Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)

CCC combines three working-capital metrics — days inventory outstanding, days sales outstanding, and days payable outstanding — into one figure: how long, in days, cash is tied up in the operating cycle before it comes back in.

A shorter CCC means cash is freed up faster and can be redeployed sooner. Some business models (subscription businesses billed upfront, for instance) can achieve a negative CCC, effectively getting paid before they have to pay their own suppliers.