Nataliya Zdyrko

The purpose of the study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the determinants affecting the financial performance of agricultural enterprises in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. As the main research method, panel data regression analysis was used to analyze data from 34 Polish, 123 Slovak, and 305 Ukrainian agricultural companies for the period 2017–2020. To analyze the links between financial performance measures and its determinants, nine models were developed based on three selected dependent variables (Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Return on Sales) in each of the countries studied. Seven independent variables were used, such as Leverage, Long-Term Debt to Assets, Short-Term Debt to Assets, Debt to Equity, Current Ratio, Asset Tangibility, Capital Intensity, and two control variables such as Size and Dummy variable for legal form. The most significant impact on the financial performance of agricultural enterprises has: for Polish enterprises – Return on Assets – Leverage and Asset Tangibility, Return on Equity – Debt to Equity and Dummy variable for legal form, Return on Sales – Current Ratio, Capital Intensity, and Size; for Slovak enterprises – Return on Assets – Current Ratio, Return on Equity – Debt to Equity, Return on Sales – Current Ratio, and Capital Intensity; for Ukrainian enterprises – Return on Assets – Leverage and Size, Return on Equity – Debt to Equity, and Current Ratio, Return on Sales – Capital Intensity.

The purpose of the paper is to study the impact of corporate sustainability practices on the financial performance of companies included in the BIST Sustainability 25 Index. To assess the efficiency and quality of corporate sustainability, general (ESG Disclosure Index) and partial (Environmental Disclosure Index, Social Disclosure Index, and Corporate Governance Disclosure Index) indices were used, calculated based on content analysis of sustainability reports. Based on the two given types of indices and four types of financial performance indicators (return on assets, return on equity, assets turnover ratio, and Tobin’s Q), two types of regression models (GEN models and PART models) were built, and eight analytical models were examined. Company size and leverage were included as control variables in each model. The regression analysis results were contradictory, partially confirming the conclusions of some scientists and refuting the findings of others. A study of GEN models revealed that companies implementing more effective general corporate sustainability practices have a significant positive impact only on return on equity; as for other measures (return on assets, assets turnover ratio, and Tobin’s Q), an insignificant relationship between them and ESG Disclosure Index was found. Results of the PART models analysis revealed a significant positive effect of the Social Disclosure Index on return on equity and assets turnover ratio and a negative relationship between the Corporate Governance Disclosure Index and assets turnover ratio. Using control variables for the two types of models showed a significant negative effect of company size on Tobin’s Q.

Acknowledgment
This study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ukraine within the project “Development of a mechanism for the sustainable development of economic systems in the conditions of military operations and post-war recovery of the economy” (Registration number of the project: 0124U000463).