The study was observed in the case of cooperatives in the municipality of La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines but it can bring practical implications to cooperatives and collective organizations. Working capital management (WCM) is a core management function that should be fully implemented to ensure accuracy and adequate control of short-term assets and short-term liabilities. The study used survey questionnaire using a 4-point Likert scale among 66 cooperatives. The result shows that the cooperatives almost implemented WCM indicating that they give importance on the accuracy and control of their current assets, current liabilities and net working capital. This gives an implication that modern managers of cooperatives are concern about their business flow and that they ensure that the resources entrusted upon them by the members are properly managed. The cooperatives are models for good WCM practices wherein they ensure enough capacity and turnover of their current assets in order to pay their obligations on time. This gives a favorable prospect that cooperatives nowadays are continuously improving in the area of business and their leaders and managers are becoming proficient in business management.

This paper explored the values and principles of cooperativism in the financial management practices of cooperatives. This paper argues that the values and principles are embedded on the financial indicators particularly in the observable patterns of growth in membership and in the paid-up capital.

Social factors are great drivers of economic growth and it could result to tangible benefits that can trigger sustainable development. This paper argues that social factors can contribute to sustainable economic growth because social development leads to healthy, educated and productive citizens who can bring economic contributions. This paper intends to explore the effect of social factors to economic growth through a time series analysis among 58 countries (n=290 data) over the period 2014 to 2018. By conducting correlation and regression analyses, the study highlights that social factors such as population, health, education, development, labor force, environment, military, and geography have significant relationships and effect with the economic growth indicators such as GDP, GDP growth, GDP-per-capita, GNI, GNI-per-capita, manufacturing, and tourism.

This paper aims to explore the concept of stewardship theory applied in the finances of cooperatives. It analyzed patterns between total receivables and gross income, total assets and net surplus, total equity and total assets, number of members and paid-up shares, and paid-up shares and retained earnings over a 7-year panel data of audited financial statements of 657 cooperatives in the seven (7) provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. A curve estimate was used to interpret the cooperatives’ commitment to stewardship theory as applied in their finances. The result reveals weaknesses in terms of the cooperatives’ commitment to stewardship theory that could bring negative impact on their financial performance. The result brings practical implication which recommends that the cooperative leaders, members and employees must have greater commitment to financial stewardship.

Financial metrics are used to evaluate the business’ activities and strategies. This study aims to determine the value relevance of financial metrics by using cross-sectional data. The sample of the study includes 300 publicly listed firms in both NYSE and NSDAQ. A correlation analysis reveals that the firm’s effectiveness is significantly related to liquidity, solvency, revenue growth, profitability and dividend metrics. The firm’s market value is significantly related to liquidity, solvency, profitability and dividends. The firm’s stock performance suggests mixed results wherein change in MPPS is influenced by liquidity, profitability, dividends and the firm’s effectiveness. A regression analysis of the firm’s effectiveness found that the financial metrics are relevant factors to the ROA however they are not relevant to the ROE. On the firm’s market value, the 12-month sales growth, 12-month EPS, and ROA are relevant to the P/S. In addition, the CR and DE are relevant to the P/B and the quarterly EPS and expected EPS are relevant to the PEG. Conversely, the financial metrics are not relevant to the P/E of the firm. On the firm’s stock performance, the financial metrics are relevant to the changes in MPPS in different periods. Primarily, the ROA is relevant to the change in MPPS in periods of 3 months, 6 months, and YTD. In a period of one (1) year, the DY and ROA are relevant to the change in MPPS. The findings empirically establish the value relevance of financial metrics and these give implication to firms and stakeholders.

The study intends to reflect collectivism in the vision, mission and goals of cooperatives. As observed, cooperatives are realistic embodiment of this philosophy in which their members form cooperatives or they join cooperatives because through collective efforts, they can be better off in their economic, social and political status. This study employs a qualitative design using document analysis on the submitted social audit and performance audit of cooperatives. As a strategy, the VMGs were subjected to semantic analysis to create themes that are primarily related to economic, social and political. The study utilizes 482 submitted audit reports to the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in the Philippines. The study reflects that collectivism is embedded in the VMGs of cooperatives. It manifests that the members’ collective aspirations in terms of economic, social and political are codified and these serve as qualitative backbones that guides the members and their officers in their actions. The study implies that indeed cooperatives are institutions that embody collectivism and they are viable institutions that can improve the economic, social and political conditions of a group or people. Hence, this study suggests that the propagation of cooperatives in communities needs to be encouraged and public policy must be strengthen to make them stable and operational.