The existence and effective operation of an enterprise is impossible without well-established management of its capital, that is, the main types of financial assets (investment resources) in the form of material and Money, various types of financial instruments.

The capital of an enterprise is, on the one hand, a source, and on the other, a result of the enterprise’s activities. The financial resources of the enterprise are used to finance current expenses and to investments that represent the use financial resources in the form of long-term capital investments in order to increase assets and generate profits.

The term investment comes from the Latin word “invest,” which means “to invest.” Investments are a set of long-term costs of financial, labor and material resources in order to increase assets and profits. This concept covers both real investments (capital investments) and financial (portfolio) investments.

In the Law of the Russian Federation “On investment activities V Russian Federation carried out in the form of capital investments" dated February 25, 1999. No. 39-FZ (as amended on December 12, 2011) gives the following definition: “investments are cash, securities, other property, including property rights, other rights with a monetary value, invested in objects of business and (or) other activities in order to make a profit and (or) achieve a beneficial effect.”

Investments ensure the dynamic development of the enterprise and allow solving the following tasks:

Expanding your own business activities through the accumulation of financial and material resources;

acquisition of new businesses;

Diversification due to the development of new areas of business.

The expansion of one’s own business activity indicates the company’s strong position in the market, the presence of demand for the products produced, the work performed or the services provided

Investments can be:

funds, targeted bank deposits, shares, shares, bonds and other securities;

movable and real estate(buildings, structures, machines, equipment, etc.);

land use rights, natural resources, as well as any other property.

In the majority scientific works There are no clear definitions of the concept of “enterprise investment policy” and investment attractiveness. Meanwhile, the precise definition of this concept is quite important from both theoretical and practical positions, as it allows for more targeted scientific research and real management of the investment process.

So, according to G.V. Savitskaya, investment policy is an integral part of the financial strategy of an enterprise, which consists in choosing and implementing the most rational ways to expand and update production potential.

The most complete definition of investment policy is given, perhaps, only by I. A. Blank: “investment policy is part of the overall financial strategy of an enterprise, which consists in choosing and implementing the most effective forms its real and financial investments in order to ensure high rates of its development and expansion of economic potential economic activity» .

In order to determine the maximum efficiency of an investment decision, the concept of investment attractiveness of an enterprise has been introduced. The study of various points of view on its interpretation made it possible to establish that in modern ideas there is no single approach to the essence of this economic category.

One of the most common points of view is the comparison investment attractiveness with the advisability of investing in an enterprise of interest to the investor, which depends on a number of factors characterizing the activities of the entity. There are other points of view (including L. Gilyarovskaya, V. Vlasova and E. Krylov and others). Here, investment attractiveness is understood as an assessment of the efficiency of using equity and borrowed capital, an analysis of solvency and liquidity (a similar definition is the structure of equity and borrowed capital and its placement between different types of property, as well as the efficiency of their use).

Assessing investment attractiveness from the point of view of income and risk, it can be argued that this is the presence of income (economic effect) from investing at a minimum level of risk.

Thus, it becomes obvious that, regardless of the approach to definition used by an expert or analyst, the term “investment attractiveness” is most often used to assess the feasibility of investing in a particular object, select alternative options and determine the efficiency of resource allocation. There are other definitions of the concept of investment attractiveness (Table 1).

Table 1.

Determination of investment attractiveness

		Interpretation of the concept “Investment attractiveness of an enterprise”
	Belykh L.P.	Investment attractiveness of an enterprise - the ratio of risk level and rate of return
	Shchiborshch K.V.	The concept of “investment attractiveness of an enterprise” has different meanings for a creditor (bank) and an investor (shareholder). If for a bank the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is determined by its solvency, then for a shareholder - by the efficiency of economic activity (profit on total assets)
	Krylova E.I.	Investment attractiveness is an economic category characterized by the efficiency of use of the enterprise’s property, its solvency, the stability of its financial condition, the ability of the enterprise to self-development based on increasing return on capital, technical and economic level of production, quality and competitiveness of products
	Sevryugin Yu.V.	From the position of investors, the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is a system of quantitative and qualitative factors that characterizes the effective demand of an enterprise for investment
	Valinurova L.S., Kazakova O.B.	The investment attractiveness of an economic system is a combination of various objective signs, properties, means, system capabilities, determining potential effective demand for investment. Investment attractiveness includes investment potential and investment risk and is characterized by the interaction of these categories

It should be noted that determining investment attractiveness is aimed at generating objective, targeted information for making an investment decision. Therefore, when approaching its assessment, one should distinguish between the terms “level economic development" and "investment attractiveness". If the first determines the level of development of the object, the set economic indicators, then investment attractiveness is characterized by the condition of the object, its further development, profitability and growth prospects.

There are the following main types of financing an enterprise from external sources: investing in equity capital and providing borrowed funds.

The main forms of attracting investments in equity capital are:

investments by financial investors;

strategic investing.

Investments of financial investors represent the acquisition by an external professional investor (group of investors), as a rule, of a blocking, but not a controlling stake in a company in exchange for investments with the subsequent sale of this stake after 3-5 years (mainly venture capital and mutual funds) or placement of company shares on the securities market to a wide range of investors (in in this case These can be companies of any type of activity or individuals).

The investor in this case receives the main income through the sale of his stake (that is, by exiting the business).

In this regard, attracting investments from financial investors is advisable for the development of the enterprise: modernization or expansion of production, growth in sales volumes, increasing operational efficiency, as a result of which the value of the company and, accordingly, the capital invested by the investor will increase.

Strategic investment is the acquisition by an investor of a large (up to a controlling) stake in a company. As a rule, strategic investing involves a long-term or permanent presence of the investor among the owners of the company. Often the final stage of strategic investment is the acquisition of a company or its merger with an investor company.

Industry leading enterprises and large enterprise associations usually act as strategic investors. The main goal of a strategic investor is to increase the efficiency of their own business and gain access to new resources and technologies. Investment in the form of provision of borrowed funds uses the following instruments - loans (bank, trade), bond loans, leasing schemes. With this form of financing, the main goal of the investor is to obtain interest income on the invested capital at a given level of risk. Therefore, this group of investors is interested in the further development of the enterprise from the point of view of its ability to fulfill obligations to pay interest and repay the principal amount of the debt.

Summarizing the above, we can say that the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is a complex indicator characterizing the feasibility of investing in a given enterprise. The investment attractiveness of an enterprise depends on many factors such as the political and economic situation in the country, region, the perfection of the legislative and judicial authorities, the level of corruption in the region, the economic situation in the industry, personnel qualifications, financial indicators, etc.

Fig.1. Main components of investment attractiveness

Investment attractiveness is an integral characteristic of an industry (enterprise, project) from the perspective of development prospects, return on investment and level of investment risks.

First of all, it should be noted that there is no single approach to assessing the investment attractiveness of enterprises. Each investor uses his own methods and approaches. There is still heated debate among researchers in this area of ​​financial analysis about which approach is better. In this regard, it seems reasonable to consider as many different approaches as possible and compare them with each other.

There are three main groups of methods for assessing the investment attractiveness of enterprises:

1. Methods based on the analysis of external information about the company (the so-called market approach). They only evaluate changes market value shares of the company and the amount of dividends paid. This approach prevails among shareholders, allowing them to calculate efficiency own investments to the enterprise.

2. Methods based on the analysis of internal information (the so-called accounting approach). They use accounting data such as profit or cash flow. This approach is preferred by accountants and financial specialists because the data used for analysis can be easily obtained from traditional accounting reports.

3. Methods based on the analysis of both external and internal factors (the so-called combined approach). A classic example of a combined approach is the ratio that compares the price of a stock with earnings per share (Price earnings ratio, PER) - an indicator quite often used by analysts stock market and investment managers.

1. Market approach The analysis of the investment attractiveness of enterprises is usually based on the following indicators.

1.1. Total shareholder returns (TSR) - This is the income that a shareholder receives for a certain period of time during which he owns shares of a particular company. This coefficient (in percentage) is calculated as follows:

, (105)

where P 1 is the price of one share at the end of the period, P 0 is the price of one share at the beginning of the period, D is dividends paid during the period.

For example, if ABC Company's share price was $2.00 at the start of the year and $2.20 at the end of the year, and dividends paid during the year were $0.20, then the company's TSR would be: So the return investments in shares of the ABC company amounted to 20% per annum. But how can we determine whether this is too much or too little? As a rule, this requires analyzing the profitability of investments in shares of other companies. If the average TSR for shares of other companies for the year under review was 30%, then it is obvious that the return on investment in ABC shares is not very high. Conversely, with an average TSR of 10%, an investment in ABC shares would be considered quite attractive.

The TSR can be broken down into two components - share price return CG and dividend return DY.

CG shows the percentage of growth over a period. While gains from rising stocks may seem like "unrealized" gains, those "unrealized" gains can always be turned into real money by selling the stock at a higher price.

DY is an indicator that is especially popular among securities market analysts. Analysts generally prefer businesses with higher DY values.

Along with obvious advantages, the described method for calculating the effectiveness of investments in company shares has some disadvantages.

Firstly. TSR is a relative measure that shows the percentage of return on an investment, rather than the amount of return. Therefore, using TSR in certain situations may lead to poor decisions.

What is more profitable, investing $90 thousand with a return on investment of 20% or $100 thousand with a return of 19%? Most investors will prefer the second option, although from a TSR perspective the first option is preferable.

Second, the TSR does not take into account the inherent risk of any investment. For example, one company took a lot of risk to get more income, while another company received less income but also took less risk. In this case, it is difficult to say which company was more efficient. The answer to this question depends on the individual investor's willingness to take a certain amount of risk to obtain the desired return on investment.

Third, the value of TSR largely depends on which benchmark is chosen. The lower the initial share price, the higher the TSR.

1.2. Market value added (MVA). This indicator is calculated as follows:

MVA=company market value – company capital employed

So, if the company's market value is $50 million and its capital employed is $30 million, then the MVA will be $20 million.

Thus, MVA is the difference between the company's market value (share price times the number of shares) and the value of capital employed (equity plus long-term debt). In this case, the capital used represents the investments attracted by the company, and the market capitalization characterizes the efficiency of using these investments from the point of view of market participants. If the company pays dividends, then the MVA should not change, since both parts of the equation will decrease by the same amount of dividends paid.

MVA, on the one hand, forces managers to strive to increase the company's market capitalization, and on the other hand, managers are also forced to monitor the amount of share capital (i.e., monitor the funds invested in the company). At the same time, the use of this indicator is difficult due to the following reasons:

In accordance with modern rules accounting Many of the company's intangible assets remain unaccounted for or are accounted for at unrealistic values. Among such assets are trademarks, licenses, the name of the company, its reputation, the presence of highly qualified work force etc. At the same time, the market capitalization of a company largely depends on estimates of the value of just such assets and liabilities;

As a rule, assets are recorded on the balance sheet at their historical cost (acquisition price). At the same time, if an asset was acquired several years ago, then its historical value may not coincide with its current value;

Company managers can manipulate the balance sheet values ​​of assets and liabilities in such a way as to increase the value of MVA.

1.3. Weighted average capital cost (WACC). Typically for financing investment projects Enterprises use both their own and borrowed funds. The difference between them is as follows:

1. Borrowed funds do not change the ownership structure of the enterprise and do not affect strategic control and operational management of the project.

2. Attracting borrowed funds increases the risk of a company’s failure to fulfill its obligations, which can lead to insolvency and the threat of bankruptcy.

3. Interest on the loan is paid from taxable profit and thereby reduces the tax base. Dividends to owners are paid from net profit, after all resources have been paid for, the cost of which, according to the law, cannot be attributed to the cost of products (services), and the investment needs of the company have been satisfied. Therefore, attracting loans, as a rule, costs an enterprise less than financing through own funds.

Thus, the use of debt capital increases cash flow and at the same time increases the risk of investment. The use of various sources of financing must be taken into account when determining the cost of capital of an investment project.

The weighted average cost of capital (an acceptable discount rate when financing an investment project) from various sources can be obtained by weighing the cost of different sources of capital by the share of these sources in the total volume of investment resources.

where r d is the cost of borrowed capital (interest on the loan), r e is the cost equity(return required by shareholders), D - the amount of debt, E - the amount of equity, t - the income tax rate.

For example, you should define interest rate for an investment project. Enterprise ABC spends 2040 thousand rubles on the project. own funds and 21,060 thousand rubles. takes out a loan at 15% per annum. Income tax rate 30%, return on equity for last year amounted to 8%. Let us apply the weighted average cost of capital indicator:

Thus, the acceptable rate of return under these financing conditions is 10.3% per annum.

The weighted average cost of capital is used by investors to evaluate a company's performance, taking into account the inherent risks this species business. It is also used for management analysis, when managers make decisions about the direction of investment in new activities or. into new projects. Only those projects that provide a greater return than the cost of capital are accepted.

Calculation of a company's cost of capital is carried out in several stages. First, it is necessary to determine the structure of the company's capital involved. Secondly, you need to calculate the cost of each component of the company's capital. Then the weighted average cost of capital employed is determined.

2. An accounting approach to analyzing the investment attractiveness of companies can use the following indicators.

2.1. Net asset value (NAV). The company's balance sheet is used to calculate NAV. Some investors may consider this accounting report as a starting point for analyzing the value of the company. Net assets companies are calculated by reducing the company's assets by the amount of its liabilities. The reliability of the information contained in the balance sheet can be confirmed by an independent auditor.

However, as noted above, the information contained in the balance sheet may not reflect the real picture for the following reasons:

Some important assets are not included in the balance sheet (trademarks, highly skilled labor, etc.);

Assets are often stated at historical (purchase) cost rather than actual cost.

2.2. Company cash flows. This approach to estimating a company's value uses information contained in another accounting report, the cash flow statement. The main indicator here is the amount of cash received by the company from operating activities (cash flow from operations, CFFO). Some analysts also use the company's free cash flow, which is CFFO minus acquisition costs and major renovation fixed assets.

To determine a company's value, analysts forecast the company's free cash flow for several years in advance. These forecast values ​​are then discounted (typically using WACC as the discount rate) and their net present value is calculated. The net present value of a company's future cash flows, calculated in this way, is considered to indicate the current value of the company.

Cash flows generated by a company seem to be a more objective indicator of a company's performance compared to profits for the following reasons:

Cash flow values ​​are considered more difficult to distort (unlike profits), although there are opportunities to manipulate cash flows;

Cash flows are a more sensitive tool for identifying and analyzing a company's liquidity problems.

2.3. Net profit. Typically, net profit is used by analysts to evaluate a company's performance in the form of a ratio “earnings per share” (EPS). This coefficient gives useful information for owners of blocks of shares in various companies, as it shows what part of the company’s profit comes from their block. Sometimes, the profit gives more full view about the company's activities than cash flows.

2.4. Residual profit. Residual profit (sometimes called economic profit) is an approach to measuring a company's performance in which net profit is reduced by the cost of capital employed (in absolute terms).

Let's assume that ABC Company received a profit before taxes and interest equal to $250 thousand for the year. Moreover, to obtain this profit, the company used $2 million of capital. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for ABC Company is 10% per year. Thus, the company's residual profit will be equal to thousands of dollars.

It is important to note that earnings before interest and taxes were used in this example because capital employed typically consists of debt and equity. However, if net profit is used, then capital employed must be excluded borrowed capital, and instead of WACC use the cost of equity capital (return on equity).

Using the residual profit indicator is associated with certain problems:

Profit and capital employed figures may be deliberately distorted,

Capital employed may be underestimated if assets are recorded at historical cost;

The risks inherent in investing in different enterprises and different sectors of the economy are not taken into account.

2.5. Accounting rate of return (ARR). This indicator is similar in economic content and calculation methodology to the static indicator of return on investment for a separate investment project. When calculating ARR, earnings are divided by capital employed and the resulting percentage is compared to the company's cost of capital percentage.

So, for the ABC company

The problems that arise when using ARR are identical to the problems when using residual income.

3. A combined approach to analyzing the investment attractiveness of a company takes into account the following coefficients

3.1. Ratio of stock price to earnings per share (price/earnings ratio, PER) is the most common indicator used by investors to assess the value of a company. This indicator is calculated by dividing the market price per share by the earnings per share (EPS).

For example, if ABC Company's shares are priced at $15 per share and the EPS value is $3, then

PER shows the payback period for an investment in a company's shares. That is, a PER value of 5 indicates that an investor, having purchased shares of a company at a price of $15, can expect that the costs of acquiring shares will be recouped within 5 years. Of course, there is a certain amount of convention in these arguments, since it is unlikely that the company's EPS will be the same over 5 years.

Analysts often use PER to predict the future price of a company's shares. To do this, the company's forecast earnings per share are multiplied by the current PER value.

So, for example, if EPS is expected to be $4 next year, then with a current PER of 5, the company's share price will be $20.

The above calculations assume that the current PER value will remain unchanged next year. But if there is reason to believe otherwise, then the calculations can be changed as follows.

Let's assume the PER value for ABC Company. A PER of 5 is below the industry average of 6. If a company's PER is expected to catch up with the industry average, then the projected share price will no longer be $20, but $24.

When assessing the effectiveness of investments in shares, it is necessary to carefully analyze the reasons for the deviation of the PER value of a particular company from the industry average.

If a company's PER is below the industry average (as was the case in the previous example), then the reasons for this could be either that the company lags behind the rest of the industry in terms of its fundamental indicators, or that the company is undervalued by the market and, therefore, is a good target for investing.

If a company's PER is higher than the industry average, then the explanations for this may be the following: the company is ahead of other companies in the industry in its basic indicators, or it is overvalued and, therefore, investing in the shares of such a company will not bring much income.

The advantages of using the described indicator include the following:

Since the analysis of a company's value occurs using profit analysis, this indicator can be applied to companies that do not pay dividends (fast-growing companies);

Information about a company's stock price and earnings per share can be easily obtained from published reports;

When calculating PER, discounting is not used, thereby simplifying the calculation methodology;

PER can be used to estimate the value of companies. To do this, the net profit of such a company is multiplied by the PER value of similar companies that have a market quote.

Among the disadvantages of PER, the following should be noted:

The use of coins in profit calculations will lead to distortion of the analysis results;

Typically, companies publish information about their results once a year - a few months after reporting date. This may cause PER calculated on last year's data to become out of date during the next reporting period and not take into account last changes the financial position of the company;

PER cannot be applied to companies operating at a loss.

3.2. Market capitalization to revenue ratio (price/sales ratio, PSR).This ratio is a modification of PER and is calculated as the ratio of the company's market capitalization to revenue for reporting year. The advantage of this ratio is that the company’s revenue is a fairly objective indicator that is difficult to distort. However, PSR does not take into account the impact of a company's profitability on market capitalization. Two companies with the same revenue may have different profits (or even losses), and accordingly the capitalization will also differ.

3.3. Enterprise value (EV). Recently, for analysis, company share prices are increasingly using company value instead of market capitalization. This is due to the increasing role of borrowed capital as a source of financing the activities of companies, which leads to the incomparability of companies with the same operational performance indicators, but with different levels of debt. Therefore, indicators calculated using market capitalization as a basis for valuing a company (PER, PSR, etc.) do not evaluate the price of a company's shares based on the price of shares of another company or group of comparable companies. To obtain comparable values ​​of the indicators described above, use the value of the company, calculated as the sum of the market capitalization of ordinary and preferred shares and the market value of the company's debt obligations.

It is easy to see that from the large number of existing methods for analyzing the effectiveness of investments, it is difficult to choose one universal one that is suitable for all companies. Each of the described methods has certain advantages and disadvantages. When choosing one or another technique, it is necessary to evaluate many factors, namely: the goals of the analysis, the availability of reliable information, the specifics of the business, company, etc. Typically, a company is evaluated using several criteria.

Assessing the investment attractiveness of a company is a complex process in which mathematical calculations make up one of the elements. Much depends on the subjective assessments and experience of analysts.

In addition to the noted indicators of market value, other aspects of the investment attractiveness of the enterprise are also taken into account. These include:

Attractiveness of products;

Personnel attractiveness;

Innovative appeal;

Financial attractiveness;

Territorial attractiveness;

Ecological attractiveness;

Social attractiveness.

Product attractiveness enterprises for any investor - This its competitiveness in the market. Product competitiveness is also a multidimensional component consisting of indicators, factors, prerequisites and final criteria. The following are the most significant of them.

Product quality level - compliance with various standards, availability of quality certificates, reliability, prospects, “behavior” of products with consumers, compliance with fashion, etc. The investor may also be interested in the product quality control system and the costs of its operation.

Price level for the company’s products, its correlation with the prices of competitors and the prices of substitute goods.

Level of product diversification shows a system of coefficients reflecting the versatility of the company . A potential investor is interested in which types of manufactured products are in greatest demand on the market, and what is the profitability of the manufactured products. Therefore, the level of product diversification is considered one of the characteristics of its investment attractiveness.

A general indicator of the competitiveness of products and, accordingly, their investment attractiveness is product price . Since the price is formed as a result of the interaction of supply and demand, it indirectly expresses competitiveness by comparing the cost of commercial products (supply) and products sold(demand).

When assessing the investment attractiveness of an enterprise’s products, it is also necessary to list the range of products: its “width”, “depth” and “length”. The “width” of the assortment is determined by the number of product groups. The “depth” of a product group is measured by the number of different products it includes. The “length” of the assortment is related to the total amount of goods produced by the enterprise. This is the number of groups multiplied by the number of products in each group, i.e. here we are talking about the most important characteristic that reflects the scale of the enterprise’s activities.

Personnel attractiveness enterprise is characterized by three components;

1. Business qualities of the manager and his team

2. Quality of core personnel

3. Quality of personnel renewal in general.

Business qualities of the manager and his team. Many investors make investment decisions based primarily on the quality of the management team. This is because the experience and skills of key managers significantly influence on long-term development of any company. But for this reason, investors and creditors pay great attention to studying the capabilities of individual managers to work successfully in a given business and the quality of building an internal management structure, which should ensure maximum use of the team’s resources.

When studying the business qualities of managers, investors pay attention to:

Key managers;

Board of Directors;

Supervisory Board;

Consultants and other specialists.

When assessing the quality of key managers, such business qualities of the manager and his team are taken into account as: the manager’s thinking, his psychological features, competence, ethical characteristics, his attitude towards work, decision-making ability, incentives, etc. The main qualities of a leader for an investor are competence and entrepreneurship (the ability to think innovatively), while teams are the coordinated actions of well-chosen individuals.

Among the key managers playing a role in representing the investor , include:

Managers making decisions - president, directors, heads of departments;

Key production managers - production manager, technical director, etc.;

Development managers, etc.

For investors, it is important that there is a place on the board of directors for a potential investor, because they are usually interested in having control over management and influencing strategic development companies.

There are cases when the management of a company prefers not to include outsiders on the board of directors, but their experience, connections or image can be very useful to the company. In such situations, the usual solution is to create a supervisory board, which has virtually no legal power, but can provide significant assistance in the development of the company.

There is a misconception about consultants that only large companies need them. But highly qualified professionals have the opportunity to seriously help any business in such specific areas as: finance, tax planning, legal issues etc. Moreover, consultants can do this at a higher level than full-time company employees. The use of consultants can significantly improve the company's image in the eyes of potential investors.

A general criterion for investment attractiveness personnel core of the enterprise is the proportion of highly qualified workers and specialists in the number of industrial production personnel. When calculating this indicator The dynamics of the enterprise's personnel core is also taken into account.

Quality of personnel renewal in general can be expressed by the frame refresh rate. This indicator reflects quantitative trends in changes in personnel composition.

Innovative appeal- this is the effect of medium- and long-term investments in innovations at the enterprise. The innovative attractiveness of an enterprise is an important component of the investment attractiveness of an enterprise, since many investors associate investment prospects with innovations.

When assessing innovative attractiveness, investors usually , take into account the presence of:

Strategies for technical development of production, the basis of all other innovations;

Production financing programs from various sources : own funds, state and municipal budgets, bank and other loans;

Consistent policy of using accumulation funds at the enterprise.

To directly assess innovative attractiveness you need:

1. Selection of a system of indicators directly or indirectly characterizing the innovative activity of an enterprise.

2. Differentiated ranking of enterprises based on grouping of selected indicators and determination of place by their sum.

3. Selection of a general criterion for express analysis. The following systems of indicators of the innovative attractiveness of an enterprise can be proposed:

a) structure of fixed assets:

The ratio of the accumulation fund to the value of fixed assets;

Ratio of R&D fund to the cost of fixed assets;

The ratio of foreign currency to the value of fixed assets;

Ratio of long-term loans and borrowings to the cost of fixed assets . When comparing investment potential A comparative table is drawn up for several enterprises, then, based on the sum of places received by each enterprise, a general ranking of the investment potential of the enterprises is carried out.

b) efficiency of use of fixed assets;

c) sources of technical renewal of production;

d) share of profit for technical re-equipment of the enterprise. A general criterion for assessing the innovative potential of an enterprise can be considered the indicator of the share of funds for technical re-equipment of production in net profit. The optimal level of this indicator can be considered to be slightly higher than 0.3. If the value of the indicator of the share of funds for technical re-equipment of production in net profit is less than 0.3, the enterprise is at risk.

Financial attractiveness acts as the central component of the investment attractiveness of the enterprise. For any investor, financial attractiveness lies in minimizing financial costs and maximizing profits, i.e. in obtaining a stable economic effect from financial and economic activities. If this effect is unstable, financial risk is inevitable when investing.

Indicators of financial attractiveness were discussed above.

Territorial attractiveness of the enterprise is a system of criteria for the geospatial position and development of the enterprise that is favorable for the investor.

The territorial attractiveness of an enterprise for an investor is determined, firstly, by the macroeconomic situation of the city or region where the enterprise is located, nationally and internationally. market economy; and, secondly, the microgeographical location of the enterprise within the city.

When assessing the first, the investor takes into account the overall investment climate in the region:

Socio-political stability;

Development prospects economic region;

Level of infrastructure development in the region;

Development of the system of benefits for investors (organization of licenses, tax preferences, municipal preferences, etc.)

The microgeographical position of the enterprise is also assessed by the investor based on several criteria:

The transport coefficient shows the proximity (distance) of the enterprise from the main transport routes, the availability of access roads for the transportation of goods and employees of the enterprise;

The coefficient of distance from the city center characterizes the proximity (remoteness) of the enterprise from the city center, where local government institutions and various services are concentrated commercial organizations, most developed public utilities and a network of trade and socio-cultural services;

The price of land, which largely depends on the above criteria;

The coefficient of potential intensification of the enterprise territory is the saturation of the enterprise territory with fixed assets, which determines the impossibility of extensive and the need for intensive use of its industrial zone when organizing new production;

The share of transportation, procurement and sales costs in the cost of production. This indicator can be considered as a result, since it reflects the level of development of production cooperation (regional, interregional, international), the stability and rhythm of supplies, the choice of economical routes and means of delivery, the quality of warehouse facilities, the level of mechanization of loading and unloading operations, etc.

Environmental attractiveness of the enterprise is a multidimensional concept due to the complex nature of environmental problems. The environmental attractiveness of an enterprise is determined through:

Ecological attractiveness of the enterprise’s natural environment;

Environmental attractiveness of manufactured products;

The environmental attractiveness of the products produced at the enterprise.

All components of environmental attractiveness are regulated by legal norms and standards. Environmental standards determine the permissible level of pollution (for example, maximum permissible emissions). Product standards characterize the maximum levels of harmful substances in manufactured products. Technological standards are environmental specifications for technical means, equipment, technological processes etc.

To one degree or another, environmental attractiveness influences other components of investment attractiveness.

The attractiveness of products - the quality of products according to environmental standards affects the volume of their sales.

On innovative attractiveness - through the level of environmental protection of technology at the enterprise.

On financial attractiveness - penalties and payments for environmental violations reduce financial attractiveness.

Territorial and social attractiveness - pollution of the territory affects the territorial attractiveness, as well as the social living conditions of workers in adjacent microdistricts.

Social attractiveness of the enterprise- this is the final criterion by which the investor judges the state of affairs at the enterprise where he is going to invest or is already investing his funds. The social climate at an enterprise serves as a criterion for the competitiveness of the enterprise, its prestige for employment, and its attractiveness for investors. When analyzing the social climate at an enterprise, attention is paid to such characteristics as:

Working conditions

Organization and remuneration

Development of social infrastructure.

The analysis takes into account social indicators of investment, which are based on monitoring deviations from standard or reference values.

The following indicators are usually taken into account:

Deviation of indicators of working conditions from sanitary and hygienic standards - negative values ​​will entail the need for additional investments;

Deviation of the wage intensity of products from the average for the industry or related sub-sectors. Wage intensity is defined as the share of the wage fund in the cost of marketable products;

Average deviation wages at the enterprise from the minimum consumer basket of the region.

Thus, it is obvious that the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is a complex characteristic consisting of individual parameters. It should be noted that not all of these parameters are equivalent. Depending on the situation, one or another component of investment attractiveness will be given greater importance.

Investments are the basis of the activities of any modern enterprise. In order for potential investors to agree to invest their money in the development of a company, it is necessary to demonstrate its stability, reliability, profitability, and competitiveness. For this purpose, qualitative indicators of investment attractiveness are used.

What is investment attractiveness

The set of financial, economic, commercial, quality indicators showing the stability of development and growth of the company, the positioning of the organization in the domestic and foreign markets is defined as the investment attractiveness of the enterprise.

The introduction of this concept pursues the following goals:

• determining the current state of the organization and the direction of its development in the future;
• preparing measures to attract new investors;
• direct attraction of additional funds for specific projects.

Investments can be made into existing resources (technical renovation of production facilities), develop new ones, and expand existing working areas.

In other words, investment attractiveness is a series of actions that must be performed in order to show a potential investor the real benefits and future prospects after injecting capital into a company.

Determination methods

Normal development of an enterprise requires constant updating of existing production assets and capacities. It is not always possible to do this at your own expense. Therefore, it is advisable to attract third-party capital for these purposes. To do this, it is necessary to prove that the company’s investment attractiveness is high enough.

Determination of such a criterion can be carried out using various methods.

Integral method

All activities of the organization are grouped into certain blocks and their effectiveness is assessed. Three main independent sections are combined - general, special, control. Market position, reputation, dependence on various suppliers, and management efficiency are considered.

Expert method

Characterized by a set of universal assessment criteria applied to a specific business entity in order to identify its strengths and weaknesses in the process financial development and becoming. Includes Current state affairs, strategic planning, development, possibility of reform.

Cash flow discounting

It represents a set of estimates of future benefits in monetary terms from an investment, as well as the value of the investment object in the future after the direction of cash flows. External and internal influencing factors are identified, and recommendations are developed to improve the financial attractiveness of the organization.

The choice of a specific assessment method is carried out based on the scope of the organization’s activities, the availability of the maximum number of indicators, using which it is possible to comprehensively disclose economic activities, determine the strengths and weak sides, show the reliability of the investment.

Openness, reliability, stability, financial growth, and increased production have a positive effect on the interest of potential investors in the development of the enterprise. Indicators that influence the final decision of a potential investor must comprehensively disclose the activities of a particular unit. The main criterion is the presence of a stable income.

You need to understand that many people want to receive investment for development. There is huge competition in this market segment. Therefore, in order to get the desired money for development, you will need to convince investors of your reliability, the benefits of investments, and guarantees of profit. To do this, you will have to perform a detailed analysis of the main aspects of economic activity, namely:

• level of turnover of existing assets;
• real return on equity;
• level of financial stability;
• asset liquidity indicators.

Such data will help to present to a potential investor a real picture of the company’s life, the return on investment cycle, and the level of expected profitability.

Factors for assessing the attractiveness of an enterprise

To determine the reliability and profitability of investing in a specific investment object, it is advisable to perform comprehensive assessment financial, commercial, production, reparations status of the unit. To do this, it is necessary to gradually determine the performance and reliability of individual areas.

The criteria for investment attractiveness are determined in the process of performing the following actions:

1. Ratings financial situation companies. Cash flows, values ​​of existing assets, availability of net profit, and long-term contracts are checked.
2. Assessments of the production aspects of the enterprise. The state of fixed production assets, their productivity, the need to update or replace means of production.
3. Checking management factors. Organizational structure, labor costs, worker productivity, the ratio of labor costs to total costs at the existing level of productivity.
4. Determining the market position of the company. Availability of contracts with major suppliers, partners, sales volume, possibility of competition with other similar companies, sales of products abroad, level of business reputation.
5. Available legal factors. Availability of title documents, certificates, licenses, permits, expert opinions. No open litigation with other companies, individuals for large sums.

The final conclusions regarding the expression of interest in a particular organization for the injection of new capital will be made based on an analysis of all factors to be assessed. Qualitative analysis helps to persuade the investor to your side and attract the desired funds.

How to attract investors

The high level of competition in the investment market forces potential borrowers to use everything available methods attracting new capital. But here you also need to take into account the wishes of the other party, be able to win attention, gain trust, and quickly show key performance indicators of your activities.

To draw attention to your project and attract external capital, you should initially follow a few simple rules.

1. Decide what investments you are applying for. Foreigners, private individuals, small and large companies, state. Each of them pursues specific goals, sets conditions and deadlines for returning the money invested.
2. Convey information to the potential recipient about the reliability of the project. A well-formed business plan will show transparent indicators of the organization’s performance in terms of cash flow. A detailed analysis of the future market and the need for a product (service) play an important role in decision making.
3. Preparation of information documents. The start of any project begins with documentation. Everything needs to be prepared Required documents(if you need to receive them, make a step-by-step plan for how all this will be accomplished). We only need up-to-date information. Do not overload with unnecessary papers - this is annoying and causes rejection.
4. Preparation of a plan for the distribution of future investments, as well as forecasts of their return on investment. This must be done in relation to actual prices on the day of the offer.
5. Flexibility. You can always find a compromise solution; you should learn to quickly adapt to the needs of a potential partner. It is possible that a potential investor may have his own vision for the project. There is no need to immediately reject such proposals.
6. Accepting criticism. Perseverance, perseverance and determination will undoubtedly be appreciated by a future investor, but you should not take a stand and show offense if specific mistakes or shortcomings are pointed out.

Only clearly thought out steps, a little pressure, perseverance, a correctly formed package of documents, constant communication with the right people will help you launch almost any project.

How to increase investment attractiveness

Additional capital is required not only for new but also operating companies. To obtain it, it will be necessary to increase the level of economic and commercial reliability and create normal conditions for further long-term partnership cooperation. To do this, the company needs:

• analyze the level of the existing financial condition, identify factors that negatively affect the attraction of new investors;
• determine the demand for manufactured products (services provided) in the market, prepare measures for their adaptation to modern conditions;
• demonstrate openness financial system, the ability to track cash flows, transparency of accounting;
• take measures to optimize unprofitable assets, increase productivity levels, and reduce unproductive costs;
• provide high level business reputation, company recognition in the domestic and foreign markets (possibly by replacing the existing brand).

You can increase your chance of receiving investment by confirming your ability to adapt to requirements in a short time modern market, have a clear action plan for this, as well as taking specific steps towards its implementation.

It is possible to receive investments in business development only if potential investors notice real signs of positive development of the enterprise. To do this, you will need to study the current market, rebuild your production, and think through every step on the path to improvement. This is the only way to make a profit, as well as ensure the profitability of investors' investments.

In the works of various scientists devoted to the problems of defining and understanding the “investment attractiveness” of an enterprise, there is no consensus regarding the definition and methodology for assessing the investment attractiveness of an enterprise. It is possible to systematize and combine existing interpretations into four groups according to the following criteria:

investment attractiveness as a condition for the development of an enterprise; The investment attractiveness of an enterprise is the state of its economic development, in which high share it is probable that, within a time period acceptable to the investor, the investment may produce a satisfactory level of profitability or another positive effect may be achieved.

investment attractiveness as a condition for investment; Investment attractiveness is a set of various objective signs, properties, means, opportunities that determine the potential effective demand for investment in fixed capital.

investment attractiveness as a set of indicators; The investment attractiveness of an enterprise is a combination of economic and financial indicators enterprises that determine the possibility of obtaining maximum profit as a result of investing capital with minimal investment risk.

investment attractiveness as an indicator of investment efficiency. Investment efficiency determines investment attractiveness, and investment attractiveness determines investment activity. The higher the investment efficiency, the higher the level of investment attractiveness and the larger the investment activity, and vice versa.

Investmentattractivenessenterprises is a system of economic relations between business entities regarding the effective development of business and maintaining its competitiveness.

From the perspective of investors, the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is a system of quantitative and qualitative factors that characterize the enterprise’s effective demand for investment.

The demand for investments (together with supply, price levels and the degree of competition) determines the conditions of the investment market.

In order to obtain reliable information for developing an investment strategy, a systematic approach to studying market conditions is required, starting from the macro level (from the investment climate of the state) to the micro level (assessing the investment attractiveness of an individual investment project). This sequence allows investors to solve the problem of choosing precisely those enterprises that have the best development prospects in the event of the implementation of the proposed investment project and can provide the investor with the planned return on invested capital from the existing risks. At the same time, the investor considers the enterprise’s belonging to the industry (developing or depressed industries) and its territorial location (region, federal district). Industries and territories, in turn, have their own levels of investment attractiveness, which include the investment attractiveness of their constituent enterprises.

Thus, each object of the investment market has its own investment attractiveness and at the same time is in the “investment field” of all objects of the investment market. The investment attractiveness of an enterprise, in addition to its “investment field,” is influenced by the investment impact of the industry, region and state. In turn, the set of enterprises forms an industry that affects the investment attractiveness of the entire region, and the attractiveness of the regions forms the attractiveness of the state. All changes occurring in higher-level systems (political instability, changes in tax legislation and others) directly affect the investment attractiveness of the enterprise.

Investment attractiveness depends both on external factors characterizing the level of development of the industry and the region of location of the enterprise in question, and on internal factors - activities within the enterprise.

When deciding to allocate funds, an investor will have to evaluate many factors that determine the effectiveness of future investments. Considering the range of options for combining different values ​​of these factors, the investor has to evaluate the cumulative impact and results of the interaction of these factors, that is, evaluate the investment attractiveness of social economic system and on its basis make decisions about investing funds.

Therefore, there is a need to quantitatively identify the state of investment attractiveness, and it should be taken into account that in order to make investment decisions, an indicator characterizing the state of investment attractiveness of an enterprise must have economic sense and be comparable to the investor's cost of capital. Therefore, we can formulate the requirements for the methodology for determining the investment attractiveness indicator:

The investment attractiveness indicator must take into account all environmental factors that are significant for the investor;

The indicator should reflect the expected return on investment;

The indicator must be comparable to the investor's cost of capital.

A methodology for assessing the investment attractiveness of enterprises, built taking into account the above requirements, will allow investors to provide a high-quality and informed choice of investment object, monitor the effectiveness of investments and adjust the process of implementing investment projects and programs in the event of an unfavorable situation.

It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “investment attractiveness” and “ financial condition enterprises." The financial condition of an enterprise is a set of indicators that reflect the availability, placement and use of financial resources, i.e. gives an idea of ​​the current state of the assets and liabilities of the enterprise as a whole.

Indicators characterizing the financial condition of an enterprise are calculated using standard methods, i.e. it can almost always be determined based on several formal criteria:

indicators of liquidity and financial stability, trends in changes in profit, profitability of products and property (resulting rate of return on capital);

the current financial position of the enterprise and factors that may influence it in the near future;

the capital structure of the enterprise, risks and benefits from the investor’s point of view;

forecast of prices for shares of the enterprise and its competitors in connection with general trends in the stock market.

With this setting of goals, analysis of investment attractiveness and financial condition becomes a connecting link between the enterprise, its investors and the stock market.

One of the main factors of investment attractiveness is investment risks.

Investment risks include the following subtypes of risks: risk of lost profits, risk of decreased profitability, risk of direct financial losses.

The risk of lost profits is the risk of indirect (collateral) financial damage (lost profit) as a result of failure to implement any activity.

The risk of a decrease in profitability may arise as a result of a decrease in the amount of interest and dividends on portfolio investments, on deposits and loans.

The risk of decreased profitability includes the following types: interest rate risks and credit risks.

There are many classifications of factors that determine investment attractiveness. They can be divided into:

– production and technological;

– resource;

– institutional;

– regulatory and legal;

– infrastructure;

– export potential;

– business reputation and others.

It should be noted the importance full accounting and quantitative assessment of project risks by investors when assessing the investment attractiveness of an enterprise (project) and making a decision on investment.

There are projects assessed as highly profitable, but with a high level of risks, for example venture investments, investments in projects to create and market new products and services, create new technologies, expand existing ones and enter new markets. Each of the above factors can be characterized by different indicators, which often have the same economic nature.

Other factors determining investment attractiveness are classified into:

formal (calculated based on data financial statements);

informal (management competence, commercial reputation).

Investment attractiveness from the point of view of an individual investor can be determined by a different set of factors that are of greatest importance in choosing a particular investment object.

As I wrote above, investment attractiveness - economic category, characterized by the efficiency of using the enterprise’s property, its solvency, the stability of its financial condition, its ability to self-development on the basis of increasing the return on capital, the technical and economic level of production, the quality and competitiveness of products. And in order to assess the level of investment attractiveness of an enterprise, it is necessary to evaluate:

• ? the achieved level of efficiency in the use of enterprise property and product profitability, as well as the compliance of this level with their standard values;
• ? the degree of financial stability of the enterprise and compliance of this level with standard values;
• ? the solvency of the enterprise and the liquidity of its balance sheet, as well as the compliance of the indicators of solvency and liquidity of the balance sheet with their standard values;
• ? product quality, its competitiveness, technical and economic level of production and the enterprise’s ability to self-develop on the basis of an innovation strategy.

One of the most important areas of implementation investment policy enterprise is the mobilization of external investment resources for the implementation of investment projects of the enterprise.

The rating assessment is based on an assessment of the financial condition of the enterprise. Financial condition is the most important characteristic of the financial activity of an enterprise. It determines the competitiveness of the enterprise and its potential in business cooperation, and is a guarantee of the effective implementation of the economic interests of all participants financial relations: both the enterprise itself and its partners.

Also in the economic literature, the approach of I.A. has become widespread. Form for assessing the investment attractiveness of individual enterprises. It is based on identifying the stages of studying the investment market when developing an investment strategy and forming an effective investment portfolio. Financial analysis of the investment activity of the attractiveness of the enterprise includes an assessment of the investment attractiveness of investment segments. Based on usage this approach financial activities enterprises are assessed based on indicators of financial stability, profitability, liquidity and asset circulation. In conditions of increasing role price factor There is a quantitative increase in the financial indicators of enterprises.

When assessing each investment object individually, the general characteristics of investment qualities will be strictly subjective. Comparison of the analysis results is carried out individually by each investor. As a result, it is quite difficult to identify certain parameters, criteria for assessing investment attractiveness, and even more so the factors influencing it.

There is a qualimetric model for assessing the investment attractiveness of an industrial enterprise based on a system of quantitative and qualitative factors characterizing the financial condition, market environment and level of corporate governance. The term “qualimetry” comes from the Latin word “qualitas” - quality, property and the ancient Greek word “metreo” - to measure, to measure. Methods for studying an object from the point of view of measuring its quality began to be called qualimetric. Another prerequisite for our use of the theory of qualimetry as a method of quantitative measurement of quality is that for an investor the investment attractiveness of an enterprise is the quantitatively expressed quality of the set of properties of the investment object from the standpoint of satisfying the investor’s requirements to generate income on invested capital. This assumption made it possible to formulate the main approaches to the development of a qualimetric model of the investment attractiveness of an enterprise. IN general case the qualimetric model consists of a multi-level tree of properties, weight coefficients, absolute and relative indicators of properties, as well as a method for calculating the integral indicator of the evaluated object.

The model development algorithm includes the following stages:

• - construction of a hierarchical structural diagram (“tree”) of properties;
• - calculation of property weight coefficients and estimation of calculation error;
• - determining the values ​​of absolute indicators of properties and bringing them to a single measurement scale;
• - convolution and calculation of the integral indicator - the coefficient of investment attractiveness of the enterprise.

Before selecting the most significant factors characterizing the investment attractiveness of enterprises, we formulated selection criteria. Thus, the factors included in the model must simultaneously:

• - characterize the attractiveness of the enterprise from the standpoint of its compliance with the requirements of investors, i.e. the qualimetric model should be “built from the investor” and not “from the enterprise”;
• - cover most of the risks arising at the stage of pre-investment research;
• - contain information from sources that are open and accessible to all interested parties;
• - have a clear quantitative or qualitative assessment.

When choosing the most significant factors of an enterprise's investment attractiveness, we had to take into account two opposing trends. The first tendency is associated with the natural desire to include the maximum possible number of attractiveness factors from their infinite variety. Another trend is that it is advisable to reduce the number of factors taken into account, since mutual correlation (interdependence) arises, which reduces the accuracy of the assessment and complicates the work of experts. In this regard, a study was conducted to select and optimize the number of factors used for evaluation.

Modern trends in the theory and practice of financial analysis are associated with the problem of system modification financial ratios and bringing it to a form convenient for making adequate management decisions in the field of financial management. In this direction, it is proposed to use a statistical approach that allows you to select from a variety of financial ratios those that most fully and comprehensively characterize the financial condition of the enterprise. The essence of the statistical approach based on correlation analysis can be reduced to the following main points. First, a sample of data from financial statements of enterprises is formed and the main financial ratios are calculated. Then the correlation relationship between them is determined and a grouping of financial ratios is made according to the value of paired linear correlation coefficients (CC). Further, those indicators that contain signs of duplication of information are excluded, i.e. have a CC value of more than 0.7. CC values ​​from 0.3 to 0.7 characterize a weak relationship, and less than 0.3 - its almost complete absence. Based on the research conducted, a minimum set of the following financial ratios can be used for express analysis: debt-to-equity ratio; coefficient current liquidity; asset turnover ratio; return on sales based on net profit; return on equity on net profit. To identify common the most important factors investment attractiveness, characterizing the market environment and corporate governance, was compiled a brief description of main types of investors (Appendix A). On its basis, the factors of investment attractiveness of the enterprise were formulated, the degree of their significance and compliance with the selection criteria was determined. As a result, a two-level structural diagram (“tree”) of the properties of the model of the investment attractiveness of the enterprise was constructed (Appendix B).

Next, I would like to dwell in more detail on the indicators of the financial position of the enterprise, since they are the most significant for investors. I would like to note that in addition to traditional indicators in the first block of analysis, it is important to take into account factors characteristic of the current stage of economic development of the country, namely: non-payments, manifested in the growth of receivables and payables and a significant difference between sales revenue for shipped and paid products, as well as a high share of barter transactions and money surrogates in payments, and finally, the issues of analyzing the costs of the enterprise are significant for the investor.

Seven main areas of analysis of the financial position of an enterprise are proposed: profitability indicators; indicators of long-term financial stability; liquidity indicators; indicators business activity; structure of sales revenue; enterprise cost analysis; collection of payments and analysis of receivables and payables of the enterprise.

Profitability indicators as the main characteristic of the profitability of an enterprise are the most important for investors, since they characterize the efficiency of the company’s activities, and therefore, indirectly, the profitability of investments made. Although for the investor, of course, priority is given to relative indicators profitability, the very fact that an enterprise has a profit is already important, because as of January 2006, more than a third of all Russian enterprises (excluding small businesses) were unprofitable - 39.3%, including in the electric power industry - 32.4%, and the repeated losses of the enterprise over a number of years are evidence of its possible imminent bankruptcy.

Of particular importance for investors are the growth rates of a company's profits. According to the results of a survey of shareholders of 1000 leading corporations in Western Europe and the United States by consultants from Cambridge and Massachusetts, it was found that investors clearly prefer companies that demonstrate rapid profit growth, but at the same time buy securities of companies with a high degree of predictability of profits and a sustainable nature of its growth.

As for relative profitability indicators, we note that in foreign theory and practice of financial analysis three main groups are used: return on capital indicators, return on sales indicators and return on assets indicators. Return on capital is the most important for investors, as it characterizes the effectiveness of investing their capital.

Return on capital indicators are:

Return on capital employed (ROCE), which is calculated as the ratio of the enterprise's net profit and interest paid to the average value of all invested capital. The concept of net profit, which is very common abroad, unfortunately, is not defined by Russian legislation. In our opinion, to determine net profit, it is necessary to subtract from the profit before tax all costs (except for interest on the loan) that are not included in the cost of products (works, services) according to Russian legislation, but this is not always possible in practice due to the lack of necessary information base. On average, in the global economy, a return on invested capital of 7-8% is considered normal. Return on equity (ROE), which is calculated as the ratio of net profit to equity. Equity is usually understood as the sum of share capital and reserves formed from the profits of the enterprise.

Sales profitability indicators are:

Return on sales based on net profit (net profit margin), which is calculated as the ratio of an enterprise's net profit to sales revenue and is the most common ratio among financial analysts. It is this indicator that is used by the famous American magazine FORTUNE, along with the return on assets ratio, to assess the performance of the world's largest companies. Median value The return on sales indicator for net profit for the world's 500 largest companies was 3.2% in 2005, and the most profitable was the American company Microsoft (30.4%). Return on sales based on gross profit margin, which is calculated as the ratio of the enterprise’s marginal income, i.e. sales revenue minus variable costs to sales revenue. Return on sales based on operating profit margin, which is calculated as the ratio of sales profit to sales revenue. In some cases, investors prefer to use earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBDIT) rather than sales proceeds.

The main indicator of return on assets is the ratio of the enterprise's net profit to the average annual value of its assets. The median value of the indicator for the world's 500 largest companies was 1.9% in 2006, and the most profitable was the American company Coca Cola (24.4%).

Since indicators of the long-term financial stability of an enterprise characterize the capital structure, the main coefficient of this direction of financial analysis in economic literature and practice is considered to be the share of equity capital in the currency of the enterprise’s balance sheet (shareholders equity/total assets), or the coefficient of financial independence. There are no strict standards for the ratio of equity and borrowed capital, just as there are no strict standards for financial ratios in general.

Nevertheless, there is a widespread opinion among analysts that the share of equity capital should be quite large - at least 50%. It is believed that investors, and especially creditors, are more willing to invest in a company with a high share of equity capital, since it is more likely to repay its debts using its own funds.

In addition, companies with a high share of borrowed funds usually have to make significant interest payments, and therefore there will be less funds available to support dividend payments and create reserves. Establishing a critical level of 50% is the result of the following reasoning: if at a certain point creditors present all debts for collection, then the company will be able to sell half of its property formed from its own sources, even if the second half of the property turns out to be illiquid for some reason.

However, the conditionality of any absolute norm for the financial independence ratio is obvious, since a highly profitable enterprise or an enterprise with high turnover working capital, can afford a relatively high level of capital raised. The presence of problems with the financial stability of an enterprise may be indicated by its use of short-term borrowed funds as sources of financing long-term investments.

Liquidity indicators of an enterprise characterize its ability to respond to short-term liabilities to creditors. For an investor, these indicators are important as a characteristic of the risk of possible bankruptcy of the enterprise, and, consequently, the forced sale of its assets as a result of satisfying claims of creditors. In the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise, creditors have a priority right over shareholders to receive funds.

An enterprise can pay off its short-term obligations through payments from bank accounts, as well as urgent cash mobilization through sales current assets On the market. The absolute indicator of liquidity is the amount of working capital, calculated as the difference between the short-term assets and short-term liabilities of the enterprise. Consideration of the growth rate of the enterprise's own working capital against the background of inflation rates is of great analytical importance.

The recent development trends of Russian enterprises are characterized by a shortage of their own working capital. Thus, the total working capital of enterprises whose shares are included in the RTS list grew by less than 3% in 2006, while inflation was 22%. The main relative indicators of enterprise liquidity used by analysts are calculated as the ratio of current assets to short-term liabilities, but in various cases current assets (in in value terms) are present in the numerator of the coefficient either in full or only in their most liquid part.

In foreign economic literature and practice, three key liquidity ratios are usually used:

Current liquidity ratio is the coverage ratio (current ratio), calculated as the ratio of all current assets of the enterprise (current assets) to short-term accounts payable (current liabili-ties). The composition of current assets usually includes cash, short-term investments, accounts receivable (debtors), stocks of raw materials, materials, goods and finished products(inventory). True, there is a debate among analysts regarding the calculation of certain components of current assets when calculating liquidity ratios, and many economists propose excluding all illiquid assets from consideration.

As part of this discussion and based on the principle of conservatism, we do not consider it advisable to include bad debts and overdue debts in accounts receivable. It is assumed that the higher the liquidity ratio, the more reliable the position of the enterprise, since a significant excess of current assets over short-term debt will most likely help satisfy the claims of creditors if inventories are sold at a forced sale of property, and accounts receivable are urgently claimed.

On the other hand, too high a ratio may be a sign of ineffective management of the enterprise and may indicate non-performing funds, excess inventories compared to standard ones, and excessive accounts receivable. Therefore, in practice, it is believed that a ratio of 2: 1 is close to normal for most forms of activity, since this level provides the company with reliable coverage of short-term debt even if the value of current assets is reduced by 50%.

However, recently for developed countries The coverage ratio is characterized by a decrease, amounting, in particular, to 1.33 for US manufacturing enterprises at the beginning of 2000. This is partly because modern corporations are more likely to rely on riskier short-term financing than their predecessors. For Russian industry in last years characteristic average value The coverage ratio is approximately 1.0-1.2, and it decreases from year to year.

The quick ratio is calculated similarly to the previous one, with the only difference being that current assets in this case do not include inventories of raw materials, materials, goods and finished products. The exclusion of inventories from current assets is due to the fact that they may constitute a significant part of current assets, but can be converted into cash at a reduced cost, if at all. A satisfactory value of the quick liquidity ratio is usually expressed as a ratio of 1: 1. The absolute liquidity ratio (cash ratio) is calculated as the ratio of cash and short-term financial investments to short-term debt. It is this indicator that allows you to determine whether the enterprise has resources capable of satisfying the demands of creditors in a critical situation. The recommended lower limit of the indicator given by Russian and foreign analysts is 0.2. Modern computerized methods of cash management in the West have resulted in a decrease in the need for funds, therefore the quantitative values ​​of the absolute liquidity ratio abroad have an objective downward trend.

In addition to the three key indicators of an enterprise's liquidity, an indicator of the degree to which interest on borrowed capital is covered by profit from sales before interest (interest coverage) is also important. In practice, indirect indicators that an enterprise has liquidity problems may be delays in the payment of wages to employees, dividends to shareholders, and non-payments to other creditors of the enterprise. According to Law No. 6-FZ of the Russian Federation of January 8, 1998 On Insolvency (Bankruptcy) entity is considered unable to satisfy the claims of creditors under monetary obligations and (or) fulfill the obligation to pay mandatory payments, if the corresponding obligations and (or) obligations are not fulfilled by him within three months from the date of their fulfillment. Such an enterprise may be subject to bankruptcy proceedings.

Indicators of asset turnover (assets turnover) and equity turnover (equity turnover) characterize the level of business activity of the enterprise and are calculated as the ratio of annual revenue from sales of products (works, services) to the average annual value of assets and equity capital, respectively. It is especially important to compare business activity indicators with industry averages, since their value can vary significantly depending on the industry.

For example, asset turnover can vary from one for capital-intensive industries, such as metallurgy, heavy engineering, and the automotive industry, to ten for trading enterprises. The practical use of the asset turnover ratio is largely vulnerable to analytical purposes due to the fact that the company's balance sheet contains assets of various types at often very different price levels relating to different periods in the past.

Specified in financial statements book value assets often bears very little relation to the reasonable market value at the moment, and the distortions grow with each change in the rate of inflation and the associated revaluation of assets. Since receivables are part of the assets of the enterprise, the receivables turnover ratio can also be considered among the indicators of the business activity of the enterprise, but taking into account the special significance of the problem of non-payments, we decided to consider it in the section of analysis of the company's receivables and payables.

The structure of proceeds from the sale of an enterprise (share of cash, barter, bills) is a specific Russian indicator, since the naturalization of the economy is one of the main manifestations of the uniqueness of the Russian economic system. In 2007, the share of barter transactions in the turnover of Russian enterprises amounted to 52% (in 2006 - 42%). Enterprises with a high share of cash in revenue - as a rule, these are companies that sell products (work, services) primarily to the public, as well as exporters - have significant financial maneuverability and usually do not have large debts on tax and other obligations. In addition, barter distorts the cost indicators of enterprises, since in the case of barter payments, prices for goods are usually inflated by two to three times.

Analysis of enterprise costs implies, first of all, the study of their structure according to economic elements, as well as the ratio of conditionally variables and conditionally fixed costs. Enterprises with a high share of fixed costs will be able to record a significant deterioration in financial results even with a slight decrease in sales volumes, as well as a significant increase in profits even with a moderate increase in sales volumes.

Besides, in Russian practice For the purposes of analysis, enterprise costs are usually divided into those incurred in national currency- rubles and for transactions carried out in foreign currency. This is due to the fact that enterprises that mainly have ruble expenses are less exposed to currency risk, i.e. the risk of abrupt depreciation of the ruble, which took place in August - September 2006 and sharply worsened the profitability of operations of enterprises that have a large share of costs incurred in foreign currency (for example, those operating on imported raw materials).

Payment collection rate, i.e. the ratio of sales revenue for products paid for and shipped, and the analysis of receivables and payables are especially important for the study of enterprises in the Russian fuel and energy complex, which are especially hard hit by the non-payment crisis.

An algorithm for studying a company's debt may be approximately as follows. At the first stage, the scale of non-payments is determined by determining the collection rate of payments, accounts receivables turnover (receivables turno-ver), calculated as the ratio of annual sales revenue to the annual average value of receivables, and accounts payable turnover (creditors turnover), defined as the ratio of annual sales proceeds to the annual average value of accounts payable.

It is assumed that the higher the accounts receivable turnover, the higher the enterprise’s ability to pay its obligations to creditors. Having calculated the receivables turnover ratio, you can also determine the receivables turnover period (average receivables collection period), defined as the ratio of 365 days to the receivables turnover.

At the second stage, the dynamics of accumulation of receivables and payables is analyzed, in particular the growth rate of non-payments of the enterprise in comparison with the industry average, as well as in comparison with the growth rate of sales revenue. If liabilities are growing at a faster rate than the company's revenue, this means a certain increase domestic debt, which must be repaid from future revenue, although the chances of this are very low in Russian conditions.

At the third stage, factors are identified that influence the trends and dynamics of the accumulation of receivables and payables.

At the fourth stage, the structure of accounts receivable and accounts payable is examined, in particular, the share of overdue accounts payable and doubtful accounts receivable in the total debt of the enterprise is determined.

A qualitative characteristic of the reliability and validity of all indicators of the financial position of an enterprise for an investor is the presence of financial statements in accordance with IAS or US GAAP standards and the availability of auditor's report authoritative audit firm. We have to admit that a very limited circle of Russian enterprises have financial statements according to IAS (US GAAP) standards, analyzed by a recognized auditing firm.