Payables Turnover measures the number of days a business will take to pay for purchases; which data are used in its calculation according to the provided material?

• A. Purchases / Average Accounts Payable
• B. Average Accounts Payable / Purchases
• C. The number of days to pay for purchases during an accounting period
• D. Purchases + Average Accounts Payable

Answer: (C)

Payables turnover in days shows how long, on average, the business takes to pay its suppliers. According to the material, this measure is expressed as the number of days it takes to pay for purchases during the accounting period. So the data used are the timing data—the actual number of days purchases remain unpaid within that period. This is why the correct choice describes the measure as a count of days rather than a ratio.

Using the ratio of purchases to average accounts payable would yield a turnover rate (times per period), not a count of days. Inverting or adding those figures doesn’t align with how the metric is defined in the material.