Working capital management, firm performance and macroeconomic factors

This paper investigates the impact of working capital management (WCM) on firm performance among listed Iranian manufacturing firms, focusing on the direct and moderating roles of inflation and GDP variables. This study uses the ordinary least squares with robust standard errors to analyze panel data covering the period 2010–2016. Two-stage least squares with robust standard errors is also used to control the endogeneity problem. The results show that the cash conversion cycle (CCC) is negatively related to return on assets and to refined economic value added (REVA). That is, the shorter time the span between an expenditure to purchase raw materials and the collection of the receivables for sold goods, the higher the performance. However, when endogeneity problem is controlled for, CCC loses its relationship to REVA. Macroeconomic variables are positively and significantly related to ROA, but only inflation is significantly related to REVA. Moreover, macroeconomic factors do not moderate the relationship between WCM and firm performance.