Kamara, Abdul Sheriff <br/><br/>
ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF WORKING CAPITAL  MANAGEMENT ON THE PROFITABILITY OF  MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN SIERRA LEONE / 
ABDUL SHERIFF KAMARA; SUPERVISOR: ASSOC. PROF. DR. ASİL AZİMLİ 
 - vii, 55 sheets;  31 cm.  1 CD-ROM 
<br/><br/>Thesis (MSc) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Accounting and Finance Department 
<br/><br/>Includes bibliography (sheets 50-55) 
<br/><br/> ABSTRACT<br/>Working Capital Management (WCM) is a crucial and direct propeller of an <br/>organization's profitability and liquidity; ineffective working capital (WC) causes <br/>detrimental influence on profitability and remained a challenge for businesses of <br/>developing companies. Thus, this study analyzed the impact of WCM on profitability <br/>of manufacturing firms in Sierra Leone using a Panelized Least Square (PLS) <br/>technique. The PLS estimate revealed that a unit percent increase in the cash <br/>conversion cycle resulted in a 5.24% rise in the profitability level of manufacturing <br/>firms in Sierra Leone. Also, an increase in the account payable of a unit percent <br/>results in a 0.83% decrease in profitability level of manufacturing firms in Sierra <br/>Leone. Similarly, the PLS estimate also revealed that the account receivable had a <br/>significant negative influence on the profitability of Sierra Leone's manufacturing <br/>firms. This suggests that a unit percent decrease in the account receivable caused a <br/>1.67% improvement in the level of profitability for Sierra Leone's manufacturing <br/>firms. More so, current ratio was found to show a significant and favorable effect on<br/>the profitability of Sierra Leone's manufacturing firms. The upshot of this is that an <br/>increase in the current ratio of Sierra Leone's manufacturing firms tends to <br/>dramatically raise their profitability levels. These findings are consistent to existing <br/>literatures. Therefore, the study concluded that cash conversion cycle, account<br/>payable, account receivables and current ratio significantly affect the profitability of <br/>the Sierra Leone’s manufacturing firms. Consequently, the study recommended that <br/>manufacturing firms in Sierra should improve its profit by ensuring that its existing <br/>assets are converted to cash promptly, thereby increasing the businesses’ WC. Also, <br/>manufacturing firms in Sierra Leone should ensure key procedures that will aid the <br/>accounts payable to influence or increase WC so as to free up cash. These procedures <br/>may include, contract evaluations, sourcing, procurement, invoicing, accounting, and <br/>reporting.<br/>Keywords: Profitability, PLS, WCM<br/> 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Profit--Dissertations, Academic<br/>Working capital--Dissertations, Academic<br/>Least squares--Dissertations, Academic