A PARTIAL VIEW ON THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES IN SLOVAKIA.

In comparison with other economic sectors, the agriculture is known for its specific characteristics. First, the production processes in agriculture are supplemented by a factor of the impact of natural conditions, weather, the length of the production cycle and associated length of current assets turnover. Financing of agriculture is formed from public or private sources in the form of equity capital, loans or gifts to enhance the development of this sector. It includes not only government funds through various grant schemes aimed at supporting the local community, income equality as well as rural development. This paper analyzes the agricultural enterprises in Slovakia from the perspective of financial stability in order to evaluate the selected ratio indicators. Specifically, an equity ratio, as well as an interest coverage ratio, were calculated for a group of agricultural enterprises during the period 2005-2014. Using the statistical methods, this paper also compares the values of selected indicators among individual regions and the Slovak Republic total. Our analysis highlighted the fact, that the values of selected ratios of agricultural enterprises in the Slovak Republic are not statistically significantly different from the values of the individual regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]