Research Question: The aim of this paper is to present the effect of corporate income tax on capital structure in the food industry of the Republic of Serbia. Motivation: Based on the empirical ...results of Moradi & Paulet (2018) and Kuc & Kalicanin (2021), the author's aim of the research conducted in this paper is to analyse the impact of corporate income tax on the capital structure in the Republic of Serbia as a developing country with an underdeveloped capital market and to support the results of this sporadically researched area of corporate finance in the Republic of Serbia. Idea: The author believes that by determining the optimal capital structure, it could be possible to reduce the burden of corporate income tax. Given that the food industry is one of the most significant and profitable industries in the Republic of Serbia, the results of this theoretical and empirical research would be of a great benefit to the local Tax Authority and to large taxpayers. Data: The research was conducted on a sample of 250 most active companies that operated within the food industry of the Republic of Serbia in the period from 2017 to 2019. The source of data for the purposes of this research are the official financial reports of companies registered with the Serbian Business Registers Agency. Tools: Elemental descriptive statistics techniques and panel regression analysis were applied throughout the data analysis. For the purpose of data processing the author used STATA statistical software. Findings: The results confirmed the existence of a negative and statistically significant relationship between tax savings based on depreciation costs and profitability on the one hand, and capital structure, on the other. Thus, the results indicate the need of profitable companies to use high depreciation costs to provide a reduced burden of corporate income tax with a capital structure shifted to accumulated own financial resources. In addition, the results of the regression model showed the absence of a statistically significant effect of tax savings based on interest costs on capital structure. Contribution: The contribution of this paper is reflected in additional support to existing discussions on impact of corporate income taxes on capital structure. Further, the paper contributes to business practice by determining how corporate income tax burden could be reduced by choosing optimal financial mix.
The aim of the research is to present the influence of ownership characteristics on the capital structure and business success of companies theoretically and empirically. The research was conducted ...on a sample of 96 active companies operating within the beverage industry in the Balkan countries in 2019. Empirical research was carried out by using one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). The paper presents two models. One is related to the analysis of the effects of foreign ownership to profitability, liquidity, asset and capital structure, while the other model analyses the impact of ownership concentration on the same variables. The results of the models evaluation confirmed the existence of a statistically significant difference only between foreign ownership and liquidity. In this regard, the ownership characteristics are considered not to affect the business success of the sampled companies, but rather, the performance is affected by other internal and external factors.
Background: To manage growth opportunities effectively and to make a significant impact on superior longterm performance, it is necessary to analyze firm value and diagnose its determinants. ...Increasing profit, providing prosperity to the company's stakeholders, and improving company value are the goals of every company's business. Purpose: The paper aims to build a model of the company's optimal value by assessing company performance based on financial statement analysis of European companies over the period 2015-2020. Study design/methodology/approach: The impact of financial indicators such as financial leverage, profitability, size, liquidity, growth, and asset tangibility on company value was thoroughly considered. The empirical research was founded on a sample of 158 Eastern and Western European companies, generating 948 observations. Panel regression analysis was conducted. Findings/conclusions: The obtained results revealed that debt-to-assets ratio, return on equity, and assets tangibility have a significant adverse effect on company value, whereas the return on assets and firm size have a significant favorable effect. The obtained conclusions should serve as a beneficial tool for the strategy of reaching the targeted market company's value and ensuring the company's future viability by the market. Hence, stakeholders could assess the perspective of the future company's development and strengthen the importance and influence of financial variables on the company's value. Limitations/future research: The research limitations, which are also opportunities for future research, are aimed at the investigation of company value indicators at the level of individual European economies or industries. One should look at the company's value factors before and after the Covid-19 pandemic and consider a longer time in the company's business. Other financial determinants that affect the value of the company could be considered, and the company value could be measured by some other indicators. Also, the influence of nonfinancial determinants on the company value could be researched.
Every company must consider the changes in a digital environment. In the era of digital transformation, the company understands the importance of information technologies, and makes adjustments in ...the form of structural changes. Modern technology usage provides the possibility of the analysis of previously unimaginable types and amounts of data, and introduces significant changes in the field of auditing. By simplifying the audit work, digitalization has also created new opportunities for IT auditing. The aim of this paper is to present the opportunities and challenges of key digital trends in auditing, or the usage of big data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and robotic process automation. There is an emerging need for auditors to take advantage of digital technology usage and respond to the challenges of digitalization in a systematic and high-quality way. The progress of using digital technologies in auditing is contributing to more reliability and better quality reporting, which is leading to increased trust among stakeholders in the results of audit work.
The paper aims to analyze the influence of the selected financial determinants on profitability as a key determinant of corporate performance success. The sample includes 473 joint-stock companies in ...the Republic of Serbia that were actively operating from 2017 to 2021. Panel data evaluation revealed the presence of a significant positive influence of the company size, growth, and cash flow on profitability, as well as a significant negative influence of the capital and asset structures. In contrast, the influence of liquidity and a tax shield on profitability is statistically insignificant. The obtained results primarily serve the management who can consider the indicators of the business done by joint-stock companies in order to improve profitability and ensure proper resource allocation. They are also useful for investors in planning investment and operational activities with the aim of a more effective and more efficient achievement of profitability goals. The results are also aimed at other stakeholders who want to create a profitability growth and corporate performance strategy directed towards ensuring long-term growth.
This paper aims to demonstrate the theoretical and empirical impact of the COVID-19 virus pandemic on profitability. The analysis was performed on a sample of 131 actively operating companies in ...Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2014 and 2020. Applying panel regression methodology, an empirical study was conducted. The assessment of fixed-effect model revealed the presence of a negative and statistically significant effect of the coronavirus pandemic on profitability as measured by return on total assets (ROA). The findings validated the curiosity of the construction sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, suggesting that it is among several sectors with increased demand for its products - residential and non-residential buildings, throughout the pandemic crisis and recession at the beginning of 2020. The results of this study could help construction companies to develop operational performance and risk management in pandemic situations, and the flexibility of their actions in the face of future crises of a similar nature, given that the construction sector has played a crucial role in supplying construction of all types of residential buildings, buildings for industrial production, e.g. factories, workshops, assembly plants, parking garages, warehouses, schools, as well as, hospitals in challenging times and has met the increased demand.
Serbia is a significant producer of tobacco in Europe and the only country in Europe where tobacco production is growing. Due to privatization, some of the most important multinational companies are ...now producing tobacco products in Serbia. Bearing in mind the liberalization of the market and the harmful effect tobacco products have on health, this research tried to analyze the tobacco and tobacco products sector in Serbia. The study’s main goal was to analyze the characteristics of the tobacco and tobacco supply chain in Serbia and determine comparative advantages and levels of integration with the world market. The methodology used in this study included the index of concentration of tobacco manufacturers, followed by a panel regression analysis to determine factors that affected profitability in this industry. Also, foreign trade performances were analyzed using the indices of revealed comparative advantages and integration. The research was conducted for the period from 2013 to the last available year. The results indicate the growth of tobacco production despite the decline in the number of farms, the highly concentrated production of tobacco products, and the significant intensification of foreign trade despite modest comparative advantages.
As a prerequisite for long-term strategic and financial planning, sustainable growth is a future-oriented concept that was based on the company’s long-term survival with value creation. The primary ...aim of this paper is to determine the indicators that have an influence on sustainable company growth rate during the five-year period of 2016 to 2020. Panel regression analysis was used in order to thoroughly analyze the sustainable growth variables. Our analysis was based on a sample of 675 observations of companies operating in the Eastern European market. The obtained results showed that liquidity and leverage have a negative impact on sustainable growth, while profitability has a positive impact on sustainable growth. The impact of these variables was statistically significant. The obtained results may serve as an effective company tool to improve the target sustainable growth rate. They provide support for the company’s management to improve its business and ensure healthy growth without major financial difficulties, as well as to promote a sustainable business that will increase the market value of the company. Moreover, all internal and external stakeholders will be provided with insight into the reality of growth plans and opportunities for future sustainable growth, which creates a basis for measuring a company’s business prosperity and predicting its long-term performance.
The aim of this paper is to theoretically and empirically present the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on profitability. In difficult economic times caused by coronavirus, companies that supplied ...logistical services assisted other businesses in successfully conducting their daily business operations. On the other side, the pandemic has been a contributing factor in the massive interruption in transportation flows all over the world. The research was conducted on a sample of 798 active companies that operated within the logistics industry of the Western Balkans in the period from 2015 to 2020. An empirical research was performed using panel regression analysis. Evaluation of the fixed-effect models confirmed the existence of a positive and statistically significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the profitability expressed through return on total assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). The results confirmed the specificity of the logistics industry, indicating that it is one of the few industries that have managed to achieve higher profitability during the crisis and recession brought by the pandemic in early 2020. Given that the logistics sector has played a vital role in supplying household supplies, medicines and medical equipment, the results could help logistics companies to further improve operational performance and risk management in pandemic situations, as well as to improve the resilience of their activities to future similar crises.
This research aimed to determine whether and how financial analysis combined with machine learning can support decision-making for sustainable business growth. This study was conducted using a sample ...of 100 Serbian companies whose bankruptcies were initiated between 2019 and 2021 to identify key factors that distinguish solvent from insolvent companies. Two neural networks (NNs) were trained and tested to predict these discriminating factors one year (Y-1) and two years (Y-2) before bankruptcy initiation. Initially, a total of 37 predictor variables were included, but prior to modeling, variable reduction was performed through VIF analysis and t-tests. The training dataset comprised 70% of the sample, while the remaining 30% was used for testing. Both NNs utilized a softmax activation function for the output layer and a hyperbolic tangent for the hidden layers. Two hidden layers were included, and training was conducted over 2000 epochs using the gradient descent algorithm for optimization. The research results indicate that poor cash management is the first sign of possible insolvency one year in advance. Additionally, the findings reveal that retained earnings management can serve as a reliable bankruptcy predictor two years in advance. The overall predictive accuracy of the NN models is 80.0% (Y-1) and 73.3% (Y-2) for the testing dataset. These findings demonstrate how selected ratios can support bankruptcy prediction, providing valuable insights for company proprietors, management, and external stakeholders.
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