WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR ESTABLISHMENTS. (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA BREWERIES PLC)

ABSTRACT This research work is titled “Optimizing working capital management strategies in private sectors establishment”. It is apparent that the scarcity of working capital management research in Nigeria shows that challenges of current organizational settings have caused a loss of significance and engenders the need for a conceptual review. The main objective of this research is to examine how working capital management strategies can be improved in the businesses of private sector establishments in Nigeria. The research design of the study is descriptive research method. The study gathered primary data, obtained through questionnaires that were distributed purposively to the selected respondents which are workers of Nigeria Breweries Plc, Alakia Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria, and the hypotheses for the study were tested using regression analysis method. The findings of this research have shown that the number of days of accounts receivables and the external factors are the significant elements impacting considerably the profitability of Nigeria manufacturing companies. The research also found that several financial managers have issues to identify the significant drivers of working capital and therefore their incapacity to set optimum levels. Therefore, the study recommends that the managers of manufacturing business must continuously monitor their working capital components but mainly the receivables and cash. Also, As there is a negative correlation between cash conversion cycle and the profitability of the firms (measured by return on total assets), financial managers must shorten the cycle without affecting the operations which will improve the profits. Evidently the longer the cash conversion cycle significant will be the need for external financing. Keywords: Working Capital Management, Private Establishment, Manufacturing sector, Cash Conversion Cycle.