Volume 6 No 1 (2016) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2016.92 | http://emaj.pitt.edu A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of NAFTA and Latin American Manufacturing Firms Gulser Meric Professor of Finance, Rohrer College of Business, Rowan University Glassboro, New Jersey 08028 | meric@rowan.edu Cengiz Haksever Professor of Decision Sciences, College of Business Administration, Rider University Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 | haksever@rider.edu J. Drew Procaccino Associate Professor of Information Systems, College of Business Administration Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 | procaccinod@rider.edu Ilhan Meric Professor of Finance, College of Business Administration, Rider University Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 | meric@rider.edu Abstract Comparing the financial characteristics of firms in different countries and different regions has been a popular research topic in finance. However, NAFTA and Latin American manufacturing firms have never been compared. In this paper, we undertake such a study with the MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) method with data drawn from the Research Insight/Global Vintage database in October 2015. Our findings indicate that NAFTA manufacturing firms have less liquidity risk, but more financial risk, compared with Latin American manufacturing firms. NAFTA manufacturing firms have significantly higher returns on equity due to achieving higher returns on assets and using more financial leverage. Latin American manufacturing firms have more efficient inventory management. However, NAFTA manufacturing firms have more efficient accounts receivable management and total assets management. Keywords: Financial Ratios, NAFTA manufacturing firms, Latin American manufacturing firms, MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program , and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press . Volume 6 No 2 (2016) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2016.102 | http://emaj.pitt.edu |