An increase in trade receivables is perhaps expected given that Smooth Co is a service based company. This is likely to be due to Smooth Co’s customers having significant payment terms, due to their size. This increase in receivables collection period could mean that Smooth Co has a weaker cash position than Duke Co. While the size of the customers may mean that there is little risk of irrecoverable debts, Smooth Co may have a small, or even overdrawn, cash balance due to this long collection period.