Study Finds Working Capital Efficiency Unlocks $19M Average Savings for Middle Market Companies

CFOs and treasurers are no longer treating volatility as a threat. They are turning it into a competitive advantage. And the most adaptive finance leaders are using working capital to buy speed when it matters most, paying suppliers early, seizing unplanned growth opportunities and leaving slower rivals behind.

This represents a fundamental shift in how growth corporates, the middle market firms with between $50 million and $1 billion in annual revenue, approach financial strategy, are moving from using working capital to plug gaps to using it to drive growth. Even if those opportunities were not part of their strategic plan.

This is just one of the many insights from the 2025/2026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index, a Visa report in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence that examines how these companies finance growth, manage cash flow, and use new technologies to manage suppliers and improve cash visibility. Now in its third year, the Working Capital Index surveyed 1,457 CFOs and treasurers at growth corporates across 10 industries, five regions and 23 countries.

The Index tracks year-over-year shifts in working capital efficiency, solution adoption rates, including corporate card usage, the expanding role of AI in financial operations, and the strategic outlook for 2026.

The $19 Million Unlock: Where Smart Money Goes

The numbers tell a compelling story.

Four in five firms using working capital solutions reported significant cost savings, averaging $19 million per company. But here’s what separates the top performers from the rest. They’re not just banking these savings, they’re creating a diversified liquidity strategy that builds strategic cash reserves to navigate volatility and create a buffer that allows them to act decisively when markets shift.

They’re also redeploying dollars directly into competitive advantages through faster payments to strategic suppliers to secure better terms and guaranteed inventory access, plus growth investments in hiring and product innovation.

The Rise of the Adaptive CFO

The study finds that this year’s finance leaders are defined less by five-year strategic plans and more by real-time readiness. The data reveals a marked 64% increase since 2023 in “opportunistic” use cases, where CFOs and treasurers deploy solutions for unplanned growth opportunities.

These adaptive leaders are accelerating payments to key suppliers to lock in favorable terms when markets move, buying just-in-time inventory to take advantage of favorable pricing, and using virtual cards as an on-demand working capital solution, with nearly 40% explicitly managing payment timing to extend their competitive advantage in key markets.

This pragmatic posture extends into 2026 planning, where nearly all firms in the study say they plan to tap working capital solutions when supply chains or demand curves shift.

Virtual Cards: Perception and Practice

Cards in working capital are a story of both perception and practice. On the receivables side, acceptance is becoming critical: more than half of growth corporates cite card acceptance as a way to cut days sales outstanding, with top performers 57% more likely to use this lever than their peers. Faster settlement, richer transaction data and easier tracking make acceptance an increasingly mainstream tactic for improving cash flow. On the payables side, actual usage of cards remains limited and even declined year over year, even as CFOs continue to highlight their advantages, from controlling payment timing to reducing manual processes.

How firms view the role of cards matters. Those who see cards solely as a payables tool report average savings of 3.8% of revenue, or $16.7 million, when using working capital solutions. But firms that recognize the dual purpose of cards (both payables and financing) save more: 4.6% of revenue, or $23 million. Their reinvestment strategies diverge as well.

Payables-only firms disproportionately sit on savings, with 65% directing them into cash reserves to weather volatility. Dual-purpose firms, by contrast, are more likely to pay suppliers faster, with 66% reinvesting to strengthen supply chain trust and capture new opportunities. That mindset also correlates with stronger performance: their average Index score is 59, above both the sample average of 55 and well ahead of the 54 scored by firms treating cards as payables alone.

The Experience Premium: Why Proven Practices Win

The study reveals a clear “experience premium” in working capital management. Longer-tenured CFOs and treasurers demonstrate better performance across multiple metrics. They are 14% more likely to have deployed working capital solutions in the past year, 32% more likely to treat these solutions as strategic growth levers, and twice as likely to use corporate or virtual cards effectively. Additionally, 25% of veteran finance leaders qualify as top performers versus fewer than 20% of their newer peers.

The advantage stems from experienced leaders’ ability to lean on proven plays that deliver consistency and efficiency even in volatile markets, while newer finance professionals are still building their strategic toolkit and the confidence about when to use the tools in them.

AI Is the Rising Tide That Lifts All Working Capital Efficiency Boats

Artificial intelligence is transitioning from boardroom buzzword to operational reality in finance departments. Nearly six in ten CFOs and treasurers now report using new forms of AI for critical functions, including forecasting, supplier onboarding, and financial process automation.

This technological adoption is driving the cash-flow visibility and supplier integration that separate top performers from the middle of the pack, contributing to the third consecutive year of rising Working Capital Index scores. Even bottom performers have seen their Index scores improve because of having a better handle on their cash position.

Banks Face Their Digital Reckoning

The study finds a seven-fold increase year over year in denials of working capital requests over mismatches in what growth corporates need to grow their businesses and how their bankers respond to those requests. Growth corporates are pressing their banking partners to modernize the options provided, creating new competitive pressures in the commercial banking sector. The top demands from finance leaders include simpler online tools for loan and payment management, faster approval processes for both short-term and long-term credit, and on-demand access to solutions like virtual cards.

CFOs are also seeking AI-driven forecasting tools for smarter borrowing decisions, integrated compliance features that reduce audit preparation time, and sector-specific expertise with tailored solutions. And for the third year in a row, growth corporates have expressed the need to have bankers fluent in their industry, and therefore, their working capital needs.

The Widening Speed Gap

For finance leaders, the message is unambiguous. Working capital has evolved from an annual planning exercise into a real-time competitive advantage. The most successful companies are using it to speed receivables, time payables strategically, and maintain cash reserves for rapid deployment.

The performance gap is widening dramatically between finance teams that treat working capital optimization as a quarterly review item and those deploying it as a tactical tool to support planned and unplanned growth. As market volatility becomes the new normal, this gap will likely determine which middle-market companies emerge as tomorrow’s market leaders.

The evidence suggests that in 2026 and beyond, the fastest-moving finance departments won’t just survive market turbulence. They’ll use it as fuel for sustainable competitive advantage.

Available Report Formats

Dynamic Report: An interactive version allowing users to filter insights by region and industry, providing in-depth analysis of days payable outstanding (DPO) optimization and strategic recommendations tailored to specific business contexts.

Read more:
Keeping Up With the CFOs: The Value of Benchmarking Middle-Market Working Capital Efficiency
The 2024-2025 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index: 1,297 CFOs in 23 Countries Reveal Their Strategies
New Visa Index Reveals Working Capital Efficiencies for Mid-Market Companies