Working Capital Management of SMEs: Ghana’s Version of the Story

This study is about working capital management practices by the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. The objectives of the study include inventory management practices, cash management practices and trade receivables management practices by the SMEs. The study involves both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected from fifty (50) owners and operators of SMEs in Ghana. The respondents were selected using convenience sampling to answer the questionnaire. The secondary sources were the information gathered from books and previous studies and other valuable materials relevant to the study. Microsoft excel was used for the computation and subsequent analysis of the data collected from the respondents. Cash management-the study revealed that these SMEs do not manage the various elements of their working capital properly. It was found that operators of SMEs do not apply efficient inventory management, cash management and trade receivable management. The study recommended that the SMEs should redesign efficient inventory management system; appropriate cash management and trade receivable order to effectively and efficiently manage working capital.