Financial education, working capital and profitability in micro and small enterprises

Abstract

This review examined the relationship between financial education, working capital management and profitability in micro and small enterprises, with an emphasis on Ecuador and Latin America. The purpose was to identify which financial dimensions the scientific output of the 2021-2026 period addresses, and what evidence supports the link between the owner-manager's financial training and economic performance. A qualitative approach of exploratory-descriptive scope was applied through documentary review. The search was carried out in Crossref, SciELO and Scopus-indexed records, using descriptors in Spanish and English; after applying the inclusion criteria, a corpus of sixteen articles remained, coded by country, design, unit of analysis and financial dimensions addressed. Results showed that profitability measurement appeared in ten studies and owner financial education in six, whereas inventory management appeared in two. The available quantitative evidence reported positive associations between financial education and operational performance, along with heterogeneous working capital effects depending on firm size. No study in the corpus measured the three variables simultaneously in Ecuadorian microenterprises. Financial education is a precondition for working capital management, and this mediation remains untested in the national context.