Политика управления оборотным капиталом оптовых торговых компаний

Abstract

This article contains a new approach to working capital management which influences significantly the profitability and liquidity of companies. The impact of working capital management on financial results is regarded mostly theoretically in Russian literature, while in numerous foreign articles empirical results are controversial. The article presents the empirical research on the basis of 8890 Russian wholesale trade companies over the period of 2014- 2018, which reveals a non-linear relation between the profitability and cash conversion cycle. Similar relation is also revealed for 2290 Russian retail companies, 2320 Russian metal production companies and 1760 construction companies. As a result, we proved the existence of such a cash conversion cycle which provides maximum profitability for different economic sectors. This cash conversion cycle equals 19 days for wholesale trade, 9 days for retail trade, 38 days for construction and 43 for metal production. Moreover, the formula of cash conversion cycle is modified to show how the desired cash conversion cycle may be achieved. This formula demonstrates a strong impact of working capital policy on cash conversion cycle and proves the importance of coherent working capital policy. The results may be useful in the working capital management to provide an increase in profitability combined with maintenance of chosen liquidity level.