Agricultural sector performance evaluation in terms of financial indicators: A comparison of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Western Balkan States

Abstract

Agriculture and food industry have become part of strategic areas for each country and each region of Europe. Important condition on companies in group A (according NACE classification) is fulfilling requirements of management in performance of financial area. Traditional financial indicators (calculated from accounting data) are still used to evaluate performance level, what have been considered to be the most appropriate approach over a long period of time in spite of different accounting and financial indicators. The main objective is to find crucial factors in the field of financial performance for agriculture companies in chosen region. Data from 10438 agricultural companies have been get from Amadeus database and analysed. For purpose of the paper there were used factor analysis, Pearson chi-square test for independence, and correspondence analysis. By application of factor analysis has reduced the basic set, originally formed by seven key financial indicators, into seven indexes according analysed countries. All observed factors were put into Pearson's chi-square test to indicate the dependency between indexes and (1) company size and (2) NACE classification. Finally, there was applied correspondence analysis, by which were found out clusters of countries, industries and size.