务资本资助，自2004年以来，情况发生了变化-从2008年的42％（2008年）到48％ 2007）资产被负债所涵盖。
通过分析资本结构的变化以及平均净资产比率的变化，可以得出有趣的结论。认识到使用债务资本的主旨之一是获得财务杠杆的积极影响，这被描述为由于使用债务资本而导致的股本回报率的增加。如果分析公司是真实的，则应以最高的D / E或D / A值观察到最高的股本回报率。然而，在这种情况下，在2001年最高的D / E相当于153％，ROE处于最低水平等于3,2％。在2005年观察到股权资本的利润率最高- 28.1％，当D / E等于76％。这一观察结果可以得出结论，可能分析的公司可能没有可能利用高利息支付的财务杠杆的积极影响，也可能是资本结构中债务水平下降的原因。显然，其他因素可能会影响企业的盈利能力，仅列举少数投资项目的有效性，经营活动的盈利能力或整体经济状况。但是对于详细的利润分析，需要更多的信息。
此分析的下一个要素是流动性风险。图4显示了流动比率和净流动资金的平均值以及分析的公司集团的第二个黄金规则（FC / FA）的比率。2000-2003年，流动比率低于1,00，流动资金净值为负（低于零），这意味着流动性风险很高，公司按时支付所有流动负债的能力是很差。自2004年以来，情况有所改善，流动比率高于1,00，流动资金净值为正。然而，2005年可以观察到最好的情况-目前的最高水平比例为1,6和2009年-目前的比例接近1,6，净营运资金的最大值-超过8000万欧元。结语，在分析期间，流动性风险正在下降，但流动性流动性仍然不存在风险。这些数据可能表明资本结构的进一步变化-因为这些公司正在使用较少的短期负债来为其现有资产提供资金。应该再次提出类似的问题-这些变化的原因是什么-因为流动负债被认为是最便宜的融资方式。流动性低的问题是短期负债下降的原因，公司内部做出决定，还是外部强加给他们？管理人员是否意识到与流动资金流动相关的潜在威胁，并决定改善情况，或者可能是潜在的债权人评估公司的风险很高，并决定限制其获得短期融资的机会。显然，每个公司的答案可能会有所不同。
净流动资金的变化与流动性水平的变化有关，但对于分析的最后一个要素-财务平衡分析强调的破产风险也很重要。固定资本与固定资产比较的FC / FA比率变化也列于图4. 2000-2003年，固定资产比固定资产多，这意味着部分固定资产必须由短期负债资助（净流动资金为负数），因此流动性风险很大，缺乏财务平衡和相当重大的破产风险，情况非常困难。自2004年以来，财务余额保持不变，长期资产由长期资本来源融资，流动资金净值为正。分析公司具有长期稳定性和额外的流动性储备，保证其活动的健康和稳定的基础。
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总结，分析期可分为两个部分-第一个-2000-2003年和第二个--2004-2009年。第一期分析公司的情况可以说具有相当的风险，具有显着的财务杠杆水平，流动性风险和财务平衡不足。第二期情况有所改善-随着资本结构安全，流动性风险下降，企业长期稳定。
5. 结论
本文的分析阐明了通过使用资产负债表信息确定公司财务风险的潜力。这个分析可以确定主要的问题和威胁，收到的结论可以作为财务规划和财务风险预测的基础。但是，为了全面了解公司的健康状况，应采用财务报表的其他部分以及会计制度和公司以外的其他信息以及更为复杂的风险评估方法。
Financial Risk Identification based on the Balance Sheet Information
Abstract:The exposure to risk in modern economy is constantly growing. All enterprises have to take up different types of risks. This paper is devoted to financial risk - its definition, components, factors and consequences and the way it can be identified and analyzed by the usage of information provided by the balance sheet. The advantages and limitations of this method of financial risk assessment are also presented. The potential of identifying financial risk based on the balance sheet information is illustrated on the example of aggregated data for 100 biggest Polish companies for 10 years period (2000-2009).
Key words:Financial risk, financial analysis, risk assessment, balance sheet.
1. Introduction
Modern society is often described as “the society of risk”, which means that the social production of wealth is accompanied by the social production of risk. Therefore, enterprises operating in such environment, are forced to take up different types of risk, in order to develop themselves and increase their effectiveness. Thus their exposure to risk is constantly growing.
There is a huge variety of corporate risks that are analyzed and classified taking into account different types of criteria. One of the most important types of corporate risk is financial risk.
2. Defining financial risk and its components
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There is no unified definition of financial risk in the literature. But the problem begins with the general definition of risk.
In the theory there are presented two conceptions of risk definition. The first one - the negative conception describes risk as a threat of potential loss. The second one – the neutral conception suggests that risk is not only a threat but also an opportunity, so the risk means the possibility of obtaining results different than expected.
Thus the definition of risk depends mainly on the approach towards risk and it may result in different actions taken up by the managers. In case of the negative approach, the main aim of the managers will be to minimize the potential loss and try to avoid risky actions, in order to stabilize the situation of the company. In the second situation, the managers will not only try to minimize the loss, but also try to take advantage of the undertaken risk and improve the situation of the company. Thus financial risk, as any type of risk, can be analyzed from neutral or negative perspective.
In the theory of finance, one can also find different meaning of financial risk.
In narrow meaning the financial risk is described as the additional risk borne by the shareholders due to the substitution of debt for common stock. Thus, in this meaning, financial risk is an equivalent to the capital structure risk.
In broad meaning, the financial risk is defined as any fluctuation in the cash flows, financial results and the company's value due to the influence of different types of factors; mainly market ones, such as: interest rates, exchange rates, commodity and stock prices. So, according to this definition financial risk is responsible for any changes in the financial condition of the company.
In this paper the narrow definition of the financial risk is applied, with one modification - two additional components are included in the financial risk besides the capital structure risk – liquidity risk and insolvency risk (or long-term stability risk) which are connected with the financing decisions of the company. Therefore financial risk analyzed in this paper would be equal to the financing risk including three components:
1. capital structure risk arising by using debt capital to finance part of the company’s assets;
2. liquidity risk connected with the ability of the company to pay its short term liabilities
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by using assets that can be quickly converted into cash (current assets);
3. long-term stability risk connected with the sources of finance used to buy long-term assets (fixed assets) and long-term insolvency risk.
It is worth mentioning that financial risk in presented meaning is only one part of the overall corporate risk. There are many others types of risk which should be taken into account while preparing an integrated approach to risk management process in the company.
Despite different approaches to risk definition, modern companies must be aware of their exposure to risk and should take up actions in a form of planned risk management process aiming at acceptable level of risk. This process includes three stages: analysis, manipulation and monitoring of risk.
Risk management process starts with risk analysis, which enables the company to identify different types of risk, to recognize risk factors and to evaluate the potential consequences of risk by measuring risk exposure. Next stage - risk manipulation - includes different scenarios of actions that are prepared for each type of risk. The company can use variety of risk management tools, both traditional (e.g. insurance) and modern ones (e.g. derivatives), that should be tailored to company's unique situation and needs. Taken actions should be continuously monitored and controlled to check up their results, compare them to the plan and introduce modification if it is required. Risk monitoring enables the company to forecast the level of risk and prepare the company's actions in future. Thus, the risk assessment is a continuous process that is an important part of the risk management, and is realized at the first and the third stage – risk analysis and monitoring of risk.
There are many risk assessment methods – one of them is financial analysis, that can be used both at the stage of risk analysis and risk monitoring. Financial analysis is a financial management tool that uses different sources of information concerning company’s past and current activities as well as its present and future financial situation. The most important sources of information used in the financial analysis are financial statements provided by the accounting system, translating a company's diverse activities into a set of objective numbers that inform about the company's performance, problems and prospects [6, p.3]. Financial data included in the financial statements can be used to identify the types of risk and their factors, to recognize the reasons and
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consequences of the corporate risk, to analyze the results of risk management tools and to forecast the level of risk in future.
It is worth mentioning that analysis of the financial risk can be prepared for internal purposes of the company and also for the external parties – that is any stakeholders that are interested in assessing the financial situation of the company (current and future) – these are mainly shareholders and potential investors, including creditors thinking about providing capital to the company. Risk analysis for this group of the statement users is a little bit different than for company's internal purposes – as they are interested in the overall company's risk to estimate risk premium included in the expected rate of return on investment made in the company.
3. Using balance sheet information to assess the financial risk
The first element of the financial statement is the balance sheet presenting the company's financial position at a single point of time, including company's assets and the liability and equity claims against those assets. Basic elements of the balance sheet are presented in table 1.
By using balance sheet information the three components of the financial risk can be identified and analyzed: capital structure risk, liquidity risk and insolvency risk (figure 1).
To analyze the capital structure risk one should calculate the D/E ratio (debt-to-equity ratio) comparing debt to equity capital used by the company to finance its assets2. D/E ratio is one of the most important indebtedness ratios showing the financial leverage used by the company. The higher this ratio is, the higher financial risk connected with using debt capital
by the company. The optimal value for this ratio is described as 1 till 3 – in this situation the company can use all the advantages of the debt capital (mainly tax shield) without too high risk of financial distress. Obviously, presented standard results from theoretical studies, in real world each company should look for its optimal value taking into account its characteristics and unique situation – this problem is connected with searching for the optimal capital structure.
When more detailed information on capital structure is needed there can be calculated additional ratios, such as:
? capital;
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debt to assets ratio (D/A) showing the part of the company's assets financed by debt