Effects of Working Capital Management On Profitability of Manufacturing Firms Listed in Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya (Published)
This study examined effect of working capital management on profitability containing twenty manufacturing firms listed in Nairobi securities exchange. Kenya’s manufacturing sector has been hit by poor working capital management leading to unstable profits. Despite various scholars conducting studies concerning Kenyan manufacturing firms’ working capital, lack of consistence revenues require further examination on what causes these deviations. Current study was piloted by following specific objectives; Influence of inventories, receivable, payable, and cash managements on profitability of manufacturing firms. Theories that guided this study were: agency, transaction cost, and cash conversion cycle. Descriptive statistics was used on analysis especially, minimum, maximum, mean and standard deviation. Mathematical data evaluation involved inferential statistics. In addition, study model quantitative data was presented in tables. The study accepted census sampling method for collecting secondary data from population of 20 companies listed for five years from 2016 to 2020. Secondary details were found in financial statements of manufacturing firms and Nairobi Securities Exchange. Data was collected using checklist. The study recommended that manufacturing companies should estimate desirable quantity of working capital and concluded that increased working capital should match increased expenses, sales and revenue.
Keywords: Kenya, Manufacturing Firms, Nairobi Securities Exchange, Profitability, Working Capital Management
Operational Budgeting and Procurement Performance among Manufacturing Firms within Jinja Industrial Hub in Uganda (Published)
Ineffective operational budget management negatively affects manufacturing firms’ procurement performance. This paper investigates the impact of operational budgeting on procurement performance among manufacturing firms within the Jinja industrial hub in Uganda. A self-administered research instrument was used to collect the data on the operational budgeting variables of budgeting approaches, budget reviews, budgeting ethics, and expense forecasts. The study adopted a survey-based approach and a stratified simple random sampling technique to collect the data from a sample of 97 manufacturing firms within the Jinja industrial hub in Uganda. The data quality control was ensured by establishing the research instrument’s internal consistency that yielded an overall Cronbach’s reliability coefficient of 0.80. Correlation analysis and regression analysis techniques were applied to analyze the data. The study revealed significant positive correlations (p < 0.01) between all the variables of operational budgeting and procurement performance of manufacturing firms within the Jinja industrial hub in Uganda. The multiple regression analysis results indicated that R2 = 29.5% and Adj.R2 = 25.9%. Furthermore, for the whole multiple regression analysis model F(4,80) = 8.357, p < 0.001, which signified that there was a significant impact of operational budgeting on procurement performance among manufacturing firms within the Jinja industrial hub in Uganda. The authors recommend that manufacturing firms should emphasize organizational goal attainment, practicability, cost reduction, and resource allocation efficiency when choosing budgeting approaches. Additionally, operational budgeting should be prioritized by manufacturing firms the same way as capital budgeting.
Keywords: Jinja industrial hub, Manufacturing Firms, Procurement Performance, Uganda, operational budgeting
Empirical Study on the Impact of Corporate Governance Practices on Performance: Evidence from SMES in an Emerging Economy (Published)
The study examined the impact of corporate governance practices on the performance of SMEs in Ghana. Both descriptive and correlational research design were employed for the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select one hundred (100) SMEs from two regions in Ghana. The study utilised the annual reports of the SMEs from 2012 to 2016 financial years. Net profit margin (NPM) and return on assets (ROA) were used as proxies for performance and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to estimate the level of impact of corporate governance on the performance of SMEs in Ghana. The study found empirical evidence to support the view that the board size (BS) has a negative impact on NPM, though insignificant. In addition, the evidence obtained indicate that board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO), all have positive impact on NPM. The evidence also showed that role difference for CEO and board chairman (DR) has a negative and positive impact on both ROA and ROE. Similarly, the results showed that board size (BS) has an insignificant negative impact on ROA. Additionally, it was ascertained that board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO) have positive impact on ROA, though the level of impact of board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO) are statistically insignificant. The results further provide evidence that the control variables: firm age (Fage) and industry of the firms (FInd) have a significant positive impact on both NPM and ROA. Generally, the evidence obtained show that corporate governance has positive but insignificant impact on performance of SMEs.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Ghana Stock Exchange, Manufacturing Firms, Return on Assets, Return on Equity