WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF SMALL SCALE ENTERPRISES IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

The main thrust of this study is to unveil the working capital management practices of SSEs in the Central Region of Ghana. The study used descriptive statistics for the presentation and analysis of findings. The results show that 38 percent of SSEs received credit from their suppliers and the average credit period ranged between two weeks to one month. On the other hand, the credit period given by SSEs to their credit customers ranged between less than a month and 60 days. From the study, two main problems faced by SSEs in dealing with credit customers are late payment and bad debt. The results show that 50 percent of respondents use notebooks while only 0.7 percent uses computers for inventory control. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents had bank account for their businesses. Personal savings accounted for about 60 percent of start-up capital and SSEs consider inflation/price increases to be more problematic than even high debtors turnover period and low stock turnover. Consequently, it is recommended that there should be greater collaboration between the Business Advisory Centres (BACs) and the various associations of SSEs for the financial training of entrepreneurs. Government will have to expand the BACs currently located in only the district and regional capitals. The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) should design and print more simplified record keeping documents, like their current cash book, for use by the SSEs. The SSEs should use their associations in a cooperative manner to procure inventory.