WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN NYERI COUNTY, KENYA

Small and Medium Enterprises largely contribute to an economic agenda by expanding employment, fostering growth and providing crucial services from global, regional to the local stages. In Kenya, Small and Medium Enterprises have continued to face a mountain of challenges and struggle to achieve significant growth despite their importance to the Kenyan Economy. Imprudent working capital decisions have been highlighted in literature as some of the principal causes of their stagnation and decline in growth. Nevertheless, there is scarce empirical evidence on whether working capital management activities significantly affect growth of these institutions. The general objective of the study was to determine the effect of working capital management practices on Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nyeri County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to establish the effect of cash management practices, debtors management practices, creditors management practices and inventory management practices on growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study was anchored on: Trade-Off Theory of Liquidity, the Cash Conversion Cycle Theory and the Economic Order Quantity model. The target population comprised of a total of 841 SMEs operating in Nyeri County, Kenya. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 89 SMEs. Questionnaires were used as the suitable data collection tool. Statistical software was used to undertake descriptive analysis, multiple regression and correlation coefficient. The study found that cash management practices had positive and statistically significant effect on the growth of SMEs (p= 0.000); debtors management practices had a positive and statistically significant effect on the growth of SMEs (p=0.000). Additionally, creditors management practices had a positive but statistically insignificant effect on the growth of SMEs (p=0.196) whereas inventory management practices had a positive statistically insignificant the growth of SMEs (p= 0.263). From correlation analysis, the study found a positive relationship between cash management practices and growth (r = 0.790, p = 0.000) at 5% level of significance. Debtors management practices had a positive relationship with growth (r = 0.771, p = 0.000); creditors management practices had a positive relationship with growth of SMEs (r = 0.267, p = 0.019) whereas inventory management practices had a positive relationship with growth (r = 0.551, p = 0.000) at level of significance. The study recommends that SMEs in Nyeri should formulate cash management policy to guide the effective maintenance of liquidity at optimal levels ensure proper implementation of cash budgeting and addition, there should be a clear policy that spells out effective account payables management practices that ensures optimal credit purchases as well as stipulate creditors' settlement criteria. Moreover, management of SMEs in Nyeri County should formulate inventory management policy which focuses on ensuring that optimal stock levels are maintained to avoid overstocking and understocking of certain products. (cid:10) established of of sales study found a weak positive and significant effect of cash management, inventory management and firm size on tax efficiency of non-financial firms at Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study further revealed a negative but significant effect of accounts payable and accounts receivable management on tax efficiency of non-financial firms at NSE. established and statistically a positive statistically Findings showed presence positive relationship effects