ABSTRACT

The inability a/business policy makers to certainly say how effectively credit management either makes or mars the performance o/the business in terms a/productivity is a limiting factor to firm's productivity which necessitated the researcher into evaluating the el/cc! of credit management on the performance of' listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria from 2009 — 2018. The research formulated three specific objectives,' to determine the extent to which credit management can affect profitability o/the selected firms in Nigeria, to determine the relationship between liquidity management and profitability of the selected firms in Nigeria and to determine the effect of debtor's turnover on the profitability of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Thus, research questions and research hypotheses were structured in accordance with the specific objectives. In a bid to achieve a meaningful research study work, this research will review related literatures on the effect of credit management on the performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria from 2009 — 2018 which were sub-divided into three subheadings such conceptual framework, theoretical framework and empirical review. However, in the quest to perfect this research; ex-facto research design was adopted where data was' sourced secondarily through the annual reports of the selected manufacturing companies. The data collected was analyzed using E-view 8 and the following findings were deduced.' that credit management do have significant effect on firm's profitability in the selected firms, that liquidity management do have significant effect on firm's profitability in the selected firms and that debtor's turnover do significantly affect firm's profitability in the selected firms. Sequel to the findings and conclusion, the research made the following recommendations that as credit scales is almost inevitable, a credit department should be established in the firm, handed by a credit controller and charged with the responsibility of implementing credit policies, that the firm should work hard to achieve a high debtor turnover; the firm can achieve this by giving discount to their debtor 's base on their durations of payment and that there should be a regular review of credit policies to suit the changes in the business environment. Thus, for control purpose, relevant financial ratios should be computed at the end of each financial year for comparison purpose.