I can say with some certainty that most of the readers of this blog didn’t wake up this morning hoping that I would write about ways of improving Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).

If you have no idea what I am talking about, you are not alone. Days Sales Outstanding is one of those financial terms that in years past were kept in the background by finance departments but today has become a key metric that matters.

What is Days Sales Outstanding?

Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) is a measure of the average number of days that it takes a business to collect payment for a sale. Typically, a business offers its customer credit terms (how long it takes for them to pay you) which extends the time it takes to collect the cash. DSO is often determined on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that most of the ideas and things shared come from real-world dialogues and experiences either from an Advantexe training program or interviews and research I am conducting as part of the development of new programs.

If you have been through an Advantexe Business Acumen program, or are currently engaged in any Business Acumen learning activities with us, you know that the Q4 End of Year Earnings call is the most important call of the year.

This is the call that provides the actual final data of what just happened during the year and also provides a first look and guidance into the upcoming year. As you listen to your own company earning calls or our own versions of your “Decoding the Earnings Call,” here are 8 key business acumen concepts that you should be listening for:

I openly and transparently admit that Peloton has changed my life and I am addicted to the entire user experience. I think it’s one of the most innovative, unique, and powerful inventions ever. As I think about the innovations in my world, I know I can’t live without my Dell Alienware computer, my Apple iPhone, and my Peloton cycle.

But unlike Apple which as of this writing had a $2.7 trillion market cap, Peloton seems to be in some financial trouble. A little over a year ago, the stock was the darling of Wall Street and hit a high of $163 per share. Today it hit a low of $24.22.

So, what happened?

As a talent development professional who teaches Business Acumen skills, here are 3 things that we teach in our business acumen programs to help participants learn the concepts so they can make the best business decisions back on the job.

As we are reminded every day, everything has changed. It’s been disrupted. From the way we communicate to the way we learn; we are all dealing with the realities of the new normal.

In our new normal, I have been working on many talent development engagements that embrace the many new ways to learn like virtual business simulations, asynchronous content paths, pod projects, whiteboards, Teams rooms, and many other cool and effective ways of learning.

One huge issue that doesn’t seem to be addressed in this new environment is clearly defining the level of accountability of today’s employee in the corporate learning process. In recent times, if you were an employee within a big company and were selected to go to a leadership development program, you would travel to some nice place, eat nice food, sit and a big room and have someone talk at you. You probably took notes, but in general, the instructors did most of the work and your company paid the bill. Now, we have multichannel delivery modes of learning and there seems to be a shift in this dynamic and more pressure on the learner to be accountable for participating and applying their learning.