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Short-term debt is regarded as an important source of financing for Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is because it can be easily accessed and useful during times of emergent working capital shortage. However, short-term debt is the least researched among the components of capital structure, which explains why its contribution to the financial performance of small and medium-sized businesses still lacks empirical validation especially in the Ugandan context. This paper sought to determine the effect of short-term debt on financial performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to collect and analyse the data. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select SMEs while purposive sampling technique was used to select one key respondent from each of the sampled 453 SMEs in Uganda. Primary data was collected using survey questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The findings indicted that short-term debt had a negative and significant effect on financial performance of SMEs as measured by return on assets. The study provides empirical evidence to support the propositions in the extant literature that short-term debt significantly hampers financial performance of SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs should adopt low cost operation procedures to improve profitability. This would lead to accumulated profits that can be used for investment purposes as a means of driving growth among the SMEs without resorting to borrowing. This paper suggests that further research should be conducted to establish the justification for the negative and significant effect of short-term debt on financial performance using qualitative approaches.

This research aims to analyze the impact of efficient working capital management on the profitability of the manufacturing firm in Bangladesh. Fifty-two manufacturing companies listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) have been selected randomly from 2012 to 2017. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are used as indicators of profitability, while the inventory conversion period (ICP), the average collection period (ACP), the average payment period (APP), and the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) are used as the independent variables which are used as a measurement of working capital management of the firm. Ordinary Least Squares regression models and Pearson's Correlation are used to establish the relationship between working capital management and profitability. The results revealed a significant negative relation between ROA and CCC, ACP; a significant negative relationship exists between ROE and CCC, APP. Manufacturing companies can increase profitability by decreasing the cash conversion cycle, average payment period, and average collection period. It also revealed that ICP is also positively related to ROA and ROE. Therefore, this research concludes that efficiently and effectively managing working capital is very important for increasing manufacturing companies' profitability.

The study investigated the whether the default measures of liquidity and solvency are associated and whether default measures are related to firm profitability. A total of 41 firms were selected to be in the study sample out of 46 non-financial listed firms in the Nairobi Securities Exchange during years 2013 to 2017 and panel data regression analysis was employed. The findings revealed that liquidity and solvency are significantly and negatively associated while the default measures lacked a significant relationship with profitability in Kenyan listed companies. The findings implied that there is no need for firms to focus too much on the relationship between default and profitability including invest heavily in liquidity in order to meet short term obligations as nowadays it is possible for firms to either convert non-cash assets quickly or borrow on short notice from financial institutions in case of an urgent need to meet liquidity shortages. These findings are consistent with the shitability theory.

The financial system and capital market in developed countries are more developed as compare to emerging countries. Firms like small and medium enterprise (SMEs) needs finance to operate their business and make a competitive position in the market. In an emerging country like Pakistan, SMEs face a lot of financial and non-financial obstacles that may relate to the poor performance of SMEs. This study investigates the relationship between commercial loans, retain earnings, trade credit, managerial activities, and SME's performance. This study also investigates the interaction effect of managerial activities between independent variables and dependent variables.  A survey was conducted in a small and medium enterprise of KPK Pakistan. Data were collected from 362 employees. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software was employed for data analysis for descriptive and regression analysis. The finding confirmed that commercial loans, trade credit, retained earning have a positive and significant impact upon SME's performance. It is also found that managerial activities have played a mediating role and increased the performance of SMEs. Among variables under study, the more trade credit activities, the higher the performance of the SMEs is observed. Based on this study's results, Leaders, supervisors, and managers are those employees having a substantial role in the performance, development, failure, and success of an organization. Managerial activities are vital for a manager for the purpose to know what should be done in different circumstances and improve overall performance and accomplish organizational goals.