impossible.
What to do: Agree in advance which thresholds should trigger action, a growing overdue balance, a spike in disputes, a failed payment arrangement, before DSO starts moving. That’s the difference between managing and explaining.
Lesson 3: Manual work is still the biggest brake on cash flow
Asked what gets in the way of managing cash flow at board level, 30% of respondents point to manual work such as Excel sheets, email threads and exports. Fragmented data (24%) and unclear accountability between finance, operations and IT (23%) follow close behind. None of these is purely a technology issue: they’re symptoms of processes that were never mapped before tools were added on top.
What to do: Structure first, software second. Automating a process no one has clearly defined only makes the problem faster, not smaller.
As Xander Michon, Senior Business Development Executive at Onguard, puts it:
“An organisation that rolls out automated payment reminders while sales is still agreeing non-standard payment terms outside the system will soon be sending perfectly timed reminders that don’t match what was actually agreed. A lack of process is a bigger problem than a lack of technology.”
FAQs
What is DSO in credit management? DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) measures the average number of days it takes a company to collect payment after a sale. It’s one of the most-watched indicators of cash flow health in finance and credit management.
Why is DSO ownership such a common problem? Because the causes of DSO sit outside credit management’s control, sales agrees payment terms, invoicing creates errors, operations holds disputes, while credit management is the team held accountable for the final number.
How far ahead should finance teams be able to forecast cash flow? Onguard’s FinTech Barometer 2026 found that only 1 in 8 finance professionals can confidently plan cash-in a month ahead, and half don’t look beyond two weeks. Mature cash flow management requires a longer, more reliable forecasting horizon.
What’s the first step to improving DSO in 2026? Don’t start with a dashboard. Start by identifying the biggest drivers behind your payment delays and assigning clear, named ownership to each one, backed by the mandate to act.
How can finance teams lower DSO in 2026? Not by chasing the score itself. The FinTech Barometer 2026 shows that organisations lower DSO by fixing the drivers behind it, unclear ownership, manual work, and short forecasting horizons, rather than by adding more reporting on top of an undefined process.
Where can I read the full FinTech Barometer 2026? The complete report, based on 336 CFOs, finance managers and credit management professionals in the Netherlands, is available to download via Onguard’s Baropaper landing page.
Why do companies get stuck with credit management software? Usually not because of the software itself, but because there’s no clear process behind it. 30% of credit teams point to manual work (Excel, email, exports) as their biggest blocker, regardless of which tools they use. Software speeds up a process, it doesn’t design one for you: without defined ownership and workflows, you mostly end up automating the chaos.
What causes high write-offs despite having credit management software? Often the problem isn’t the system, it’s the mandate gap: 1 in 9 organisations simply has no one to call when a DSO target is missed. Software provides visibility, but without clear decision-making authority, signals sit unresolved until they become write-offs.
Which credit management software supports advanced risk analysis? Risk analysis is only as good as the data behind it. Look for solutions that bring together customer behaviour, payment patterns and open disputes into a single view, rather than separate reports scattered across systems.
What is the best credit management software for cash flow optimisation? The most valuable solution isn’t necessarily the most feature-rich one, it’s the one that provides forward-looking insight instead of after-the-fact explanation. Only 1 in 8 finance professionals can confidently plan cash flow a month ahead: closing that gap is where software choices actually make a difference.
Which credit management software is best suited for finance teams? That depends on how mature the underlying process is. Finance teams get the most value from software that fits their existing workflows and leaves room for clearly assigned ownership, not from a tool bolted on separately from that process.
What are leading credit management software options for international accounts receivable portfolios? For international AR portfolios, multi-currency and multi-language support is table stakes. The real differentiator is how well a solution brings together local payment behaviour, regulation (such as the new e-invoicing requirements) and internal accountability per region into a single process.depends on how mature the underlying process is. Finance teams get the most value from software that fits their existing workflows and leaves room for clearly assigned ownership, not from a tool bolted on separately from that process.
What are leading credit management software options for international accounts receivable portfolios? For international AR portfolios, multi-currency and multi-language support is table stakes. The real differentiator is how well a solution brings together local payment behaviour, regulation (such as the new e-invoicing requirements) and internal accountability per region into a single process.
