Budgeted time / actual time
The budget sets a reference in hours, expenses or value. Actuals are the time, expenses and progress recorded. The variance shows over- or under-consumption; it is neither an invoice nor a receivable.
Work → invoice → payment
Reduce unbilled work and cash tied up.
In service businesses, cash is tied up before invoicing in work in progress and work waiting to be billed, then after invoicing in trade receivables. Tempolia connects actual time and expenses, budgets, the commercial value of work, invoiced amounts, aged receivables and matched payments so that each delay can be managed.
Budget versus actualWork value and invoicingReceivables and payments
Before the invoice + after the invoice Two waiting periods to measure separately.
71.6 daystrade receivables, French information and communication sectorBanque de France, excluding micro-firms
Tempolia terminology
From budgeted time to matched payment: six values that are not interchangeable.
These concepts describe different stages. Reconciling them explains variances; adding them without a valuation rule creates a misleading metric.
Commercial value of work / invoiced amount
The commercial value applies agreed selling rates or rules to actual time and expenses. The invoiced amount is the value included in invoices actually issued. A management value is not automatically recognised revenue.
Recovery variance — boni-mali
In Tempolia, boni-mali compares net fees invoiced with the commercial value of actual time and expenses. It explains a billing variance; it measures neither economic margin nor payment.
Work waiting to be billed
An operational view of work performed and valued but not yet included in an issued invoice. Its scope should distinguish what is billable now, what awaits a milestone and what still needs approval.
Accrued income / invoices to be issued
French account 4181 records income attributable to the period for which an invoice has not yet been issued. An open timesheet, an unfinished engagement or all unbilled operational work does not automatically qualify.
Receivables, ageing and receivables days
Once recognised, receivables are amounts owed by customers. Ageing separates not-yet-due and overdue balances. Receivables days express a balance in days of revenue; they are not the same as days overdue.
The Tempolia sequence: budget → actual time and expenses → commercial value of work → billable items → invoice issued → not-yet-due or overdue receivable → payment received and matched.
End-to-end management
Measure what happens before and after invoicing separately.
Receivables days alone cannot isolate the waiting time before invoicing. Tempolia separates the operational stages without presenting their sum as a standard accounting ratio.
Actual time, expenses and progress
Activity recorded against the correct customer, engagement and period.
Control: entry delay and budget varianceWork waiting to be billed
Performed value awaiting approval, evidence, a milestone or preparation.
Control: value, age and reasonInvoices and trade receivables
Issued invoices that are not yet due, overdue, disputed or promised for payment.
Control: receivables days and ageingPayments received and matched
Cash receipts reconciled with the bank and matched to the correct invoices.
Control: payment-matching timeOperating needs
Work in progress + trade receivablesOperating resources
Customer advances receivedSimplified service funding requirement
Operating needs − resources already receivedEstablished reference: this simplified view follows the professional-services example in the Bpifrance Création 2026 guide. Its work in progress represents costs funded before invoicing. Tempolia’s commercial selling value of work answers a different management question.
If you track elapsed time from work to payment: define it as an internal event-based measure between a documented trigger — completion, approval or milestone — and payment for the same work. It is not a statutory or standardised accounting ratio.
From management to accounting
Commercial work value, work in progress and accrued income are not synonyms.
A management dashboard, the French chart of accounts and IFRS 15 use different measurement bases and recognition criteria. Sound management reconciles them instead of assuming they are equal.
Commercial value of work waiting to be billed
Time, expenses, fixed fees, quantities or milestones valued using a management rule: selling rate, contractual rate or expected amount. This view supports invoice preparation, recovery-variance analysis and budget review.
Service work in progress
Class 34 covers service work in progress; account 345 is used for services in progress. The accounting value is based on production cost, including direct labour and a systematic allocation of production overheads.
French chart of accounts 2026 — ANCCustomers — invoices to be issued
Account 4181 records income attributable to the period but not yet invoiced. Depending on the accounting scope, it may form part of “trade receivables and related accounts”; it must not then be counted again as unbilled work.
Accounts 418 and 4181 — ANCContract asset or receivable
A contract asset is a right to consideration still conditional on something other than the passage of time. A receivable is an unconditional right. “Unbilled” alone does not determine the classification.
IFRS 15 — IFRS FoundationSound practice: build a documented bridge between commercial work value, cost-valued work in progress, accrued income, issued invoices, deferred income, advances, receivables and matched payments. A value should occupy only one state on the measurement date.
Turn completed work into an invoice without losing context.
The engagement lead and billing team check completed items, the reached milestone and supporting evidence before issue.
Seven control points
Every delay needs a reason, an owner and a next action.
Fast invoicing does not begin with the Issue button. The contract, activity capture, evidence of completion and invoice quality already influence the likely payment date.
Make the engagement billable before work starts
Contracting entity, scope, rates, cadence, milestones, purchase order, acceptance evidence, portal, billing contact and payment terms must be known. Agreed billing instructions prevent completed work from waiting for administrative clarification.
- Measure
- Engagements with complete instructions; missing purchase orders
- In Tempolia
- Customers, engagements, budgets, rates, schedules and connected documents
Record work close to when it is performed
Promptly recorded time, expenses, quantities, deliverables and milestones make value visible. Late entry delays invoicing, weakens evidence and increases the risk of omission or dispute.
- Measure
- Median entry delay; percentage entered within seven days; completeness; unapproved expenses
- In Tempolia
- Calendar, grid, timer, mobile, OCR and approval workflows
Analyse unbilled work by age and reason
Every item needs a customer, engagement, date, owner and reason. The next decision becomes explicit: invoice, complete the evidence, obtain approval, wait for the contractual milestone or correct the valuation.
- Measure
- Value; 30/60/90-day buckets; completion-to-invoice time; recovery variance
- In Tempolia
- Budgets, actuals, commercial work value, invoiced amounts and amount left to bill
Submit an invoice accepted the first time
Customer references, VAT, rates, descriptions, period, supporting documents and submission address should be checked before first delivery. A rejected invoice creates rework and delays processing by the customer.
- Measure
- First-time acceptance rate; rejection rate; preparation-to-approval time
- In Tempolia
- Preparation stage, review, templates, attachments, PDF and Factur-X
Issue at the agreed trigger and retain delivery evidence
Completion, acceptance, contractual milestone and issue dates must remain distinct. The correct channel and submission statuses show that the invoice entered the expected process.
- Measure
- Completion-to-issue time; same-day submission; portal rejections
- In Tempolia
- Issue, delivery, e-invoicing, statuses and due dates
Manage receivables before and after the due date
Receivables days combine agreed terms and late payment. Ageing separates balances not yet due from overdue balances; disputes, payment promises and reminders need an owner and a next-action date.
- Measure
- Receivables days (DSO); overdue value; days overdue; dispute age
- In Tempolia
- Aged receivables, due-date schedules, reminders, direct debits and balances
Record and match payments
A payment received but not matched leaves an invoice open and corrupts reminder lists. Matching closes the loop; analysis of rejections, bad debt and billing variances then feeds back into contracts, budgets and invoice preparation.
- Measure
- Payment-matching time; unmatched payments; bad debt; billing variances
- In Tempolia
- Bank flows, payments, matching, SEPA rejections and accounting exports
Share the status before taking the next action.
Finance and the client team qualify the hold-up, assign an owner and set a follow-up date.
Management metrics
Nine measures that show where to act, from time entry to payment matching.
A budget overrun, work waiting for its invoice, a rejected invoice and an overdue receivable have neither the same cause nor the same owner. Track these measures by engagement, customer and period to locate value tied up, prioritise action and verify the result. The dictionary below gives the specialist equivalents found in benchmarks.
- Actual versus budgeted time
- Actual hours − budgeted hours, in volume and percentage. Read it alongside progress and work remaining so that overrun is not confused with work performed ahead of plan.
- Recovery variance — boni-mali
- Net fees invoiced − commercial value of actual time and expenses. This explains the variance between valued work and invoicing; economic margin uses cost instead.
- Work waiting to be billed
- Value of performed and valued items absent from issued invoices, analysed by engagement, age and reason. Tracking it separates work that can be billed now from work awaiting evidence, approval or a contractual milestone.
- Time to invoice
- Issue date − defined trigger date: completion, approval, period end or milestone. It is an internal event-based measure, not a standard accounting ratio.
- Receivables days — DSO
- Under the Banque de France method: trade receivables and related accounts ÷ VAT-inclusive revenue × 360. This balance-sheet ratio combines contractual terms and lateness and may include accrued income, depending on scope.
- Aged receivables
- Receivables split between not yet due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and more than 90 days overdue. Ageing should start from the due date, not merely the invoice date.
- First-time invoice acceptance
- Invoices accepted without correction ÷ invoices submitted for the first time. It measures preparation quality before customer payment behaviour has any effect.
- Invoice-cohort collection rate
- Amount collected ÷ amount invoiced for the same set of invoices issued during a period. Following the same cohort avoids comparing this month’s receipts with unrelated invoices.
- Payment-matching time
- Matching date − payment receipt date. A long delay does not slow the bank transfer, but it keeps invoices artificially open and degrades reminder accuracy.
Method rule: keep definitions stable and document net or gross basis, 360 or 365 days, closing or average balances. Never add work valued at selling price, work in progress valued at cost and receivables days that already include the same accrued income.
Specialist KPI dictionary
Indicators and how to use them
These labels are useful when reading international studies or group reporting. They are not all standardised and they are not all suitable for day-to-day management. Each definition below links them back to the plain measures used above.
- WIP / unbilled work
- Work in Progress can mean unfinished work, cost-valued accounting WIP or, in professional firms, unbilled time and expenses. On this page its operational equivalent is work waiting to be billed. Accounting WIP and accrued income remain distinct concepts.
- WIP days / DWO / DUO
- WIP days means Work in Progress days. These ratios divide a closing balance — or an average balance under another convention — of unbilled work by a documented daily flow. DWO (Days WIP Outstanding) and DUO (Days Unbilled Outstanding) are neither standardised nor always interchangeable. They are stock-to-flow equivalents, not necessarily the event-based time to invoice.
- A/R days / DSO / debtor days
- A/R means Accounts Receivable, and DSO means Days Sales Outstanding. This family of ratios expresses trade receivables in days of sales, corresponding broadly to receivables days. Comparison requires a fixed convention for closing or average balances, net or gross tax, total or credit sales, 360 or 365 days, advances, and accrued income.
- BPDSO
- Best Possible DSO = closing not-yet-due receivables ÷ credit sales × days. It estimates the theoretical DSO if every customer paid on the due date, given the mix of terms granted. It uses the not-yet-due portion of aged receivables.
- ADD
- Average Days Delinquent = DSO − BPDSO on identical bases. It is a derived indicator of average overdue days, not an invoice-by-invoice average. Seasonality and early payments can distort it; a negative result calls for a basis check.
- CEI
- Collection Effectiveness Index = (opening receivables + credit sales − closing total receivables) ÷ (opening receivables + credit sales − closing not-yet-due receivables) × 100. Credits, write-offs, foreign-exchange effects or reclassifications can reduce receivables without producing cash and must be neutralised or documented.
- Billing realization / recovery
- Billing realization = net amount billed ÷ billable value × 100. Tempolia's recovery variance or boni-mali is its amount counterpart: billed value − commercial work value. A collection rate divides cash collected by billed value; it is a different KPI. Recovery can mean either one, depending on the source.
- First-pass yield / first-time-right
- A generic quality measure: conforming units requiring no rework ÷ units entering the process. For invoices, define the acceptance point — internal check, portal or customer. APQC reports a 92% median across 2,342 organisations for invoices processed error-free the first time; that scope is not automatically comparable with customer rejections.
- Revenue leakage
- The share of earned revenue that has become permanently unbillable, for example through omitted time, an incorrect rate or a defective statement of work. Recoverable WIP, a correctable rejection, an authorised discount and a receivable that later becomes bad debt should not automatically be combined under this label.
- Cash application / unapplied cash
- Cash application allocates a recorded receipt to an open invoice or receivable; unapplied cash is a receipt not yet allocated. Bank reconciliation, customer-level application and accounting matching are related but distinct stages.
- Lock-up / total lock-up
- In some professional-firm studies, lock-up = WIP days + debtor days: an equivalent number of revenue days tied up, not necessarily the elapsed time for the same work item. Actual elapsed time requires cohort analysis. It is not a universal accounting standard and this page uses it only when citing a source.
- O2C / Q2C / work-to-cash
- Order-to-Cash starts at the order. Quote-to-Cash starts with configuration, pricing and quoting, then covers contract, fulfilment, billing, collection and cash application. Work-to-cash starts at performed work. Tempolia's scope here is deliberately work → invoice → payment.
- CCC / DIO / DPO
- Cash Conversion Cycle = Days Inventory Outstanding + Days Sales Outstanding − Days Payables Outstanding. DIO normally uses cost-valued inventory and daily cost of sales; DPO uses payables and purchases or costs. For a service business without accounting inventory, DIO may be zero or irrelevant: CCC does not replace unbilled-work analysis.
Calculation contract: for every acronym, document numerator, denominator, closing or average balance, net or gross tax, total or credit sales, 360 or 365 days, start and end dates, accrued income, advances, credits and write-offs. Similar names never guarantee identical definitions.
Documented benchmarks
Reference points for better questions, never a universal target.
Country, size, customer mix, billing frequency and statistical method materially change the result. Each figure below retains its source population, definition and terminology.
| Population | Measure | Value | Interpretation and scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal practices — Clio 2025 | Recorded work → payment | 93 days | The source separates time before invoicing from collection time. Component medians must not be added to reconstruct the reported overall median. Clio |
| UK accountancy firms — NatWest 2024 | WIP days + debtor days | 105 days | Median revenue-day equivalent for the source’s “total lock-up” metric, not an engagement-level elapsed duration. The pre-invoice phase was 26 days for smaller firms and 41 for larger firms; receivables were 66 and 65 days. NatWest |
| Global professional services — SPI 2025 | Receivables / revenue lost / invoice rework | 43.3 d / 5.3% / 2.1% | 403 organisations, 2024 performance; the study uses DSO, revenue leakage and invoice rework. Architecture and engineering receivables were 59.7 days. SPI report |
| French consulting and business services | Trade receivables | 64.4 days | 57.3 supplier days and a trade credit balance of 39.6 revenue days. |
| France — all firms excluding micro-firms, 2024 | Trade receivables | 41.7 days | Unweighted mean of company-level ratios, closing receivables expressed in days of revenue. Banque de France |
| French manufacturing | Trade receivables | 43.8 days | Same Banque de France method and 2024 population. |
| French construction | Trade receivables | 59.5 days | The trade credit balance was 27.1 revenue days; it cannot be derived by simply subtracting customer and supplier days. |
| French transport and storage | Trade receivables | 50.5 days | Same method, excluding micro-firms. |
| French information and communication | Trade receivables | 71.6 days | 64.1 supplier days and a trade credit balance of 37.4 revenue days. |
How to read these figures: Banque de France ratios cover balance-sheet trade receivables and related accounts; they do not isolate operational waiting time before invoicing and may include accrued income. SPI, NatWest and Clio use different geographies, populations and definitions. Start with an internal trend on a stable basis, then compare homogeneous segments such as time and materials, fixed fee, subscription or milestone billing.
Convert an order of magnitude into euros
At €3m of revenue, ten revenue days represent about €82k.
Dividing annual revenue by 365 gives a simple order of magnitude. If the combined reduction in work waiting to be billed and receivables represents ten revenue days on a compatible basis, approximately €82k less cash is tied up once the new level is reached.
≈ €82,192less cash tied up in the cycle
- Illustrative annual basis
- €3,000,000
- Order of magnitude per day
- €8,219
- Equivalent reduction
- 10 days
Assumptions: stable activity and mix, comparable bases, before tax and seasonality effects.
This is neither €82k of profit nor a savings promise. Actual cash released is measured from the reduction in unbilled-work and receivables balances, net of changes in advances. Profit improves only where the process also reduces financing cost, bad debt, fee write-offs or administration.
French framework
The law governs due dates; a late invoice still delays practical processing.
The legal starting point depends on the applicable rule and contract. Completion, acceptance, issue, receipt, due date and payment should therefore remain distinct instead of being treated as one clock.
Default period after performance where no other term is agreed, subject to special regimes.
General cap for negotiated B2B terms from the invoice issue date.
Possible alternative when expressly agreed and not manifestly abusive.
The French DGCCRF also sets out late-payment interest, fixed recovery compensation and sector exceptions. The Payment Terms Observatory recommends agreeing billing, payment and service-acceptance expectations at the start of the relationship. Average French late payment reached 13.6 days beyond due date in Q4 2024; that delay must be distinguished from contractual terms and time to invoice.
Frequently asked questions
The distinctions that prevent false diagnoses.
Why is working capital not enough?
Working capital measures a funding need at a reporting date. It does not show whether the need comes from late time entry, work waiting to be billed, contractual terms, payment beyond due date or unmatched cash. Tempolia makes these stages visible separately.
Why are receivables days or DSO not enough?
Receivables days are a ratio based on receivables and revenue. They cannot, by themselves, isolate operational work still waiting for an invoice. They also combine contractual terms and lateness; depending on the accounting scope, related accounts may include accrued income.
Does work waiting to be billed equal French accounts 345 or 4181?
Not necessarily. Account 345 records services in progress valued at production cost; 4181 concerns income attributable to the period for which an invoice remains to be issued. Tempolia’s commercial work value supports management and may use another basis. A documented bridge explains the differences.
Why not create one overall metric?
A sum is reliable only when valuation bases, periods, denominators and transitions are compatible and no amount — particularly accrued income — appears twice. The page therefore favours separate measures. Elapsed work-to-payment time can be tracked internally for the same cohort, but it must be defined as such.
What target should apply from work to payment?
There is no universal target. Establish a stable baseline, segment by contract, customer type and billing cadence, then compare like-for-like trends and teams. Fixed-fee, subscription and milestone work should not be forced into one undifferentiated target.
Does a faster cycle increase profit?
Reducing time before invoicing or payment primarily releases cash. Profit rises only where the process also reduces financing cost, bad debt, fee write-offs, invoicing errors or the administrative cost of rework and disputes.
How do we avoid double counting?
Give every value one status on the measurement date. In particular, check whether French account 418 is already included in the receivables used for the receivables-days ratio. Document the transition between commercial work value, accrued income, issued invoice, receivable and matched payment.
Does Tempolia guarantee faster payment?
No. Software cannot turn a poor payer into a prompt payer. Tempolia makes controllable causes visible and actionable: late entry, omitted items, approval queues, incomplete invoices, unmonitored due dates, ownerless disputes, untracked reminders and unmatched payments.
Sources
- Bpifrance Création — working-capital requirement and its 2026 business creation guide — operating cycle, work in progress, receivables and customer advances in professional services.
- Banque de France Bulletin 260/5 — 2024 sector receivable periods and FIBEN method, published October 2025.
- 2024 French Payment Terms Observatory report — post-due delays and operational levers, July 2025.
- French Accounting Standards Authority, PCG 2026 — accounts 34, 345, 418 and 4181 and production-cost rules.
- IFRS Foundation, IFRS 15 — contract asset and receivable distinction.
- SPI Professional Services Benchmark 2025 — 403 organisations, receivables days, invoice rework and reported revenue loss.
- NatWest Accountancy 2024 and Clio Legal Trends 2025 — UK and legal-practice benchmarks, not French targets.
- NACM — Quick Formulas for DSO, BPDSO, ADD and CEI; Deltek — Days Outstanding Metrics for one documented DWO convention.
- APQC — invoices processed error-free the first time; Oracle Receivables for applied, unapplied, unidentified and on-account cash.
- Salesforce — Quote-to-Cash; Oracle — Cash-to-Cash Cycle for CCC, DIO/DSI, DSO and DPO.
Turn each delay into a managed action.
The demonstration starts with your billing model and follows a real cycle: budget, actual time and expenses, commercial work value, billable items, issue, due date, payment, matching and reminder.
Documented definitionsReal business caseNo unsupported savings claim