The management of current assets (CA) such as cash, marketable securities, inventory and debtors, etc. is a vital aspect of corporate finance. These assets must be managed efficiently in order to maintain the liquidity of the firm while also ensuring that they are not kept at high levels either. This paper presents an empirical study, based on the data of corporate enterprises of India, Singapore and Thailand. Comparative practices with regard to CA management of the three countries have been examined. It has been observed that Singapore companies carry excessive cash balances, much more than the normal requirement. As regards inventory levels, Indian and Thai companies hold on average about 40 per cent of CAs as inventory as against 25 per cent in Singapore. It is noteworthy that the debtor-to-CA ratio is almost the same (about 33%) in all the three countries.
