Capital Structure of Agricultural Businesses and its Determinants

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the capital structure of agricultural businesses of legal entities and its determinants. It discusses the effect of selected determinants on the capital structure of businesses, expressed by way of three categories of indebtedness. The analysis of the determinants of capital structure is conducted by way of multiple linear regression. Also being verified is the hypothesis of whether the effect of individual determinants of capital structure is in accordance with the theoretical assumptions of conditional theories of capital structure and empirical studies.The panel data for the article were acquired from the Albertina database, provided by the company Soliditet, s.r.o. Specifically, the data used were those from accounting statements for the years 2004 – 2010 for the agricultural businesses of legal entities. In total, the object of examination was 16075 businesses, which were divided up according to legal forms (joint stock company, cooperative, and limited liability company) and subsequently the relevant size group. In total, 18 groups of businesses were created, whereby the average balance and profit and loss account were drawn up for each group, on the basis of which the relevant calculations were conducted. The article is a part of the grant project IGA 20121069 “Identification of the main determinants of the result of economic activity of agricultural businesses of legal entities and the determination of their specifics” and of the institutional research intentions MSM 6046070906 „Economics sources of Czech agriculture and their efficient use in the context of multifunctional agri-food systems“.