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Despite economic growth in the construction sector of the USA, profit margins are persistently low. An examination of collection practices of over 400 construction firms revealed a high number of firms with a collection period ratio above 30 days. This study aims to examines the variance between collection period ratio (days in accounts receivables, DAR) and days in accounts payables (DAP) and its correlation with profitability ratios [e.g. gross profit margin (GPM) and net profit margin (NPM)].

Descriptive statistics were used to observe trends over three years of financial reporting (2013 through 2016), while correlation statistics were used to understand relationship or association between the different financial ratios and the collection period variance (CPV). Respondent firms were stratified by the North American Industry Classification System, company type and revenue size.

Conventional theory holds that increasing financial expenses because of collections negatively impacts profitability. Therefore, the hypothesis of the study suggested a statistical correlation between the CPV and profitability measures. Results of the study, however, supported the null hypothesis. Reasons for the lack of correlation are considered as well as necessary follow-up studies before rejecting the hypothesis.

No such study was found specific to the construction industry, and as such, this study contributes to better understanding the implications of extensive collection periods. Further, this study contradicts assumptions about the behavior of the construction industry and the causal relationship between extensive collection periods and profitability.

This study aims to test the relationship between information technology investment (IT_INVEST) and working capital management (WCM) efficiency.

This study utilized a survey research design to collect data from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owners in India.

Empirical results show that perceived IT_INVEST plays a role in improving WCM efficiency by decreasing the inventory holding period and reducing the cash conversion cycle (CCC) in India. A three-stage least square model (3SLS) shows that IT_INVEST decreases CCC directly and indirectly through the inventory holding period, accounts receivable period and accounts payable period. The empirical analysis also shows that IT_INVEST decreases the inventory holding period and CCC by 16.80% and 26.40%, respectively, for the examined firms.

If MSMEs' owners perceive a higher level of IT_INVEST, then the owners perceive a higher WCM efficiency and vice versa.

This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between IT_INVEST and WCM efficiency. This study may encourage further studies of IT investment and WCM efficiency using data from other industries and countries. MSME owners may find empirical results beneficial to improve WCM efficiency. Moreover, financial management consultants may find results helpful to provide consulting services.

The selection of the optimal credit investigation policy is a sequential decision problem that Mehta solved using decision tree analysis. This paper explores the managerial implications of the credit investigation/credit granting policy. The credit policy selected effects the resources required for credit investigation, the scale of collection efforts, the level and breakdown of accounts receivable, cash budgets, and total sales and production costs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of corporate governance in the quest to attain organizational efficiency in the working capital management of listed firms. There is a consensus that efficiency of working capital management is vital for firm’s growth and survival, yet another consensus is the role of corporate governance in limiting managerial self-serving behavior and ultimately improving firm’s efficiency. If the foregoing views hold, then the empirical question “Is corporate governance important for firm-level working capital efficiency?” becomes important.

Panel data on 13 non-financial firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange were employed in a pooled OLS regression.

The results of the study indicate mostly a negative effect of internal governance mechanisms on the cash conversion cycle, the inventory, receivables’ periods and payables’ periods, implying that governance structures do affect the efficiency of working capital management. Firm characteristics like age, size and profitability also emerged as relevant influences on the efficiency of working capital management.

Data for the study cut across several sectors thus limiting the specificity with which findings can be applied.

These findings have implications for board composition in the quest for firm-level efficiency while raising the need for more industry-specific enquiries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between a firm's cash conversion cycle and its profitability.

The relation between the firm's cash conversion cycle and its profitability is examined using dynamic panel data analysis for a sample of Japanese firms for the period from 1990 to 2004. The analysis is applied at the levels of the full sample and divisions of the sample by industry and by size.

A strong negative relation between the length of the firm's cash conversion cycle and its profitability is found in all of the authors’ study samples except for consumer goods companies and services companies.

Traditional focus in corporate finance was on the long‐term financial decisions, particularly capital structure, dividends, and company valuation decisions. However, the recent trend in corporate finance is the focus on working capital management. Most of working capital management literature is based on the US experience. This study investigates the relation between the firm's cash conversion cycle and its profitability of Japanese firms where the organizational structure is totally different from that of the US firms; most of the Japanese firms are interconnected and related through corporate groups (keiretsu).

This study aimed to find out whether working capital management policies affect the profitability of manufacturing companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

To assess the working capital management and profitability relationship, the authors applied a multiple regression analysis methodology in all manufacturing companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (ten firms) between 2015 and 2019. Average collection period, inventory turnover, average payment period and cash conversion cycle were adopted as proxies for working capital management, and profitability was measured by operating profit margin (OPM), return on assets (ROA), return on capital employed (ROCE) and return on equity (ROE).

The study found that companies with shorter receivables collection periods and cash conversion cycles are more profitable. Longer inventory turnover periods and accounts payable payment periods are related to higher profitability of the firms.

Previous studies have assessed the relationship between working capital management and profitability. However, this study is the first one to use these four variables combined (OPM, ROA, ROCE and ROE) to measure profitability; this is what was limited in previous studies. In comparison, the previous studies were not comprehensive in studying the impact of working capital management on profitability from all aspects of profitability's variables [operational (OPM), economic (ROA), capitalist (ROCE) and financial (ROE)]. However, this study focused on all these aspects to make the results of the study more accurate. Also, it is worth mentioning that this study is the first research performed on Qatar Stock Exchange, although Qatar has achieved remarkable progress in the industrial sector in recent years, making it one of the first industrialized countries in the Middle East.

The purpose of the present study is to determine how the cash conversion cycle (CCC) affects the financial performance of manufacturing companies in Bangladesh.

The authors have collected data of 61 Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)-listed firms from the 10 distinct manufacturing industries of Bangladesh for 18 years, from 2003 to 2020. The data have been analyzed through the two-steps system generalized method of moment (GMM) regression model, using profitability indicators return on asset (ROA) and earnings per share (EPS) as dependent variables, while CCC has been used as the independent variable, whereas asset turnover (ATO) and financial leverage (LEV) were used as control variables to assess the relationship between the CCC and financial performance.

The findings indicated that CCC has a negative connection with profitability – ROA and EPS, with the connection between CCC and EPS being highly significant. This indicates that reducing the inventory conversion time, reducing the period of receivable collection and making payments to creditors with potential delays might help Bangladeshi manufacturing firms boost their profitability. In addition, the firm-specific characteristics, namely ATO and LEV significantly affect the firm's profitability.

The research was based only on secondary sources and information was scarce. This research was conducted to determine the impact of the CCC on the corporate profitability of the manufacturing sector solely. There might be many other working capital variables that are still unexplored through this study.

The current study's findings are consistent with the traditional rule that minimizing the firm's days of the cash cycle may optimize financial performance. The results of this research have added to the existing body of knowledge on the topic of working capital management (WCM). Future research endeavors can be initiated for assessing the impact of the CCC on the firm's profitability in other industrial sectors or to identify other working capital variables that have much impact on corporate profitability.

This study is an original work of the researchers and adds value to the current literature in the domain of WCM and corporate profitability. The present study is the first one that covers firms in all the manufacturing industries in Bangladesh. The corporate managers, creditors, investors and other concerned stakeholders will be benefited from the findings of the present study.

This study examines the effect of working capital management on profitability of listed manufacturing firms in Ghana.

The study employs a quantitative research approach within the causal research design using a balance panel of 20 manufacturing listed firms from 2015 to 2019.

The study reveals that inventory management, account receivables, account payables, cash conversion cycle, current asset, current ratio and firm size have positive effects on return on assets (ROA) and return on return on equity(ROE) whilst leverage affects them negatively.

The study only covers 20 manufacturing firms generally due to data unavailability. However, the outcome has useful information for manufacturing firms.

The study brings to light effective ways of improving the profitability of manufacturing firms through policies.

The findings are beneficial to manufacturing firms and countries for the purpose of improving performance of firms and welfare of the people through direct and indirect chain effects of increasing investments, remunerations and scales of production.

This study adds insights into the existing literature on working capital management namely methodology, effects of components on profitability of manufacturing firms and socioeconomic implications- evidence from Ghana.

This article examines the relationship between the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and profitability in countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The authors used dynamic panel methodology to analyze a dataset consisting of 395 firms from nonfinancial sectors in the MENA countries from 2013 to 2018. The authors developed several models consisting of different measures of profitability, CCC and the components of CCC. The control variables were used in the models at different levels.

The results bring out a significantly positive relationship between the CCC and profitability. However, mixed results have been obtained for industry and country details. The quadratic model revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship and the presence of an optimal point of CCC. The robustness checks have confirmed the results of the main models.

The results of the study imply that corporate managers and policymakers ought to pay equal attention to the components of CCC when developing working capital policies and be aware of the optimal level of CCC.

This paper handles the endogeneity problem that is inherent in the relationship. It investigates and confirms the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to use dynamic panel models to examine the CCC and its relationship with profitability in the MENA context.

This study examines the impact of firm-specific and macroeconomic factors on the working capital behavior of firms listed in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

This study is based on a panel data analysis of 687 firms listed on 11 MENA markets, carried out using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach.

The results of this study reveal that profitable firms with high levels of operating cash flows adopt a conservative working capital management. Young firms with rapid growth rates, highly leveraged firms and firms with large investments in fixed assets have higher liquidity needs, which explains their tendency to pursue aggressive working capital strategies. Similarly, large firms exercise their bargaining power over their clients and suppliers to implement an aggressive approach of working capital management. Finally, firms do not have the luxury to decide how working capital should be managed when they are subject to outside macroeconomic forces that affect their stakeholders as well.

The findings of this study can help managers adopt efficient practices and identify optimal working capital levels. Firms in the MENA region maintain excess reserves of cash, which causes under-investment and inefficient allocation of resources in the economy. Improving working capital management practices can allow firms to regain operational efficiency, enhance financial performance and support economic growth.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study investigates this topic in MENA emerging markets and contributes to enriching the existing corporate finance literature in emerging markets.