Longer DPO releases cash, and companies under cash pressure often stretch it deliberately. That is a one-off benefit: once terms settle at the new level, the cash flow help stops, and the supply chain has become more fragile.
Watch for supply chain finance disclosures. If a bank pays suppliers early and the company settles later, the extension is really borrowing and belongs alongside total-debt in any honest leverage calculation.
Example: Northwind Tools takes 115 days to pay against $470M of COGS, up from 78 two years ago. The extension released roughly $48M of one-off cash that will not repeat.
Related: accounts-payable, cash-conversion-cycle, operating-cash-flow, off-balance-sheet, earnings-quality