The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the due payments of Polish entreprises from selected industries

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused many perturbations, at the same time hindering the functioning and operation of enterprises from various industries, which, due to the often inability to conduct business, found themselves in a very difficult financial situation, with a difficult ability to settle their liabilities. Too high share of receivables that are not settled in a timely manner can result in various problems for enterprises, including, in particular, financial problems that can lead to large-scale bankruptcy. Considering a huge number of connections between individual entities, the bankruptcy of one may pose a risk of a wave of bankruptcy of others. The paper aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the payment situation of Polish enterprises. The research was conducted on the basis of an analysis of data on the payment situation of Polish enterprises from selected industries. Basic descriptive statistics was used in the study to characterize the material. The non-parametric Wilcoxon pair order test, which is the equivalent of the Student’s t-test for related variables, was used for the research. The research proved that at enterprises from almost every industry, the value of debts at the end of the second quarter of 2020 was higher than in the first quarter. It can therefore be concluded that the outbreak of the pandemic contributed to an increase in arrears, which, in turn, resulted in an increased risk of doing business. The greater the share of arrears with contractors, the greater the risk of financial problems at the enterprise, and hence the increased risk of bankruptcy.

Corporate Bankruptcy, a Spatial and Temporal Perspective – the Case of Poland

“…In OECD countries, SMEs account for up to 99% of all entities, and are therefore the dominant form of business, while accounting for up to 70% of jobs and generating between 50 and 60% of value added in the economy (OECD, 2017). Nevertheless, in economic practice, business bankruptcies are treated as a natural phenomenon, inscribed in the market changes taking place in the business environment, which are derived from competition (Ropęga, 2010), the industrial and technological revolution (Płonka et al, 2020), or, finally, unfair market practices (Ostrowska- Dankiewicz, 2019), the emergence of payment congestion (Zimon, 2020), which can appear as a result of such unexpected events as, for example, a pandemic (Dankiewicz et al, 2021). The effect of the aforementioned events is the liquidation of unprofitable units, thereby creating space for the activities of those entities that make more efficient use of limited resources (Dankiewicz, 2020;Grega, Nečas, 2022).…”

Entrepreneurship development management in the context of economic security

“…The implementation of the Norwegian oil policy focuses on environmental safety and sound rent management. Dankiewicz, Balawejder, Tomczyk & Trynchuk (2021) argue that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is reassessing and changing the way we do business. The vast majority of companies had to learn to act in a new, much more complex reality.…”