stock held by the firm. Longer storage times represent a greater investment in
inventory for a particular level of operations.
The number of days accounts payable (AP) reflects the average time it takes firms
to pay their suppliers. This was calculated as 365 £ [accounts payable/purchases]. The
higher the value, the longer firms take to settle their payment commitments to their
suppliers.
Considering these three periods jointly, the cash conversion cycle (CCC) was
estimated. This variable is calculated as the number of days accounts receivable plus
the number of days of inventory minus the number of days accounts payable. Longer
cash conversion cycle indicates more time between outlay of cash and cash recovery.
Together with these variables, control variables were introduced, such as the size of
the firm, the growth in its sales, and its leverage. Size (SIZE) was measured as the
logarithm of assets, the sales growth (SGROW) as (Sales1 2 Sales0)/Sales0, the
leverage (DEBT) as the ratio of debt to liabilities. Deloof (2003) in his study of large
Belgian firms also considered the ratio of fixed financial assets to total assets as a
control variable. For some firms in his study such assets are a significant part of total
assets. However the present study focuses on SMEs whose fixed financial assets are
less important. In fact, companies in the sample invest little in fixed financial assets (a
mean of 3.92 percent, but a median of 0.05 percent). Nevertheless, the results remain
unaltered when this variable is included.
Furthermore, and since good economic conditions tend to be reflected in a firm’s
profitability, controls were applied for the evolution of the economic cycle using the
variable GDPGR, which measures the annual GDP growth.
3.3 Description of sample
Current assets and liabilities have a series of distinct characteristics according to the
sector of activity in which the firm operates. Thus, Table I reports the return on assets
and number of days accounts receivable, days of inventory, and days accounts payable
by sector of activity. The mining industry and services sector are the two sectors with
the highest return on their assets, with a value of 10 percent. Firms that are dedicated
to agriculture, trade (wholesale or retail), transport and public services, are some way
behind at 7 percent.
With regard to the average periods by sector, one finds, as one would expect, that
the firms dedicated to the retail trade, with an average period of 38 days, take least time
ROA AR INV AP CCC
Agriculture 0.07 71.45 106.38 83.00 95.15
Mining 0.10 116.14 83.77 141.37 58.54
Manufacturing 0.08 108.12 96.93 108.33 96.81
Construction 0.08 145.06 55.76 145.66 55.48
Retail trade 0.07 38.00 68.51 56.87 49.55
Wholesale trade 0.07 97.92 73.33 77.78 93.49
Transport and public services 0.07 94.97 15.27 110.86 20.79
Services 0.10 86.47 40.51 120.42 6.94
Notes: ROA – measure return on assets; AR – number of days accounts receivable; INV number of
days inventories; AP – number of days accounts payable; CCC – cash conversion cycle