Guide
Why a business-day count differs from country to country
Two colleagues count the working days between the same pair of dates and get different answers. This is not carelessness. A business day is a local concept, and it varies in two independent ways: which days of the week count as working days, and which of those are taken out as holidays.
The working week itself differs
Monday to Friday is common but not universal. Several countries in the Middle East run Sunday to Thursday, so Friday is part of their weekend and Sunday is an ordinary working day. Some countries have moved their weekend in recent years, which means historical calculations and current ones can legitimately differ for the same country.
The practical consequence for cross-border work is that a Friday deadline can be a working day for one side and a weekend for the other, and the same is true of Sunday in the opposite direction.
Public holidays are local, and some of them move
Every country has its own set. Beyond that:
- Some holidays are regional. A day off in one state, canton or province and a normal working day in the next one.
- Some are movable. Holidays tied to Easter shift with it each year, and those tied to a lunar calendar move through the solar year.
- Some are announced late. A number of countries confirm certain holidays only weeks in advance, which makes long-range deadline calculations provisional.
- Substitute days exist. In several countries a holiday falling on a weekend produces a day off on the adjacent Monday, adding a working day to the removal list.
Sector calendars add another layer
Banking and settlement calendars are not the same as national holiday calendars, and both differ from stock exchange trading days. A payment that clears in "two business days" is counted on the banking calendar of the currency involved, which can exclude days that are ordinary working days for everyone else in the country.
How to agree a number that holds
- Name the jurisdiction whose calendar governs, in the contract, not in an email.
- Say which weekend applies if either party is in a Sunday-to-Thursday country.
- Convert the rule into an actual date as early as possible, and confirm that date with the other side rather than exchanging counts.
- For anything more than a few weeks out, re-check near the time in case a movable or late-announced holiday lands inside the window.
The business days calculator gives the Monday to Friday count between two dates, which is the base figure to start from before subtracting the specific local holidays that apply to your agreement.