What is the Average Payment Period?
Average payment period refers to the average time period taken by an organization for paying off its dues with respect to purchases of materials that are bought on the credit basis from the suppliers of the company and the same doesn’t necessarily have any sort of impact on the company’s working capital.
Formula of Average Payment Period Ratio
Average Payment Period can be calculated using the below-mentioned formula.
Where,
- Average Accounts Payable = It is calculated by firstly adding the beginning balance of the accounts payable in the company with its ending balance of the accounts payable and then diving by 2.
- Total Credit Purchases = It refers to the total amount of credit purchases made by the company during the period under consideration.
- Days = Number of days in the period. In the case of a year, generally, 360 days are considered.
Example of the Average Payment Period Ratio
Below is an example of the average payment period ratio
During the accounting year 2018, Company A ltd, made the total credit purchases worth $ 1,000,000. For the accounting year 2018, the beginning balance of the accounts payable of the company was $350,000 and the ending balance of the accounts payable of the company was $390,000. Using the information, calculate the Average Payment period of the company. Consider 360 days in a year for the calculation.
Solution
- Beginning balance of the accounts payable of the company: $350,000
- Ending balance of the accounts payable of the company: $390,000
- Total credit purchases during the year: $1,000,000
- A number of days in a period: 360 days.
Now in order to calculate the average payment period, firstly the Average Accounts Payable will be calculated as below:
Average Accounts Payable = (Beginning balance of the accounts payable + Ending balance of the accounts payable) / 2
- = ($350,000 + $390,000) / 2
- = $370,000
Calculation of the Average Payment Period
- = $370,000 / ($1,000,000/ 360)
- = $370,000 / ($1,000,000/ 360)
- = 133.20 days
Thus the average payment period of the company for the accounting year 2018 is 133.20 days.
Advantages of Average Payment Period
Below are some of the advantages which are as follows,
- There are various times when the company makes the purchases in bulk or normally as per its requirement and for the payment against this, credit arrangements facilities as given by the suppliers are used which gives some days period to the buyer for making the payment for the purchase made by them. So, it is helpful in knowing the average number of days taken by the company during the period under consideration to repay back to the suppliers against their dues.
- The calculation of the average payment period by the company can tell about the different information of the company such as the cash flow position of the company and its creditworthiness etc which is useful for many of the stakeholders of the company specially the investors, creditors, management, and the analysts, etc to make the informed decision with respect to the company.
Disadvantages of Average Payment Period
Below are some of the disadvantages which are as follows,
- The average payment period calculation only considers the financial figures and ignores the non-financial aspects such as the relationship of the company with its customers which may be useful for the analysis of the creditworthiness of the company by its stakeholders.
- The information on the average payment period is useful for the business, but at the same time, it is not sufficient in order to make the decision about the matters of cash management and credit worthiness of the company. For this other information such as the average collection period and inventory processing period, etc are also required.
Important Points
The different important points related to the Average Payment period are as follows:
- In order to calculate the average payment period of the company, first of all, the figures pertaining to the average accounts payable by the company is required. This information is present in the balance sheet of the company under the head current liabilities.
- In case the payment period calculated is short, then it shows that the company is doing the prompt payment to its customers. On the other hand, if the payment period calculated is large, then it shows that the company is no making the prompt payment to its customers. However, if the payment period is very short, then it shows that the company is not able to take full advantage of the facility of credit terms as allowed by the suppliers of the company.
- Many times, discounts are offered by the suppliers to the companies who make the early payment against their dues. For this, managers of the company try to make the due payments promptly in order to avail the facility of such a discount as offered by the suppliers. In case the facility of discount is available, then the amount of discount given and benefit of credit length offered should be compared in order to choose between the two.
Conclusion
Average Payment Period is one of the important solvency ratios of the company and helps a company track and know its ability to pay the amount payable to its creditors. It also tells about the different information of the company such as the cash flow position of the company and its creditworthiness etc which is useful for many of the stakeholders of the company especially the investors, creditors, management, and the analysts, etc to make the informed decision with respect to the company.
However, its calculation only considers the financial figures and ignores the non-financial aspects such as the relationship of the company with its customers.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to the Average Payment Period. Here we discuss how to calculate the average payment period ratio along with an example, advantages, and disadvantages. You can learn more about accounting from following articles –
- Accounts Payable Cycle Definition
- Examples of Accounts Payable
- Credit Sales Definition
- Accounts Payable Credit or Debit?
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