Millions are lying dormant in the inventories of many medium-sized companies, as well as in outstanding invoices. How companies strengthen liquidity with inventory and receivables management.
Cologne. Computers, servers and other IT technology were in greater demand during the corona pandemic than ever before. But while demand boomed, global supply chains stalled. The IT service provider Bechtle from Neckarsulm also faced a problem: How could the company reliably supply its customers despite the bottlenecks?
Bechtle increased its inventory. At the same time, outstanding customer receivables increased. More and more money was tied up in ongoing business. In 2022, this so-called working capital reached a high of 976.6 million euros.
It was clear to CEO Thomas Olemotz that something had to change. “Reducing capital commitment was a clearly defined strategic goal,” he says. Bechtle improved its receivables management, optimized warehousing and managed payments to suppliers more specifically. By the end of 2025, working capital fell to 500.5 million euros, a decrease of almost half.
What Bechtle has achieved is causing problems for many other medium-sized companies. Worldwide, more money is tied up in ongoing operations for longer. According to a study by the credit insurer Allianz Trade published in July 2026, it took an average of more than 67 days in 2025 for the money used for goods and services to flow back. In the four years before the corona pandemic, the period for tying up capital was on average around four days shorter.
The situation is also getting worse in Germany. According to a study by the accounting firm Deloitte, the length of time in which money is tied up rose to an average of 65 days in 2024. For companies with sales of less than one billion euros, the capital commitment period increased by nine days.
Above all, the high inventory levels are becoming a problem. This is shown by the working capital study by management consultancy H&Z, which examined 295 companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. For three quarters of those surveyed, the duration of storage increased between 2019 and 2024.
After the bottlenecks of the past few years, many companies increased their inventories in order to be able to continue producing even if supply chains were interrupted. But these precautions are now meeting weaker demand. Goods remain lying around longer and the money tied up in them is not available for investments and other expenses.
This makes it all the more important for medium-sized companies to release unnecessarily tied up funds - also in order to reduce their dependence on bank loans. Given rising interest rates and more difficult credit conditions, this is “often a very important and significant lever for internal financing,” says Philipp Kinzler, partner at Deloitte. Unlike a loan, there are no additional interest payments. This can be particularly advantageous for smaller companies.
The Sport Group, based in Garching near Munich, shows how capital tie-up can be reduced through better organization of processes. The manufacturer of synthetic and artificial turf surfaces regularly coordinates sales forecasts, material procurement and production planning worldwide.
To avoid short-term changes and retooling, the company sets production orders for two weeks at a time. According to its own information, the Sport Group was able to increase productivity by up to 40 percent.
Not all goods always have to be available in the same quantity. Companies should check which items are in particularly high demand and which they rarely sell. For goods that have been in the warehouse for a long time, you can only reorder smaller quantities when there is demand again.
Medium-sized companies can agree shorter payment periods with their customers for larger orders. Incentives for early payment also help: those who pay within ten days, for example, receive a discount. The decisive factor is whether the quicker receipt of money justifies the costs of the discount.
Longer payment periods give companies financial breathing room. An alternative is smaller, more frequent deliveries. This means they have to pre-finance fewer goods. However, you should check whether higher transport costs and the loss of volume discounts will offset the advantage.
Anyone who produces large quantities in stock ties up capital and risks being stuck with goods. Smaller production quantities and closer coordination with customers can ensure that goods spend less time in the warehouse. The prerequisite is that production can be flexibly adjusted.
Three numbers provide important information: How long do goods spend on average in the warehouse? How many days will it take for customers to pay their bills? After how many days do companies pay their suppliers? This information can be used to calculate how long capital remains tied up in ongoing business and needs to be financed.
The company also focuses on warehousing. A digital system shows which goods are currently available and when replenishment is needed. The Sport Group has set minimum and maximum quantities for individual items. The company was able to reduce its inventory of yarns and artificial turf carpets by up to 30 percent.
At the same time, it monitors which customer invoices are still outstanding and when payments to suppliers are due. The data flows into continuously updated liquidity planning. In this way, management can recognize early on when major expenses are due and whether there is enough money for them.
Euronics shows that even a well-filled warehouse can be turned into a financing component. The purchasing cooperative supplies electronics retailers with televisions, refrigerators and other appliances. In order for retailers to receive supplies at any time, they must constantly have large quantities of goods available.
In order to be able to use the capital tied up in it for other purposes, Euronics developed financing with Deutsche Anlagen-Leasing. A company founded specifically for this purpose purchases inventory worth up to a double-digit million amount. Euronics receives the purchase price and can continue to access the goods. Interest and a management fee apply.
But releasing tied up capital is only part of the task. Companies also need to know when money is coming in, what payments are due and how liquidity is developing.
“Many financial managers today cannot reliably say what their liquidity will be in six weeks,” says Max Springer, Germany head of the service provider Agicap, which specializes in cash management. The problem is often not the lack of data. Rather, these are distributed across different systems. This makes reliable planning more difficult.
In addition, many companies do not sufficiently link their short-term liquidity forecast with their medium and long-term financial planning. According to a study by Agicap, 74 percent of finance managers surveyed do not take all three time horizons into account.
In many companies, liquidity management is seen exclusively as the responsibility of the finance department. Departments pursue different interests: Sales want to be able to deliver at any time, purchasing wants to achieve low prices through large orders and production wants to utilize its capacities as best as possible.
What makes sense for a single area can be expensive for the entire company. “The key thing is the integration of purchasing, sales, production and the finance department,” says Deloitte partner Kinzler.
This requires common goals. If purchasing is only measured by the lowest possible purchase prices, this can lead to large orders and unnecessarily high inventory levels.
Good management of working capital therefore begins with an inventory: How long which goods have been in the warehouse, when do customers pay their invoices, and what payment terms do suppliers allow?
Only these figures show where a lot of money is tied up. The departments then have to consider how they can tie up fewer financial resources without affecting ongoing operations.
Artificial intelligence can also help, says Bechtle CEO Olemotz: “Today, AI-supported scoring models help to assess customer risks more well-founded, identify developments at an early stage and make receivables management increasingly predictive instead of purely reactive.”
During the corona pandemic, high inventory levels were an important safeguard for Bechtle against delivery bottlenecks. Today, the IT service provider relies on a close network of manufacturers and distributors in addition to its own supplies. Successful working capital management means reducing the amount of capital tied up without jeopardizing the ability to deliver.
