The Impact of Working Capital Management on Profitability: Evidence from Serbian Listed Manufacturing Companies

Abstract Working capital management (WCM) plays a significant role in company’s operations. The aim of this research is to explain how working capital management affects profitability of Serbian companies measured by ROA indicator. In order to answer the question, a quantitative analysis of working capital management was performed on a sample of 79 companies in the field of manufacturing industry from the territory of the Republic of Serbia. All the companies were listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange in business year 2019. Analysis was performed via Spearman’s correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression. The results of the research show that there is a negative and statistically significant correlation between profitability and accounts receivable turnover in days (ART), accounts payable turnover in days (APT) and inventory turnover in days (IT). On the other hand, it was found that there is no statistically significant correlation between cash conversion cycle in days (CCC) and profitability. The issue of working capital management has not been sufficiently examined in the territory of the Republic of Serbia and it is difficult to determine which theoretical knowledge about working capital is true, which emphasizes the importance of research on this subject.