Effect of Working Capital Management on the Financial Performance of Retail Supermarkets in Nairobi County

Abstract

Moreover, working capital management affects performance linked to the finance of any company, this calls for good control to ensure a balance of performance and the risk of not achieving financial obligation. It is a major cornerstone of effectiveness and efficiency in finance. Hence, the objective of the study was to examine the impacts of working capital control on the financial performance of retail supermarkets in Nairobi County. Resource-based, Agency, and Cash Conversion Cycle theory anchored this study. The research adopted the correlation design of the study. This design intends to accurately and systematically describe a situation or population. The research focused on 13 supermarkets in Nairobi from 2016 to 2021. The information for the study was obtained from the Supermarket reports of finance from 2016-2021. In addition, data was analyzed through SPSS. During data examination, descriptive and inferential examinations were done. From the findings, the inventory turnover ratio has a negative correlation towards the predicted variable as depicted by (r=-0.017, p=0.885) while the account receivable average, account payable average, and liquidity ratio have a positive relation towards the Return on assets. The account receivable average has (r=0.002, p=0.989), account payable average (r=0.145, p=0.204), and liquidity ratio (r=0.435, p=0.000) towards the regressed variable. The diagnostic analysis posted that the dataset met the minimum threshold. Therefore, the enabling variables were free multicollinearity obstruction while autocorrelation and normal posted a normal range. The descriptive statistics gave a factual proposition of average and standard deviation. Moreover, the presentation of the greatest and lowest value explained the range. ROA recorded the lowest value of 0.0294 and the highest of 0.4912. The inventory turnover posted the least value of 2.6358 while a maximum of 8.9021. The account receivable had 3.0741 and 7.3116 for the lowest and highest figures respectively. The account payable recorded the least of 3.2765 and a maximum figure of 4.1925. The computation illustrates that all the chosen predictor variables correlated positively with ROA. It is imperative to present that when all factors remain unchanged, the ROA is negative at 11.3%. In addition, a positive change in the inventory turnover time translates to an increase in ROA by 0.1 when all factors are unchanged. Furthermore, the advancement in a single unit of average accounts receivable causes a positive increase of 0.3% in ROA whenever all factors are kept constant. Furthermore, the increment of a singular unit of average accounts payable translates to a 2.8% increase in ROA, all factors constant. Lastly, a unitary advancement on one unit of liquidity is fundamental for the positive increase in ROA by 62.7% all other determinants held constant. The correlation gave a prompt outlook of the association. The R-value was 0.445 and the R-Square was 19.8% thereby postulating that deviation in ROA was triggered by Liquidity, Inventory Turnover Period, Average Receivable Accounts, and Average Account Payable. The remnant 80.2% relates to varying changes correlated with enablers not factored in the study. The comprehensive inspection should be followed by a forensic accounting mechanism that gives a red alert to the supermarket for going beyond the threshold. This investigation proposes a replicate study that considers the working capital and financial sustainability of manufacturing firms.