Open AccessFurther Evidence Of The Creation Of Value Through The Management Of Net Working Capital: An Analysis Of S&P 500 Firms
Author(s) -
Rakesh Duggal,
Michael C. Budden
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of business and economics research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2157-8893
pISSN - 1542-4448
DOI - 10.19030/jber.v13i1.9083
Subject(s) - working capital , ceteris paribus , cost of capital , return on capital , physical capital , current liability , business , capital (architecture) , economics , shareholder value , monetary economics , financial capital , market value added , finance , shareholder , market value , capital formation , microeconomics , human capital , market economy , corporate governance , profit (economics) , archaeology , history
Net working capital is defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities. A firms net working capital policy is important because it affects the firms cost of capital and market value. When net working capital is positive, it indicates that the firm is using long-term funds from lenders and/or shareholders to finance its current assets. Since long-term funds, in general, are more expensive than short-term funds, theoretically, the greater use of net working capital will increase the firms cost of capital and lower its market value, ceteris paribus. Consistent with the theorys prediction, this study finds a negative relationship between the amount of net working capital used by S&P 500 firms and risk-adjusted shareholder returns in the 2009-2012 period.