Situación financiera y toma de decisiones en las empresas de comercialización de insumos agrícolas en la cuidad de Machala.

Abstract

Understanding the financial situation is essential, as it provides a comprehensive view of the company's economic health, which encompasses the management of assets, liabilities and equity. This assessment provides a solid foundation for efficient decision making for the growth and profitability of organizations. In the current context in the agricultural input business, challenges are identified around financial health and decision making. The problems identified revolve around insufficient liquidity, significant levels of indebtedness and insufficient working capital. In this sense, it has been considered to investigate these issues in order to carry out a comprehensive analysis to determine the context of the financial situation. The research is based on a quantitative methodology with a positivist approach whose purpose is to analyze decisions taken to maintain liquidity and solvency. A sample of five companies was surveyed to understand how managers and accountants approach key decisions in the company. In addition, an observation matrix of the financial information of the companies studied was used to calculate financial indicators that evaluate liquidity, indebtedness, profitability and earnings. This approach provided a deeper understanding of how the business environment is managed in terms of the decisions made based on operating, investment and financing activities. The findings of the research allowed to identify the companies that had sufficient liquidity to maintain their daily operations, one of these has a result of 0.88 in the current ratio while in the quick ratio 0.51, for which it is advisable that the entities manage improvements in the administration of their assets and liabilities in the short term; while, in cash management, poor decisions have been observed due to the absence of clear policies that would have allowed to establish precise processes for the control of income and expenses. This situation has generated liquidity difficulties, so it is suggested the implementation of policies that serve as a guide for making operational decisions that promote the growth of the company.