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Post-COVID-19, the future of working capital management has changed. Last year, supply chain complexity, inventory buffers, and loss of negotiating power all crimped many companies’ ability to reduce their working capital effectively. The height of the pandemic in 2020 also exposed weaknesses in supply chains. All those factors will increase the focus on how companies can improve working capital efficiency in 2021. In general, this year working capital management won’t be about squeezing suppliers on terms. For the 1,000 U.S. companies in the CFO/The Hackett Group Working Capital Scorecard, days payable outstanding (DPO, the number of days companies take to pay their suppliers)  increased by 7.6% in 2020, to an all-time high of 62.2 days, up from 57.8 days in 2019. (See chart below.) (For more on the scorecard’s results, see Thursday’s story, Working Capital: A Tumultuous Year.) The biggest opportunities to improve working capital now are those components that lockdowns hit...

When it comes to working capital, every rand is a soldier. Meaning that every cent you spend needs to go to battle for you and work as hard as it possibly can. Dov Girnun, founder and CEO of alternative finance provider, Merchant Capital, says that many small businesses are changing their day-to-day behaviours in order to leverage working capital effectively across their business, making them top performers in their respective industries. “Putting some fundamentals in place gives your company the best chance of unlocking the most working capital, but it also requires discipline and implementing behavioural change at a company culture level.” SA retail sales jump 95.8% in April Stats SA reports that South Africa's retail trade sales retail trade sales increased by 95.8% year on year in April 2021... 17 Jun 2021 Below, Girnun outlines the four key strategies that can help your business maximise working capital and make the most of this ripe retail trajectory. 1. Inv...