Liquidity of agricultural enterprises in conditions of war

Abstract

The article is devoted to the generalization of methodological and practical aspects of assessing the liquidity of agrarian enterprises, including the determination of the peculiarities of the condition and ensuring the liquidity of agrarian enterprises of the Kyiv region in conditions of war. The relevance of the study of the liquidity of agricultural enterprises was determined. In 2022, Ukrainian agricultural enterprises were operating in conditions of war, risk, and uncertainty. This was accompanied by military operations on agricultural lands, destruction of agricultural machinery and real estate, disruption of supply chains of raw materials, fertilizers, and sales of agricultural products, involvement of workers in state defense, energy deficit, changes in taxation, etc. The approaches of domestic and foreign scientists regarding the essence of the concepts "liquidity of the enterprise" and "liquidity of the agricultural enterprise" are analyzed. For the purposes of this study and in accordance with generally accepted world interpretations, the authors understand the liquidity of agricultural enterprises as the ability of the enterprise to repay current (shortterm) liabilities at the expense of current assets. For the needs of this study and in accordance with generally accepted world interpretations, the authors understand the liquidity of agricultural enterprises as the ability of the enterprise to repay current liabilities (short-term liabilities) at the expense of current assets. Analytical indicators are chosen to assess the liquidity of agricultural enterprises. These are an absolute indicator (working capital) and three relative indicators (current ratio, quick ratio, cash ratio). The deterioration of the liquidity of agricultural enterprises in the conditions of war was established. On the example of agricultural enterprises of the Kyiv region, a decrease in working capital was determined for a third of the enterprises; 55 % of enterprises reduced current liquidity; 49 % of enterprises reduced quick liquidity; 40 % of enterprises reduced cash liquidity. The correlation analysis did not confirm the existence of a connection between liquidity indicators of agricultural enterprises of the Kyiv region and other indicators of financial condition. This conclusion contradicts the results of research by foreign scientists and foreign experience. Thus, the level of liquidity of agricultural enterprises depends on the internal (corporate) policy of managing current assets and current liabilities of enterprises. Key words: liquidity, cash ratio, quick ratio, current ratio, working capital, agricultural enterprises, war.