1、中文 3646 字 原文： The relationship between working capital management and profitability of listed companies in the Athens Stock Exchange Abstract In this paper we investigate the relationship of corporate profitability and working capital management. We used a sample of 131 companies listed in the Athen
2、s 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 s
3、ignificance 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
4、) to an optimum level Introduction Capital structure and working capital management are two areas widely revisited by academia in order to postulate firms profitability. Working capital management has been approached in numerous ways. Other researchers studied the impact of optimum inventory managem
5、ent while other authors studied the management of accounts receivables in an optimum way that leads to profit maximization. According to Deloof (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 wo
6、rking capital requirements which potentially maximizes 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
7、flow problems. While smaller firms focused more on stock management and less profitable firms were focused on credit management routines. It is suggested that high growth firms follow a more reluctant credit policy towards their customers, while they tie up more capital in the form of inventory. Mea
8、nwhile 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 rate
9、s commonly exceed 18 percent. 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
10、 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 terms. There seems to be a strong relation between the cash conversion cycle of a firm and its
11、 profitability. The three different components of cash conversion cycle (accounts payables, accounts receivables and inventory) can be managed in different ways in order to maximize profitability or to enhance the growth of a company. Sometimes trade credit is a vehicle to attract new customers. Man
12、y 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 paying. Therefore it is up to the individual company whether a marketing appr
13、oach 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
14、 be maintained in receivables-payables and inventory. According to Pike & Cheng (2001) credit management seeks to create, safeguard and realize a portfolio of high quality accounts receivable. Given the significant investment in accounts receivable by most large firms, credit management policy choic
15、es and practices could have important implications for corporate value. Successful management of resources will lead to corporate profitability, but how can we measure management success since a period ofcredit granting might lead to increased sales and market share whilst accompanied by decreased p
16、rofitability 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 equation encompasses all three very important aspects of working capital manage
17、ment. 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
18、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 m
19、anaged cash conversion cycle and its components will be statistically analyzed. 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 es
20、tablish 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.
21、 Results of the descriptive statistics accompanied with regression modeling 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 finding
22、s of this paper and comes up with conclusions related with working capital management policies and profitability. Data Collection and Variables (i) Data Collection The data collected were from listed firms in the Athens Stock Exchange Market. The reason we chose this market is primarily due to the r
23、eliability 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 usual
24、ly 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 NACE(Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community) industries from which electricity and water, banking and financial
