Differences in working capital efficiency by firm size

Authors

  • Szabolcs Makai University of Debrecen
  • Vilmos Lakatos University of Debrecen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32976/stratfuz.2025.4

Keywords:

working capital, profitability, inventory management, firm size, ANOVA, crop production

Abstract

Small, medium, and large enterprises have varying financial structures and resources, influencing how they manage inventories, receivables, and payables. Large companies utilize more advanced systems to optimize working capital, while small businesses operate under stricter financial conditions. Medium-sized firms are in a transitional phase, facing challenges in growth and financial flexibility. The study highlights that efficient management of working capital is critical for all sizes of enterprises, and analyses the different categories of income and profitability depending on size for Hungarian crop enterprises.

Our studies have confirmed that the asset and capital endowments, taken for granted, fully justify the higher values associated with size growth.  In addition, the significant differences of the different profitability ratios as a function of size (EBIT, EBITDA, AEE, AE) were convincing. The ambiguity of size efficiency was already evident for the profitability ratios examined, as ROS% and EBITDA Margin% did not show significant differences concerning size categories. ROA%, ROE% showed significant differences according to the Welch test, but the magnitude of the difference is not significant for micro and small size, i.e. the difference in the specific results for companies belonging to these two size categories cannot be statistically verified. Thus, it can be concluded that, for ROA, asset efficiency specifically shows a verifiable change only for medium enterprises compared to the micro-small size group.

 

Author Biographies

Szabolcs Makai, University of Debrecen

PhD student, University of Debrecen, Faculty of Economics, Doctoral School of Management and Business

Vilmos Lakatos, University of Debrecen

Associate Professor, University of Debrecen, Faculty of Economics, Institute of Accounting and Finance

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évi XXXIV törvény a kis- és középvállalkozásokról, fejlődésük támogatásáról Forrás: https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a0400034.tv

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Published

2025-04-28

How to Cite

Makai, S., & Lakatos, V. (2025). Differences in working capital efficiency by firm size. Strategic Issues of Northern Hungary, 22(01), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.32976/stratfuz.2025.4