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Working Capital and Financial Management Practices in the Small Firm Sector

MICHAELJ. PEEL IS A LECTURER IN accountancy and finance at Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, and Nicholas Wilson is Professor of Credit Management at the University of Bradford, England. Very little research has been conducted on the capital budgeting and working capital practices of small firms. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a preliminary study on the working capital and financial management practices of a sample of small firms located in the north of England. In general, the results of the survey indicated that a relatively high proportion of small firms in the sample claimed to use quantitative capital budgeting and working capital techniques and to review various aspects of their companies' working capital. In addition, the firms which claimed to use the more sophisticated discounted cash flow capital budgeting techniques, or which had been active in terms of reducing stock levels or the debtors' credit period, on average tended to be more active in respect of working capital management practices. It is hoped that the issues raised will stimulate further theoretical and empirical contributions on this neglected and important area of small business research.