Who finances the client?

Ten people work at the client, wages run on the 15th of the following month, the client pays 45 days after invoice, and usually ten days later. Until then you finance them. This page says with how much. No sign-up. The link is the calculation.

One client, one month

What this client puts on the invoice per month, and what you pay out in the same month, long before their money arrives.¹

The client

Employees at the client heads

How many work at this client.

Avg. billing rate €/h

What is on the invoice.

Avg. gross wage €/h

Without on-costs, which are below.

Invoicing

Twice a month brings half the money in two weeks earlier.

When the money flows

Payment term days

What the framework contract says.

Actual delay days

What they take on top of that.

Wages paid on of the following month

The day the money goes out.²

Overdraft interest % p.a.

What the overdraft costs.

Invoice to the client monatlich, money after 55 days: €58,240
− Wages due on the 15. of the following month: €34,800
− Payroll on-costs due at month end: €7,656
Payout per month: €42,456

Six months on the account

Calendar day by calendar day, with real month lengths: the on-costs at month end, the wages on payday, the client's money when it comes. The area below the zero line is what you lay out.³

Balance from this client
in the red: you lay out

Lowest point: €84,912 on day 74

Tag 74 Month 3 Saldo: − €84,912

This client permanently ties up €37,560, at peak €84,912. At 9 % overdraft interest that costs you €3,380.40 a year, and factoring pays off up to a fee of 0.48 % of revenue.⁴

The lever on the payment term: Every day of payment term ties up about €1,914.74, one day's revenue of this client.
The limit for factoring: Up to a fee of 0.48 % of revenue you save more interest than factoring costs.

The same situation with other payment terms, at the same delay:

Payment term	Permanently tied up	Interest per year
14 days	€0	€0
30 days	€2,760	€248.40
45 days · set	€37,560	€3,380.40
60 days	€61,000	€5,490
90 days	€119,240	€10,731.60

Adjust assumptions

The same keys and presets as in the assignment calculator: a link from there brings its assumptions along. Approximations common in the industry, not collective-agreement values.

Weekly hours h

Payroll on-costs %

Vacation days per year days

Sick days days

Public holidays on weekdays days

This gives 174 paid hours per head and month, of which 79.7 % billable.

alluvo knows the payment term of every framework contract and every open invoice; the curve there comes from the real documents, not from a form.

See the product Get to know alluvo

Footnotes

How it is calculated: it works in calendar days, not working days; a payment term of 45 days is something different in January than in February. The simulation runs over six service months with real month lengths from a fixed start month (1 January). The date is a convention, not a forecast: the shape of the curve counts, which is why the axis carries month numbers, not month names. Revenue per month = employees × billable hours × billing rate; billable are the 261 working days of a year minus vacation, sickness and public holidays, the same assumption as in the assignment calculator. ↩
Simplifications: payroll on-costs fall due on the last day of the service month, wages on the set payday of the following month. No VAT (it is a pass-through item but shifts liquidity additionally), no early-payment discounts, no part payments, no defaults. In reality social security contributions and payroll taxes follow their own due dates, which differ by country; that shifts the curve by a few days, not the order of magnitude. ↩
Peak requirement is the lowest point over the six months: that much money has to be up front before the first payment arrives. Permanently tied up is the lowest point in the sixth month, when inflows and outflows have settled, which is the amount that constantly sits in the client and that the bank charges interest on. The wages of the sixth month only go out in the seventh and are therefore no longer in the curve. ↩
The factoring limit compares only two numbers: the interest on the tied-up capital and the fee as a percentage of annual revenue. Everything else that makes up factoring (credit-default cover, receivables accounting, the effect on the balance sheet, the client's view of the sale of receivables) is not in this calculation. Factoring usually brings liquidity in one to two days; from invoice to receipt of money it then becomes about two days instead of the set waiting time. A back-of-the-envelope calculation for a conversation, not tax or legal advice. ↩