The present study investigates the traditional relationship between working capital management policies and a firm's profitability. Using the panel data set for the period 1998-2005, the impact of aggressive working capital investment and financing policies has been evaluated using return on assets as well as Tobin's q. Managers can create value if they adopt a conservative approach towards working capital investment and working capital financing policies. The study also finds that investors give weight to the stocks of those firms that adopt an aggressive approach to managing their short-term liabilities.

The corporate finance literature has traditionally focused on the study of long-term financial decisions, particularly investments, capital structure, dividends or company valuation decisions. However, short-term assets and liabilities are important components of total assets and need to be carefully analyzed. Management of these short-term assets and liabilities warrants a careful investigation since the working capital management plays an important role in a firm's profitability and risk as well as its value (Smith, 1980). Efficient management of working capital is a fundamental part of the overall corporate strategy in creating the shareholders' value. Firms try to keep an optimal level of working capital that maximizes their value (Deloof, 2003; Howorth and Westhead, 2003 and Afza and Nazir, 2007).

In general, from the perspective of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), working capital management is a simple and straightforward concept of ensuring the ability of the organization to fund the difference between the short-term assets and short-term liabilities (Harris, 2005). However, a `Total' approach is desired as it can cover all the company's activities relating to vendor, customer and product (Hall, 2002). In practice, working capital management has become one of the most important issues in the organizations where many financial executives are struggling to identify the basic working capital drivers and an appropriate level of working capital (Lamberson, 1995). Consequently, companies can minimize risk and improve the overall performance by understanding the role and drivers of working capital management.

Applied Finance Journal, Corporate Finance, Corporate Strategy, Chief Financial Officer, CFO, Working Capital Management, Working Capital Financial Policies, Cash Conversion Cycle, CCC, Regression Analysis, Working Capital Investment, Aggressive Investment Policy, AIP, Return on Assets, ROA, Volatile Economic Conditions.