营运资金管理对中小企业的盈利能力的影响[外文翻译]

An Analysis of Working Capital Management Results Across IndustriesGreg Filbeck. Schweser Study ProgramThomas M. Krueger. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse AbstractFirms are able to reduce financing costs and/or increase the funds available for expansion by minimizing the amount of funds tied up in current assets. We provide insights into the performance of surveyed firms across key components of working capital management by using the CFO magazine’s annual Working Capital Management Survey. We discover that significant differences exist between industries in working capital measures across time. In addition. we discover that these measures for working capital change significantly within industries across time.IntroductionThe importance of efficient working capital management is indisputable. Working capital is the difference between resources in cash or readily convertible into cash (Current Assets) and organizational commitments for which cash will soon be required (Current Liabilities). The objective of working capital management is to maintain the optimum balance of each of the working capital components. Business viability relies on the ability to effectively manage receivables. inventory. and payables. Firms are able to reduce financing costs and/or increase the funds available for expansion by minimizing the amount of funds tied up in current assets. Much managerial effort is expended in bringing non-optimal levels of current assets and liabilities back toward optimal levels. An optimal level would be one in which a balance is achieved between risk and efficiency.A recent example of business attempting to maximize working capital management is the recurrent attention being given to the application of Six Sigma® methodology. Six Sigma® methodologies help companies measure and ensure quality in all areas of the enterprise. When used to identify and rectify discrepancies. inefficiencies and erroneous transactions in the financial supply chain. Six Sigma® reduces Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). accelerates the payment cycle. improves customer satisfaction and reduces the necessary amount and cost of working capital needs. There appear to be many success stories. including Jennifer Towne’s (2002) r eport of a 15 percent decrease in days that sales are outstanding. resulting in an increased cash flow of approximately $2 million at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. Furthermore. bad debts declined from $3.4 million to $600.000. However. Waxer’s (2003) study of multiple firms employing Six Sigma® finds that it is really a “get rich slow” technique with a rate of return hovering in the 1.2 – 4.5 percent range.Even in a business using Six Sigma® methodology. an “optimal” level of working capital management needs to be identified.Even in a business using Six Sigma® methodology. an “optimal” level of working capital management needs to be identified. Industry factors may impact firm credit policy. inventory management. and bill-paying activities. Some firms may be better suited to minimize receivables and inventory. while others maximize payables. Another aspect of “optimal” is the extent to which poor financial results can be tied to sub-optimal performance. Fortunately. these issues are testable with data published by CFO magazine. which claims to be the source of “tools and information for the financial executive.” and are the subject of this research.In addition to providing mean and variance values for the working capital measures and the overall metric. two issues will be addressed in this research. One research question is. “are firms within a particular industry clustered together at consistent levels of working capital measures?” For instance. are firms in one industry able to quickly transfer sales into cash. while firms from another industry tend to have high sales levels for the particular level of inventory . The other research question is. “does working capital management performance for firms within a given industry change from year-to-year?”The following section presents a brief literature review. Next. the research method is described. including some information about the annual Working Capital Management Survey published by CFO magazine. Findings are then presented and conclusions are drawn.Related LiteratureThe importance of working capital management is not new to the finance literature. Over twenty years ago. Largay and Stickney (1980) reported that the then-recent bankruptcy of W.T. Grant. a nationwide chain of department stores. should have been anticipated because the corporation had been running a deficit cash flow from operations for eight of the last ten years of its corporate life. As part of a study of the Fortune 500’s financial management practices. Gilbert and Reichert (1995) find that accounts receivable management models are used in 59 percent of these firms to improve working capital projects. while inventory management models were used in 60 percent of the companies. More recently. Farragher. Kleiman and Sahu (1999) find that 55 percent of firms in the S&P Industrial index complete some form of a cash flow assessment. but did not present insights regarding accounts receivable and inventory management. or the variations of any current asset accounts or liability accounts across industries. Thus. mixed evidence exists concerning the use of working capital management techniques.Theoretical determination of optimal trade credit limits are the subject of many articles over the years (e.g.. Schwartz 1974; Scherr 1996). with scant attention paid to actual accounts receivable management. Across a limitedsample. Weinraub and Visscher (1998) observe a tendency of firms with low levels of current ratios to also have low levels of current liabilities. Simultaneously investigating accounts receivable and payable issues. Hill. Sartoris. and Ferguson (1984) find differences in the way payment dates are defined. Payees define the date of payment as the date payment is received. while payors view payment as the postmark date. Additional WCM insight across firms. industries. and time can add to this body of research.Maness and Zietlow (2002. 51. 496) presents two models of value creation that incorporate effective short-term financial management activities. However. these models are generic models and do not consider unique firm or industry influences. Maness and Zietlow discuss industry influences in a short paragraph that includes the observation that. “An industry a company is located in may have more influence on that company’s fortun es than overall GNP” (2002. 507). In fact. a careful review of this 627-page textbook finds only sporadic information on actual firm levels of WCM dimensions. virtually nothing on industry factors except for some boxed items with titles such as. “Should a Retailer Offer an In-House Credit Card” (128) and nothing on WCM stability over time. This research will attempt to fill this void by investigating patterns related to working capital measures within industries and illustrate differences between industries across time.An extensive survey of library and Internet resources provided very few recent reports about working capital management. The most relevant set of articles was Weisel and Bradley’s (2003) article on cash flow management and one of inventory control as a result of effective supply chain management by Hadley (2004).Research MethodThe CFO RankingsThe first annual CFO Working Capital Survey. a joint project with REL Consultancy Group. was published in the June 1997 issue of CFO (Mintz and Lezere 1997). REL is a London. England-based management consulting firm specializing in working capital issues for its global list of clients. The original survey reports several working capital benchmarks for public companies using data for 1996. Each company is ranked against its peers and also against the entire field of 1.000 companies. REL continues to update the original information on an annual basis.REL uses the “cash flow from operations” value located on firm cash flow statements to estimate cash conversion efficiency (CCE). This value indicates how well a company transforms revenues into cash flow. A “days of working capital” (DWC) value is based on the dollar amount in each of the aggregate. equally-weighted receivables. inventory. and payables ac counts. The “days of working capital” (DNC) represents the time period between purchase of inventory on acccount from vendor until the sale to the customer. the collection of the receivables. and payment receipt. Thus. it reflects the company’s ability to finance its core operations with vendor credit. A detailedinvestigation of WCM is possible because CFO also provides firm and industry values for days sales outstanding (A/R). inventory turnover. and days payables outstanding (A/P).Research FindingsAverage and Annual Working Capital Management Performance Working capital management component definitions and average values for the entire 1996 – 2000 period . Across the nearly 1.000 firms in the survey. cash flow from operations. defined as cash flow from operations divided by sales and referred to as “cash conversion efficiency” (CCE). averages 9.0 percent. Incorporating a 95 percent confidence interval. CCE ranges from 5.6 percent to 12.4 percent. The days working capital (DWC). defined as the sum of receivables and inventories less payables divided by daily sales. averages 51.8 days and is very similar to the days that sales are outstanding (50.6). because the inventory turnover rate (once every 32.0 days) is similar to the number of days that payables are outstanding (32.4 days). In all instances. the standard deviation is relatively small. suggesting that these working capital management variables are consistent across CFO reports.Industry Rankings on Overall Working Capital Management PerformanceCFO magazine provides an overall working capital ranking for firms in its survey. using the following equation:Industry-based differences in overall working capital management are presented for the twenty-six industries that had at least eight companies included in the rankings each year. In the typical year. CFO magazine ranks 970 companies during this period. Industries are listed in order of the mean overall CFO ranking of working capital performance. Since the best average ranking possible for an eight-company industry is 4.5 (this assumes that the eight companies are ranked one through eight for the entire survey). it is quite obvious that all firms in the petroleum industry must have been receiving very high overall working capital management rankings. In fact. the petroleum industry is ranked first in CCE and third in DWC (as illustrated in Table 5 and discussed later in this paper). Furthermore. the petroleum industry had the lowest standard deviation of working capital rankings and range of working capital rankings. The only other industry with a mean overall ranking less than 100 was the Electric & Gas Utility industry. which ranked second in CCE and fourth in DWC. The two industries with the worst working capital rankings were Textiles and Apparel. Textiles rank twenty-second in CCE and twenty-sixth in DWC. The apparel industry ranks twenty-third and twenty-fourth in the two working capital measuresConclusionsThe research presented here is based on the annual ratings of working capital management published in CFO magazine. Our findings indicate a consistency in how industries “stack up” against each other over time with respect to the working capital measures. However. the working capitalmeasures themselves are not static (i.e.. averages of working capital measures across all firms change annually); our results indicate significant movements across our entire sample over time. Our findings are important because they provide insight to working capital performance across time. and on working capital management across industries. These changes may be in explained in part by macroeconomic factors. Changes in interest rates. rate of innovation. and competition are likely to impact working capital management. As interest rates rise. there would be less desire to make payments early. which would stretch accounts payable. accounts receivable. and cash accounts.The ramifications of this study include the finding of distinct levels of WCM measures for different industries. which tend to be stable over time. Many factors help to explain this discovery. The improving economy during the period of the study may have resulted in improved turnover in some industries. while slowing turnover may have been a signal of troubles ahead. Our results should be interpreted cautiously. Our study takes places over a short time frame during a generally improving market. In addition. the survey suffers from survivorship bias – only the top firms within each industry are ranked each year and the composition of those firms within the industry can change annually.Further research may take one of two lines. First. there could be a study of whether stock prices respond to CFO magazine’s publication of working capital management ratings. Second. there could be a study of which. if any. of the working capital management components relate to share price performance. Given our results. these studies need to take industry membership into consideration when estimating stock price reaction to working capital management performance.外文翻译:对整个行业中营运资金管理的研究格雷格Filbeck.Schweser学习计划托马斯M克鲁格.威斯康星大学拉克罗斯摘要:企业能够降低融资成本或者尽量减少绑定在流动资产上的成立基金数额来用于扩大现有的资金。

文献出处:Enqvist, Julius, Michael Graham, and Jussi Nikkinen. "The impact of working capital management on firm profitability in different business cycles: evidence from Finland." Research in International Business and Finance 32 (2014): 36-49.原文The impact of working capital management on firm profitability in different business cycles: Evidence from Finland1. IntroductionThis paper investigates the effect of the business cycle on the link between working capital, the difference between current assets and current liabilities, and corporate performance. Efficient working capital management is recognized as an important aspect of financial management practices in all organizational forms. In acknowledgement of this importance, the CFO Magazine publishes an annual study of corporate working capital management performance in many countries. The extensive literature indicates that it impacts directly on corporate liquidity ( Kim et al., 1998 and Opler et al., 1999), profitability (e.g., Shin and Soenen, 1998, Deloof, 2003, Lazaridis and Tryfonidis, 2006 and Ukaegbu, 2014), and solvency (e.g.,Berryman, 1983 and Peel and Wilson, 1994).It is reasonable to assume that economy-wide fluctuations exogenous to the operations of the firm play an important role in the demand for firms’ products and any financing decision. Korajczyk and Levy (2003), for instance, suggest that firms time debt issuance based on economic conditions. Also, given that retained earnings are a significant component of working capital, business cycles can be said to affect all enterprises financing source through its effect on economic growth and sales. For example, when company sales weaken it engenders earning declines, thereby, affecting an important source of working capital. The recent global economic downturn with crimping consumer demand is an excellent example of this. The crisis,characterized by plummeting sales, put a squeeze on corporate revenues and profit margins, and subsequently, working capital requirements. This has brought renewed focus on working capital management at companies all over the world.The literature on working capital, however, only includes a handful of studies examining the impact of the business cycle on working capital. An early study by Merville and Tavis (1973) examined the relationship between firm working capital policies and business cycle. More recent studies have investigated the degree to which firms’ reliance on bank borrowing to finance working capital is cyclical (Einarsson and Marquis, 2001), the significance of firms’ external dependence for financing needs on the link between industry growth and business the cycle in the short term (Braun and Larrain, 2005), and the influence of business indicators on the determinants of working capital management (Chiou et al., 2006). These studies have independently linked working capital to corporate profitability and the business cycle. No study, to the best of our knowledge, has examined the simultaneous working capital–profitability and business cycle effects. There is therefore a substantial gap in the literature which this paper seeks to fill. Firms may have an optimal level of working capital that maximizes their value. However, optimal levels may change to reflect business conditions. Consequently, we contribute to the literature by re-examining the relationship between working capital management and corporate profitability by investigating the role business cycle plays in this relationship.We investigate this important relationship using a sample of firms listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and an extended study period of 18 years, between 1990 and 2008. Finnish firms tend to react strongly to changes in the business cycle, a characteristic that can be observed from the volatility of the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki stock index. The index usually declines quickly in poor economic states, but also makes fast recoveries. Finland, therefore, presents an excellent representative example of how the working capital–profitability relationship may change in different economic states. The choice of Finland is also significant as it also offers a representative Nordic perspective of this important working capital–profitability relationship. Hitherto no academic study has examined the workingcapital–profitability relationship in the Nordic region, to the best of our knowledge. Surveys on working capital management in the Nordic region carried out by Danske Bank and Ernst & Young in 2009 show, however, that many companies rated their working capital management performance as average, with a growing focus on optimizing working capital in the future. The surveys are, however, silent on how this average performance affected profitability. This gives further impetus for our study.Our results point to a number of interesting findings. First, we find that firms can enhance their profitability by increasing working capital efficiency. This is a significant result because many Nordic firms find it hard to turn good policy intentions on working capital management into reality (Ernst and Young, 2009). Economically, firms may gain by paying increasing attention to efficient working capital practices. Our empirical finding, therefore, should motivate firms to implement new work processes as a matter of necessity. We also found that working capital management is relatively more important in low economic states than in the economic boom state, implying working capital management should be included in firms’ financial planning. This finding corroborates evidence from the survey results in the Nordic region. Specifically, the survey results by Ernst and Young (2009) indicate that the largest potential for improvement in working capital could be found within the optimization of internal processes. This suggests that this area is not prioritized in times of business growth which is typical of the general economic expansion periods and is exposed in economic downturns.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a brief review of the literature presents the hypotheses for empirical testing. Sections 3 and 4 discuss data and models to be estimated. The empirical results are presented in Section 5 and Section 6 concludes.2. Related literature and hypotheses2.1. Literature reviewMany firms have invested significant amounts in working capital and a number of studies have examined the determinants of this investment. For example Kim et al. (1998) and Opler et al. (1999), Chiou et al. (2006) and D’Mello et al. (2008) find thatthe availability of external financing is a determinant of liquidity. Thus restricted access to capital markets requires firms to hold larger cash reserves. Other studies show that firms with weaker corporate governance structures hold smaller cash reserves (Harford et al., 2008). Furthermore firms with excess cash holding as well as weak shareholder rights undertake more acquisitions. However there is a higher likelihood of value-decreasing acquisitions (Harford, 1999). Kieschnick and Laplante (2012) provide evidence linking working capital management to shareholder wealth. They find that the incremental dollar invested in net operating capital is less valuable than the incremental dollar held in cash for the average firm. The findings reported in the paper further suggest that the valuation of the incremental dollar invested in net operating working is significantly influenced by a firm's future sales expectations, its debt load, its financial constraints, and its bankruptcy risk. Further the value of the incremental dollar extended in credit to one's customers has a greater effect on shareholder wealth than the incremental dollar invested in inventories for the average firm. Taken together the results indicate the significance of working capital management to the firm's residual claimants, and how financing impacts these effects.A thin thread of the literature links business cycles to working capital. In a theoretical model, Merville and Tavis (1973) posit that investment and financing decisions relating to working capital should be made in chorus as components of each impact on the optimal policies of the others. The optimal working capital policy of the firm is, therefore, made within a systems context, components of which are related spatially over time in a chance-constrained format. Uncertainty in the wider business environment directly affects the system. For example, short run demand fluctuations disrupt anticipated incoming cash flows, and the collection of receivables faces increased uncertainty. The model provides a structure enabling corporate managers to solve complex inventory and credit policies for short term financial planning.In an empirical study, Einarsson and Marquis (2001) find that the degree to which companies rely on bank financing to cover their working capital requirements in the U.S. is countercyclical; it increases as the state of the economy weakens. Furthermore, Braun and Larrain (2005) find that high working capital requirementsar e a key determinant of a business’ dependence on external financing. They show that firms that are highly dependent on external financing are more affected by recessions, and should take more precautions in preparing for declines in the economic environment, including ensuring a secure level of working capital reserves during times of crisis. Additionally, Chiou et al. (2006) recognize the importance of the state of the economy and includes business indicators in their study of working capital determinants. They find a positive relationship between business indicator and working capital requirements.The relationship between profitability and working capital management in various markets has also attracted intense interest. In a comprehensive study, Shin and Soenen (1998) document a strong inverse relationship between working capital efficiency and profitability across U.S. industries. This inverse relationship is supported by Deloof (2003), Lazaridis and Tryfonidis (2006), and Garcia-Teruel and Martinez-Solano (2007)for Belgian non-financial firms, Greek listed firms, and Spanish small and medium size enterprises (SME), respectively. There are, however, significant divergences in the results relating to the effect of the various components of working capital on profitability. For example, whereas Deloof (2003) find a negative and statistically significant relationship between account payable and profitability, Garcia-Teruel and Martinez-Solano (2007) find no such measurable influences in a sample of Spanish SMEs.2.2. Hypotheses developmentThe cash conversion cycle (CCC), a useful and comprehensive measure of working capital management, has been widely used in the literature (see for example Deloof, 2003 and Gill et al., 2010). The CCC, measured in days, is the length of time between a company's expenditure for the procurement of raw materials and the collection of sales of finished goods. We adopt this as our measure of working capital management in this study. Previous studies have established a link between profitability and the CCC in different countries and market segments.Efficient working capital management practices aims to shorten the CCC to optimize to levels that best suites the requirements of the specific company (Hager,1976). A short CCC indicates quick collection of receivables and delays in payments to suppliers. This is associated with profitability given that it improves corporate efficiency in its use of working capital. Deloof (2003), however, posits that low inventory levels, tight trade credit policies and utilizing obtained trade credit as a means of financing can increase risks of inventory stock-outs, decrease sales stimulants and increase accounts payable costs by forgoing given cash discounts. Managers must, therefore, always consider the tradeoff between liquidity and profitability when managing working capital. A faster rise in the cost of higher investment in working capital relative to the benefits of holding more inventories and/or granting trade credit to customers may lead to decrease in corporate profitability. Deloof (2003), Wang (2002), Lazaridis and Tryfonidis (2006), and Gill et al. (2010) all propose a negative relationship between the cash conversion cycle and corporate profitability. Following this, we propose a general hypothesis stating the expected negative relationship between the cash conversion cycle and corporate profitability:6. ConclusionsWorking capital, the difference between current assets and current liabilities, is used to fund a business’ daily operations due to t he time lag between buying raw materials for production and receiving funds from the sale of the final product. With vast amounts invested in working capital, it can be expected that the management of these assets would significantly affect the profitability of a company. Consequently, companies strive to achieve optimize levels of working capital by paying bills as late as possible, turning over inventories quickly, and collecting on account receivables quickly. The optimal level, though, may vary to reflect business conditions. This study examines the role business cycle plays in the working capital-corporate profitability relationship using a sample of Finnish listed companies from years 1990 to 2008.We utilize the cash conversion cycle (CCC), defined as the length of time between a company's expenditure for the procurement of raw materials and the collection of sales of finished goods, as our measure of working capital. We further make use of 2 measures of profitability, return on assets and gross operating income.We document a negative relationship between cash conversion cycle and corporate profitability. Our results also show that companies can achieve higher profitability levels by managing inventories efficiently and lowering accounts receivable collection times. Furthermore shorter account payable cycles enhance corporate profitability. These results, which largely mirror findings from other countries, indicate effective management of firm's total working capital as well as its individual components has a significant effect on corporate profitability levels.Our results also show that economic conditions exhibit measurable influences on the working capital-profitability relationship. The low economic state is generally found to have negative effects on corporate profitability. In particular, we find that the impact of efficient working capital (CCC) on operational profitability increases in economic downturns. We also find that the impact of efficient inventory management and accounts receivables conversion periods, subsets of CCC, on profitability increase in economic downturns.Overall the results indicate that investing in working capital processes and incorporating working capital efficiency into everyday routines is essential for corporate profitability. As a result, firms should include working capital management in their financial planning processes. Additionally, firms generate income and employment. The reduced demand in economic downturns depletes working capital of firms and threatens their stability and, implicitly, their important function as generators of employment and income. National economic policy aimed at boosting cash flows of firms may increase business ability to finance working capital internally, especially during economic down turns.译文营运资本管理对不同商业周期公司盈利能力的影响：证据来自芬兰1.引言本文研究商业周期与营运资本两者之间的联系,流动资产和流动负债之间的区别,以及公司业绩问题。

外文翻译The relationship between working capital management and profitability of listed companiesMaterial Source: Electronic copy available athttp://ss / Author: Ioannis LazaridisAbstractIn this paper we investigate the relationship of corporate profitability and working capital management. We used a sample of 131 companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) for the period of 2001-2004. The purpose of this paper is to establish a relationship that is statistical significant between profitability, the cash conversion cycle and its components for listed firms in the ASE. The results of our research showed that there is statistical significance between profitability, measured through gross operating profit, and the cash conversion cycle. Moreover managers can create profits for their companies by handling correctly the cash conversion cycle and keeping each different component (accounts receivables, accounts payables, inventory) to an optimum level.IntroductionCapital structure and working capital management are two areas widely revisited by academia in order to postulate firms’ profitability. Working capital management have been approached in numerous ways. Other researchers studied the impact of optimum inventory management while other authors studied the management of accounts receivables in an optimum way that leads to profit maximisation1. According to Deloof 2 (2003) the way that working capital is managed has a significant impact on profitability of firms. This result indicates that there is a certain level of working capital requirements which potentially maximises returns.Other work on the field of working capital management focuses on the routines employed by firms. This research showed that firms which focus on cash management were larger, with fewer cash sales, more seasonality and possibly more cash flow problems. While smaller firms focused more on stock management and less profitable firms were focused on credit management routines. It is suggestedthat high growth firms follow a more reluctant credit policy towards their customers, while they tie up more capital in the form of inventory. Meanwhile accounts payables will increase due to better relations of suppliers with financial institutions which divert this advantage of financial cost to their clients.According to Wilner (2000) most firms extensively use trade credit despite its apparent greater cost, and trade credit interest rates commonly exceed 18 percent5. In addition to that he states that in 1993 American firms extended their credit towards customers by 1.5 trillion dollars. Similarly Deloof (2003) found out through statistics from the National Bank of Belgium that in 1997 accounts payable were 13% of their total assets while accounts receivables and inventory accounted for 17% and 10% respectively. Summers and Wilson (2000) report that in the UK corporate sector more than 80% of daily business transactions are on credit terms6.There seems to be a strong relation between the cash conversion cycle of a firm and its profitability. The three different components of cash conversion cycle (accounts payables, accounts receivables and inventory) can be managed in different ways in order to maximise profitability or to enhance the growth of a company. Sometimes trade credit is a vehicle to attract new customers. Many firms are prepared to change their standard credit terms in order to win new customers and to gain large orders.In addition to that credit can stimulate sales because it allows customers to assess product quality before paying8. Therefore it is up to the individual company whether a ‘marketing’ approach should be followed when managing the working capital through credit extension. However the financial department of such a company will face cash flow and liquidity problems since capital will be invested in customers and inventory respectively. In order to have maximum value, equilibrium should be maintained in receivables-payables and inventory. According to Pike & Cheng (2001) credit management seeks to create, safeguard and realise a portfolio of high quality accounts receivable. Given the significant investment in accounts receivable by most large firms, credit management policy choices and practices could have important implications for corporate value9. Successful management of resources will lead to corporate profitability, but how can we measure management success since a period of ‘credit granting’ might lead to increased sales and market share whilst accompanied by decreased profitability or the opposite? Since working capital management is best described by the cash conversion cycle we will try to establish a link between profitability and management of the cash conversion cycle. This simple equationencompasses all three very important aspects of working capital management. It is an indication of how long a firm can carry on if it was to stop its operation or it indicates the time gap between purchase of goods and collection of sales. The optimum level of inventories will have a direct effect on profitability since it will release working capital resources which in turn will be invested in the business cycle, or will increase inventory levels in order to respond to higher product demand. Similarly both credit policy from suppliers and credit period granted to customers will have an impact on profitability. In order to understand the way working capital is managed cash conversion cycle and its components will be statistically analysed. In this paper we investigate the relationship between working capital management and firms’ profitability for 131 listed companies in the Athens Stock Exchange for the period 2001-2004. The purpose of this paper is to establish a relationship that is statistical significant between profitability, the cash conversion cycle and its components for listed firms in the ASE (Athens Stock Exchange). The paper is structured as follows. In the next section we present the variables used as well as the chosen sample of firms. Results of the descriptive statistics accompanied with regression modelling relating profitability (the dependent variable) against other independent variables including components of the cash conversion cycle, in order to test statistical significance. Finally the last section discusses the findings of this paper and comes up with conclusions related with working capital management policies and profitability.2. Data Collection and Variables(i) Data CollectionThe data collected were from listed firms in the Athens Stock Exchange Market. The reason we chose this market is primarily due to the reliability of the financial statements. Companies listed in the stock market have an incentive to present profits if those exist in order to make their shares more attractive. Contrary to listed firms, non listed firms in Greece have less of an incentive to present true operational results and usually their financial statements do not reflect real operational and financial activity. Hiding profits in order to avoid corporate tax is a common tactic for non listed firms in Greece which makes them less of a suitable sample for analysis where one can draw inference, based on financial data, for working capital practices.For the purpose of this research certain industries have been omitted due to their type of activity. We followed the classification of NACE10 industries fromwhich electricity and water, banking and financial institutions, insurance, rental and other services firms have been omitted. The original sample consisted of about 300 firms which narrowed down to 131 companies. The most recent period for which we had complete data was 2001-2004. Some of the firms were not included in the data due to lack of information for the certain period. Finally the financial statements were obtained from the ICAP SA11 database. Our analysis uses stacked data for the period 2001-2004 which results to 524 total observations.(ii) VariablesAs mentioned earlier in the introduction the cash conversion cycle is used as a measure in order to gauge profitability. This measure is described by the following equation:Cash Conversion Cycle = No of Days A/R12 + No of Days Inventory – No of Days A/P13 (1)In turn the components of cash conversion cycle are given below:No of Days A/R = Accounts Receivables/Sales*365 (2)No of Days Inventory = Inventory/Cost of Goods Sold*365 (3)No of Days A/P = Accounts Payables/Cost of Goods Sold*365 (4)Another variable chosen for the model specification is that of company size measured through the natural logarithm of sales. Shares and participation to other firm are considered as fixed financial assets. The variable I we use which is related to financial assets is the following:Fixed Financial Assets Ratio = Fixed Financial Assets/Total Assets (5) This variable is used since for many listed companies financial assets comprise a significant part of their total assets. This variable will be used later on in order to obtain an indication how the relationship and participation of one firm to others affects its profitability. Another variable used in order to perform regression analysis later on, includes financial debt measured through the following equation: Financial Debt Ratio = (Short Term Loans + Long Term Loans)/Total Assets (6) This is used in order to establish relation between the external financing of the firm and its total assets.Finally the dependent variable used is that of gross operating profit. In order to obtain this variable we subtract cost of goods sold from total sales and divide the result with total assets minus financial assets.Gross Operating Profit = (Sales –COGS14)/(Total Assets –Financial Assets(7)The reason for using this variable instead of earnings before interest tax depreciation amortization (EBITDA) or profits before or after taxes is because we wa nt to associate operating ‘success’ or ‘failure’ with an operating ratio and relate this variable with other operating variables (i.e cash conversion cycle). Moreover we want to exclude the participation of any financial activity from operational activity that might affect overall profitability, thus financial assets are subtracted from total assets.3. Descriptive StatisticsThe following table gives the descriptive statistics of the collected variables. The total of observations sums to n = 524. On average 16.8% of total assets are financial assets (including participation to other subsidiaries). Total sales have a mean of 118.9 million euros while the median is 31.9 million. The firms included in our sample had an average of 2.58% net operating profit. The credit period granted to their customers ranged at 148 days on average (median 130 days) while they paid their creditors in 96 days on average (median 73 days). Inventory takes on average 136 days to be sold (median 104 days). Overall the average cash conversion cycle ranged at 188 days (median 165 days).。

原文Financial management and profitability of small and medium enterprisesMaterial Source:Southern Cross University Author:Kieu Minh Nguyen1. Objectives of financial managementLike many other management sciences, financial management, firstly, establishes its goal and objectives. Objectives of financial management are foundations or bases for comparing and evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of financial management. The final goal of financial management is to maximize the financial wealth of the business owner (McMahon, 1995). This general goal can be viewed in terms of two much more specific objectives: profitability and liquidity.* Profitability management is concerned with maintaining or increasing a business’s earnings through a ttention to cost control, pricing policy, sales volume, stock management, and capital expenditures. This objective is also consistent with the goal of most businesses.* Liquidity management, on one hand, ensures that the business’s obligations (wages, bills, loan repayments, tax payments, etc.) are paid. The owner wants to avoid any damage at all to a business’s credit rating, due to a temporary inability to meet obligation by: anticipating cash shortages, maintaining the confidence of creditors, bank managers, pre-arranging finance to cover cash shortages. On the other hand, liquidity management minimizes idle cash balances, which could be profitable if they are invested (McMahon, 1995).While discussing the objective function of a privately held small firm, Ang (1992) indicated that its objective function is to maximize three components. The first is to maximize its current market price, to avoid unwanted mergers and to obtain outside financing in the securities market. The second is to maximize long term or intrinsic value, if the two values diverge. The last is to maximize non-owner manager’s own pecuniary and non-pecuniary incomes by avoiding control rights. Whether the absence of marketable securities means that small firms need not be concerned with current performance and can concentrate on long-term values, depends on the organizational types and circumstances. Profitable firms, whereoutside funding is not a major concern, can afford to maximize long-term value whereas for those small businesses, which need outside financing, current performance may be very important. Thus, a number of small businesses would have a weighted average objective function consisting of both current profit and long-term value. Weight for current profit is expected to be higher for small businesses approaching loan re-negotiation, initial public offering, potential sale to an acquirer, signing long-term contracts with supplier or customers and possible dissolution of a partnership. On the other hand, its weight will be smaller when the business is due to pay estate taxes, renegotiate employee contracts, discourage a non-managing family member from their shares, and avoid tax on excess accumulation.In making decisions related to financial management, the owner-manager or the financial manager should remember objectives of financial management and balance between liquidity and profitability objectives, and between current and long-term (growth) objectives.2.Major decisions of financial managementGenerally, previous authors had no differences in opinions of major decisions in financial management. Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe (1999, p.1) indicated three kinds of decisions the financial manager of a firm must make in business: (1) the budgeting decision, (2) the financing decision, and (3) decisions involving short-term finance and concerned with the net working capital. Similarly, Ang (1992) also indicated three main financial decisions including the investment decisions, financing decisions and dividend decisions. McMahon (1995) suggested another way of identifying the major decisions of financial management is to look at the balance sheet of a business. There are many decisions regarding items on the balance sheet. However, they are classified into three main types: investment decisions, financing decisions and profit distribution decisions (McMahon, 1995).* Investment decisions: (1) relate to the amount and composition of a business’s investment in short-term assets (cash, stock, debtors, etc.) and fixed assets (equipment, premises, facilities, etc.), and (2) relate to the achievement of an appropriate balance between the two classes of assets.* Financing decisions: (1) relate to the types of finance used to acquire assets, and (2) relate to the achievement of an appropriate balance between short-term and long-term sources, and between debt and equity sources.* Profit distribution decisions: (1) relate to the proportion of profit earned that should be retained in a business to finance development and growth, (2) and the proportion, which may be distributed to the owner (McMahon, 1995).3.The specific areas of financial managementMost authors and researchers approach the specific areas of financial management in different ways depending upon their emphasis. This section reviews the specific areas of financial management, which have regularly been raised and discussed by the recent authors and researchers such as Walker and Petty (1978), Barrow (1984), Meredith (1986), Cohen (1989), English (1990) and McMahon (1995).Meredith (1986) emphasizes information systems as a base for financial management including financial management records and reports. This is considered very important because the owner-managers or financial managers find it is difficult, if not impossible, to make decisions if they lack finance information. Cohen (1989) focuses on working capital management and tools of financial management such as ratio analysis, profitability measures and bread-even analysis. English (1990) emphasizes objectives of financial management including liquidity, profitability and growth. Therefore, the specific areas that financial management should be concerned with are liquidity management (cash flow budgeting, working capital management), profitability management (profit analysis, profit planning), and growth management (capital resource planning and decisions).McMahon (1995) examines specific areas of financial management including all areas that relate to items on the balance sheet of the business. The specific areas financial management covers consist of managing working capital, managing long-lived assets, managing sources of finance, planning financial structure, and planning and evaluating profitability.In summary, financial management is concerned with many specific areas. Probably the balance sheet of a business may demonstrate how to recognize these areas including:* current asset or working capital management,* fixed asset or long-lived asset management,* funding management,* financial budgeting and planning,* leverage and capital structure,* financial analysis and evaluating performance of the business, and* profit distribution (dividends and retained earnings policy).This study examines financial management practices in relation with objectives, decisions and specific areas of financial management. Objectives, decisions and areas of financial management are relevant to financial management practices. The specific areas of financial management are viewed as a theoretical framework for financial management practices while objectives and decisions of financial management are viewed as factors influencing financial management practices.4. FINANCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SMEsThis subsection mainly discusses the concept of financial characteristics of SMEs. It reviews definitions of financial characteristics that were mentioned and used by previous researchers. Stevens (1973), Burns (1985), Hutchinson, Meric and Meric (1988), Jaggi and Considine (1990), Davidson and Dutia (1991), Laitinen (1992), Hutchinson and Mengersen (1993), McMahon et al. (1993), and Meric et al. (1997) are viewed as the key researchers who study financial characteristics. In defining financial characteristics, McMahon et al. (1993, p. 177) states: Financial characteristics of enterprise, often in the form of accounting ratios, derived from financial statements provide useful information for numerous purposes. This information can be used to quantify the position of small business in terms of their profitability, liquidity, and leverage and to compare them with other or large enterprises.Stevens (1973), who studied financial characteristics of acquired firms, conducted factor analysis on several ratios and reduced the number of ratios into the following six factors: leverage, profitability, activity, liquidity, dividend policy and earning ratio identifying financial characteristics. Burns (1985) analyzed financial characteristics and profitability of small companies in the UK. He used the following ratios: quick ratio, current ratio, gearing, long-term debt ratio, and interest cover ratio to define financial characteristics of the companies.Hutchinson, Meric and Meric (1988) studied financial characteristics of small firms, which achieved quotation on the United Kingdom Unlisted Securities Market. They used financial ratios including liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, activity ratios, profitability ratios and growth ratios to identify financial characteristics of the firm. In another study, Hutchinson and Mengersen (1993) examined the effect of growth on financial characteristics. The variables used to define financial characteristics were profitability, liquidity, and leverage.Jaggi and Considine (1990) examined whether financial characteristics ofowner-controlled acquired firms differ from those of the non-owner-controlled acquired firms. Four variables: profitability, liquidity, leverage, and dividend payment capability were used to identify financial characteristics of the firm. To reduce the large number of ratios produced, some researchers such as Stevens (1973), Laitinen (1992) used factor analysis. According to Laitinen (1992) factor analysis is a useful statistical tool reducing a large set of correlated variables to fewer unrelated dimensions and identifying a typology. Laitinen (1992) studied financial characteristics of newly-founded firms and used the following variables: profitability, dynamic liquidity, quick ratio, indebtedness or static solidity, dynamic solidity, logarithmic net sales, and capital intensiveness to identify financial characteristics.Davidson and Dutia (1991) explored whether small firms have distinctively different financial characteristics from larger firms and determined the extent of the under-capitalization problem. In their study, four variables: liquidity, profitability, debt and solvency, and turnover are viewed as the variables to determine financial characteristics of SMEs. Meric et al. (1997) conducted a comparative study on financial characteristics of 87 Japanese and 87 USA chemical firms. In their study, they compared financial characteristics between the USA and Japanese chemical firms by using ten financial ratios. Financial ratios used to define financial characteristics in their study included: (1) operating profit margin, (2) total asset turnover, (3) return on assets, (4) return on equity, (5) fixed charge coverage, (6) common equity ratio, (7) long-term debt ratio, (8) current ratio, (9) quick ratio and (10) inventory turnover.As indicated in the introduction, the objectives of this chapter were to review the literature, find gaps and build a model of the impact of financial management on SME profitability based on this review. These objectives could not be separated as different activities, and all are fulfilled when a model of the impact of financial management on SME profitability was created.Generally, previous researchers provided valuable and detailed insights into financial management, financial management practices and financial characteristics. However, it appears that no investigation has been undertaken of the relationship between financial management including financial management practices and financial characteristics, especially the simultaneous impact of many variables such as accounting information system, financial reporting and analysis, working capital management, fixed asset management, financial planning practices, liquidity,financial leverage and activity ratios on SME profitability.译文财务管理和中小型企业的盈利能力资料来源：南十字星大学作者：Kieu Minh Nguyen1.财务管理目标财务管理像其他许多管理科学一样，首先要建立其目的和目标。

资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响研究目前，随着市场竞争的日益激烈，企业面临着越来越大的挑战，如何提高盈利能力成为了企业发展中的重要任务。

而资产运营管理作为企业经营管理的重要组成部分，对单位盈利能力有着直接的影响。

本文旨在深入研究资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响，探讨其在企业盈利中的作用和价值。

第一章：引言近年来，随着市场环境的不断变化和企业规模的扩大，企业面临了越来越多的经营挑战。

在这样的背景下，如何有效进行资产运营管理并提高盈利能力成为了企业发展中的关键问题。

本文将围绕着资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响展开研究，探讨其在企业盈利中的作用和意义。

第二章：资产运营管理概述资产运营管理是指企业通过一系列管理手段和方法，有效地对资产进行管理和运营，实现资产价值最大化。

资产运营管理包括资产配置、运营模式、运营效率等方面，是企业经营管理中的重要组成部分。

在当前市场竞争激烈的环境下，有效的资产运营管理可以提高企业的竞争力，增强企业的盈利能力。

第三章：单位盈利能力的影响因素分析单位盈利能力是企业在一定时期内实现盈利的能力，是企业经营管理的核心指标之一。

单位盈利能力受到多种因素的影响，包括市场环境、企业规模、行业竞争等。

资产运营管理作为企业经营管理的重要组成部分，对单位盈利能力有着直接的影响。

本章将深入分析单位盈利能力的影响因素，为后续研究提供理论基础。

第四章：资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响是一个复杂而又微妙的过程。

良好的资产运营管理可以提高资产的利用效率，降低运营成本，增加盈利空间；而不良的资产运营管理则可能导致资源浪费、风险增加，影响单位盈利能力。

本章将通过案例分析和数据统计，深入研究资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响机制，揭示其在企业盈利中的作用和价值。

第五章：资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响优化策略在当前市场环境下，如何优化资产运营管理，提高单位盈利能力成为了企业发展的紧迫问题。

本章将围绕着资产运营管理对单位盈利能力的影响提出优化策略，包括提高资产配置效率、优化运营模式、降低运营风险等方面，从而实现企业盈利能力的提升。

文献出处：Sunday K J. Effective Working Capital Management in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)[J]. International Journal of Business & Management, 2011, 6(9)：271-279.第一部分为译文，第二部分为原文。

默认格式：中文五号宋体，英文五号Times New Roma，行间距1.5倍。

中小企业有效的营运资金管理摘要：中小企业（SME）的主要有效流动资金管理的需求对中小企业的偿付能力和流动性仍然至关重要。

大多数中小企业不关心他们的流动资金状况，大多数人很少考虑到他们的流动资金状况，这些企业大多数都没有标准的信贷政策。

许多人不关心他们的财务状况，他们只是经营，他们主要关注现金收据和他们的银行账户。

本研究使用标准流动资金比率来衡量所选企业的流动资金的有效性，所选择的公司显示过度交易和流动性不足的迹象，关注的是利润最大化，而没有认识到债权人的支付，这些公司的债务回报率低于信贷支付。

建议中小企业在尼日利亚经济中生存下去，必须制定标准的信贷政策，确保良好的财务报告和管理制度，他们必须充分认识到营运资金的管理，以确保连续性，增长和偿付能力。

关键词：中小企业（SME），营运资金管理，流动资金，偿付能力引言中小企业业务仍然是一个国家经济增长和发展最有活力的力量和代理人。

中小企业至少占美国国内生产总值的60％（Ovia，2001年）尼日利亚的中小企业全部在我们周围，只有少数几个中小企业才能成为最受欢迎的企业。

中小企业是几个新兴行业的重大突破。

美国（IT）的大部分突破都是由中小企业推动的。

当时公司是一家小规模企业，由盖茨（Paul Gates）和保罗·艾伦（Paul Allen）于1980年开发的微软磁盘操作系统（MS Dos）在全球拥有约80％的运营成本。

文献信息：文献标题：Impact of Aggressive Working Capital Management Policy on Firms’ Profitability（激进的营运资本管理政策对企业盈利能力的影响）国外作者：Mian Sajid Nazir，Talat Afza文献出处：《The IUP Journal of Applied Finance》,2009,Vol.15,PP19-30 字数统计：英文2669单词，14456字符；中文4407汉字外文文献：Impact of Aggressive Working Capital Management Policyon Firms’ ProfitabilityIntroductionThe corporate finance literature has traditionally focused on the study of long-term financial decisions, particularly investments, capital structure, dividends or company valuation decisions. However, short-term assets and liabilities are important components of total assets and need to be carefully analyzed. Management of these short-term assets and liabilities warrants a careful investigation since the working capital m anagement plays an important role in a firm’s profitability and risk as well as its value (Smith, 1980). Efficient management of working capital is a fundamental part of the overall corporate strategy in creating the shareholders’ value. Firms try to keep an optimal level of working capital that maximizes their value (Deloof, 2003; Howorth and Westhead, 2003 and Afza and Nazir, 2007).In general, from the perspective of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), working capital management is a simple and straightforward concept of ensuring the ability of the organization to fund the difference between the short-term assets and short-term liabilities (Harris, 2005). However, a ‘Total’ approach is desired as it can cover all thecompany’s activities relating to vendor, cu stomer and product (Hall, 2002). In practice, working capital management has become one of the most important issues in the organizations where many financial executives are struggling to identify the basic working capital drivers and an appropriate level of working capital (Lamberson, 1995). Consequently, companies can minimize risk and improve the overall performance by understanding the role and drivers of working capital management.A firm may adopt an aggressive working capital management policy with a low level of current assets as a percentage of total assets, or it may also be used for the financing decisions of the firm in the form of high level of current liabilities as a percentage of total liabilities. Excessive levels of current assets may have a negative effect on the firm’s profitability, whereas a low level of current assets may lead to a lower level of liquidity and stockouts, resulting in difficulties in maintaining smooth operations (Van Horne and Wachowicz, 2004).The main objective of working capital management is to maintain an optimal balance between each of the working capital components. Business success heavily depends on the financial executives’ ability to effectively manage receivables, inventory, and payables (Filbeck and Krueger, 2005). Firms can reduce their financing costs and/or increase the funds available for expansion projects by minimizing the amount of investment tied up in current assets. Most of the financial managers’ time and efforts are allocated towards bringing non-optimal levels of current assets and liabilities back to optimal levels (Lamberson, 1995). An optimal level of working capital would be the one in which a balance is achieved between risk and efficiency. It requires continuous monitoring to maintain proper level in various components of working capital, i.e., cash receivables, inventory and payables, etc.In general, current assets are considered as one of the important components of total assets of a firm. A firm may be able to reduce the investment in fixed assets by renting or leasing plant and machinery, whereas the same policy cannot be followed for the components of working capital. The high level of current assets may reduce the risk of liquidity associated with the opportunity cost of funds that may have been invested in long-term assets. Though the impact of working capital policies onprofitability is highly important, only a few empirical studies have been carried out to examine this relationship. This study investigates the potential relationship of aggressive/conservative policies with the accounting and market measures of profitability of Pakistani firms using a panel data set for the period 1998-2005. The present study is expected to contribute to better understand these policies and their impact on profitability, especially in emerging markets like Pakistan.Research MethodologyVariables Used in the StudyThis study uses aggressive investment policy as used by Weinraub and Visscher (1998), who analyzed working capital policies of 126 industrial firms in the US market. Aggressive Investment Policy (AIP) results in minimal level of investment in current assets versus fixed assets. In contrast, a conservative investment policy places a greater proportion of capital in liquid assets with the opportunity cost of less profitability. If the level of current assets increases in proportion to the total assets of the firm, the management is said to be more conservative in managing the current assets of the firm. In order to measure the degree of aggressiveness of working capital investment policy, the following ratio was used:where a lower ratio means a relatively aggressive policy.On the other hand, an Aggressive Financing Policy (AFP) utilizes higher levels of current liabilities and less long-term debt. In contrast, a conservative financing policy uses more long-term debt and capital and less current liabilities. The firms are more aggressive in terms of current liabilities management if they are concentrating on the use of more current liabilities which put their liquidity on risk. The degree of aggressiveness of a financing policy adopted by a firm is measured by working capital financing policy, and the following ratio is used:where a higher ratio means a relatively aggressive policy.The impact of working capital policies on the profitability has been analyzed through accounting measures of profitability as well as market measures of profitability, i.e., Return on Assets (ROA) and Tobin’s q. These variables of return are calculated as:Tobin’s q compares the value of a company given by financial markets with the value of a company’s assets. A low q (between 0 and 1) means that the cost to replace a firm’s assets is greater than the value of its stock. This implies that the stock is undervalued. Conversely, a high q (greater than 1) implies that a firm’s stock is more expensive than the replacement cost of its assets, which implies that the stock is overvalued. It is calculated as:where Market Value of Firm (MVF) is the sum of book value of long plus short term and market value of equity. Market value of equity is calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding with the current market price of the stock in a particular year.Control VariablesIn working capital literature, various studies have used the control variables along with the main variables of working capital in order to have an apposite analysis of working capital management on the profitability of firms (Lamberson, 1995; Smith and Begemann, 1997; Deelof, 2003; Eljelly, 2004; Teruel and Solano, 2005 and Lazaridis and Tryfonidis, 2006). On the same lines, along with working capital variables, the present study has taken into consideration some control variables relating to firms such as the size of the firm, the growth in its sales, and its financial leverage. The size of the firm (SIZE) has been measured by the logarithm of its totalassets, as the original large value of total assets may disturb the analysis. The growth of firm (GROWTH) is measured by variation in its annual sales value with reference to previous year’s sales[(Sales t –Sales t –1)/Sales t –1]. Moreover, the financial leverage (LVRG) was taken as the debt to equity ratio of each firm for the whole sample period. Some studies, like Deloof (2003) in his study of large Belgian firms, also considered the ratio of fixed financial assets to total assets as a control variable; however, this variable cannot be included in the present study because of unavailability of data, as most of the firms do not disclose full information in their financial statements. Finally, since good economic conditions tend to be reflected in a firm’s profitability (Lamberson, 1995), this phenomenon has been controlled for the evolution of the economic cycle using the GDPGR variable, which measures the real annual GDP growth in Pakistan for each of the study year from 1998 to 2005.Statistical AnalysisThe impact of aggressive and conservative working capital policies on the profitability of the firms has been evaluated by applying the panel data regression analysis. The performance variables (ROA and Tobin’s q) as well as the TCA/TA and TCL/TA along with the control variables were regressed using the SPSS software. The following regression equations are run to estimate the impact of working capital policies on the profitability measures.where,TCA/TA=Total current assets to total assets ratioTCL/TA i=Total current liabilities to total assets ratioROA i=Return on assetsTobin’s q i=V alue of qSIZE i=Natural log of firm sizeGROWTH i=Growth of salesLVRG i=Financial leverage of firmsGDPGR i=Real Annual GDP growth rate of Pakistanα=Intercept; andε=Error term of the modelSample and DataThe sample of the study consists of all non-financial firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). KSE has divided the non-financial firms into various industrial sectors based on their nature of business. In order to be included in the sample, a firm must be in business for the whole study period. Also, firms should neither have been delisted by the KSE nor merged with any other firm during the whole window period. New incumbents in the market during the study period have also not been included in the sample. Furthermore, firms must have complete data for the period 1998-2005. Firms with negative equity during the study period have also been excluded. Thus, the final sample consists of 204 non-financial firms from 17 various industrial sectors.This study used annual financial data of 204 non-financial firms for the period 1998-2005. The panel data set was developed for eight years and for the 204 sampled firms which produced 1,632 year-end observations. The required financial data for the purpose of the study was obtained from the respective companies’annual reports and publications of State Bank of Pakistan. The data regarding annual average market prices was collected from the daily quotations of KSE.AnalysisTable 1 presents the results of regression model in which the impact of working capital investment policy on the performance measurements has been examined. The F-values of regression models run are found statistically significant, whereas Durbin-Watson statistics of more than 1.8 indicate less correlation among the independent variables of the regressions models. The t-statistics of working capital investment policy is positive and statistically significant at 1% level for Return on Assets and Tobin’s q. The positive coefficient of TCA/TA indicates a negative relationship between the degree of aggressiveness of investment policy and return on assets. As the TCA/TA increases, the degree of aggressiveness decreases, and return on assets increases. Therefore, there is a negative relationship between the relative degree of aggressiveness of working capital investment policies of firms and both performance measures, i.e., ROA and Tobin’s q. This similarity in market and accounting returns confirms the notion that investors do not believe in the adoption of aggressive approach in the working capital management, hence, they do not give any additional weight to the firms on KSE.Table 2 reports regression results for working capital financing policy and the performance measures. The F-value of regression models and Durbin-Watson statistics indicate similar results as reported in Table 1. The negative value of coefficient for TCL/TA also points out the negative relationship between the aggressiveness of working capital financing policy and return on assets. The higher the TCL/TA ratio, the more aggressive the financing policy, that yields negative return on assets. However, surprisingly, the relationship between Tobin’s q and working capital financing policy has been established as positive and statistically significant. Investors were found giving more weight to the firms which are adopting an aggressive approach towards working capital financing policy and having higher levels of short-term and spontaneous financing on their balance sheets.The control variables used in the regression models are natural log of firm size, sales growth, real GDP growth and the average leverage. All the control variables have their impact on the performance of the firms. Firms’size causes the returns of the firms to be increased and it is found to be statistically significant. Moreover, GROWTH and LVRG are found to be significantly associated with the book-based returns on assets which confirm the notion that leverage and growth are strongly correlated with the book value-based performance measures (Deloof, 2003 and Eljelly,2004). Real GDP growth may not affect the returns based on book values; however, investors may react positively to a positive change in the level of economic activity which is in accordance with the findings of Lamberson (1995).The above results contradict the findings of Gardner et al. (1986), Deloof (2003), Eljelly (2004) and Teruel and Solano (2005); however, they are in accordance with Afza and Nazir (2007) and produced a negative relationship between the aggressiveness of working capital policies and accounting measures of profitability. Managers cannot create value if they adopt an aggressive approach towards working capital investment and working capital financing policy. However, if firms adopt aggressive approach in managing their short-term liabilities, investors give more value to those firms. The degree of aggressiveness of working capital policies adopted helps only in creating shareholders’wealth through increased market performance, whereas accounting performance cannot be increased by being aggressive in managing the working capital requirements. The results of this study are somewhat different from those conducted in the developed economies. Pakistan is one of the emerging economies and Pakistani markets are not fully transparent and efficient to fully absorb the impact of information. The study results confirm this state of Pakistani markets.ConclusionThe present study investigates the relationship between the aggressive/conservative working capital asset management and financing polices and its impact on profitability of 204 Pakistani firms divided into 16 industrial groups by KSE for the period 1998-2005. The impact of aggressive/conservative working capital investment and the financing policies has been examined using panel data regression models between working capital policies and profitability. The study finds a negative relationship between the profitability measures of firms and degree of aggressiveness of working capital investment and financing policies. The firms report negative returns if they follow an aggressive working capital policy. These results were furthervalidated by examining the impact of aggressive working capital policies on market measures of profitability, which was not tested before. The results of Tobin’s q were in line of the accounting measures of profitability and produced almost similar results for working capital investment policy. However, investors were found giving more value to those firms that are more aggressive in managing their current liabilities.The study used a new measure of profitability, i.e., Tobin’s q and panel data regression analysis, to investigate the relationship between working capital management and firm returns in Pakistan. The findings of the present study are expected to contribute significantly to finance literature. The results of the present study are in contradiction to those of some earlier studies on the issue. This phenomenon may be attributed to the inconsistent and volatile economic conditions of Pakistan. The reasons for this contradiction may further be explored in future researches.The study also suggests some policy implications for the managers and prospective investors in the emerging market of Pakistan. Firms with more aggressive policy towards working capital may not be able to generate more profit. So, as far as the book value performance is concerned, managers cannot generate more returns on assets by following aggressive approach towards short-term assets and liabilities. On the other hand, investors are found giving more value to the firms that adopt an aggressive approach towards working capital financing policies. The market value of firms using high level of current liabilities in their financing is more than the book value. The investors believe that firms with less equity and less long-term loans would be able to perform better than the others. However, there are various other factors like agency problem which may play a pivotal role in such cases, and so these factors may further be explored in future.中文译文：激进的营运资本管理政策对企业盈利能力的影响简介企业融资文章历来侧重于研究长期财务决策，特别是投资、资本结构、股利和公司估值决策。

营运资金管理中英双语文献营运资金是企业用于日常运营的资金，包括现金、存货、应收账款等。

良好的营运资金管理可以确保企业正常运转和资金充足，同时还能减少财务风险和成本。

以下是关于营运资金管理的中英双语文献：1. 《营运资金管理的重要性及其对企业运营的影响》(The Importance of Working Capital Management and Its Impact on Business Operations)本文介绍了营运资金管理的概念和重要性，探讨了如何优化营运资金管理以提高企业效率和盈利能力。

2. 《营运资金管理策略的选择与实施》(Selection and Implementation of Working Capital Management Strategies) 该文讨论了不同的营运资金管理策略，并提供了实施这些策略的具体步骤和技巧，以帮助企业实现资金最大化利用。

3. 《营运资金管理与企业绩效》(Working Capital Management and Firm Performance)该研究探讨了营运资金管理与企业绩效之间的关系，并证实了营运资金管理对企业绩效的重要性。

4. 《营运资金管理中的财务风险与控制》(Financial Risk and Control in Working Capital Management)该文描述了营运资金管理中的财务风险，并提出了相应的控制措施，以帮助企业降低财务风险并增强资金管理能力。

5. 《营运资金管理中的现金流预测与控制》(Cash Flow Forecasting and Control in Working Capital Management) 本文介绍了现金流预测在营运资金管理中的重要性，并提供了现金流预测的方法和技巧，以帮助企业更好地管理资金。

以上是关于营运资金管理的中英双语文献，这些文献可以帮助企业了解营运资金管理的重要性和实施方法，提高企业的资金使用效率和管理能力。