Critical financial and accounting issues of early-stage innovative enterprises
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/imfi.15(4).2018.12
-
Article InfoVolume 15 2018, Issue #4, pp. 144-157
- Cited by
- 1814 Views
-
566 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
While the most important financial and accounting issues of early-stage enterprises with fast growth potential (startups) are widely covered in practice-oriented literature, academic studies do not deal with this subject. In the author’s opinion, this subject should receive more attention in academic writing, as inappropriate financial management can make it more difficult for startups to raise capital at a later stage of operation and, thus, to grow further. This paper is based on a sample of financial and tax due diligences of Hungarian startups. The authors intended to present some of the issues identified and relevant also to startups operating outside Hungary. The sample shows that due to a loss making operation in the early years, this type of companies can quickly use up their equity and, therefore, they need continuous ownership (equity) financing. The sample demonstrates that debt financing is not a viable option for this group of companies, the only option for them is venture capital financing. The authors confirmed the positive relation between startups and R&D&I. In their opinion, compliance with the rules and the optimization permitted by the rules themselves is highly significant for startups to manage their high upfront losses and to attain their general aim to raise investment capital. The financial and tax due diligences at startups allowed to identify several inappropriate practices due to complicated accounting and tax laws.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)M13, M41, H25, G24, G32
-
References24
-
Tables2
-
Figures3
-
- Figure 1. Total income in the year preceding the due diligence, for the whole sample and without the 3 biggest companies
- Figure 2. After-tax profit and own equity (before taxes) for the whole sample and without the 3 biggest companies
- Figure 3. Capital and liquidity management
-
- Table 1. Main indicators applied in our sample
- Table 2. Distribution of financial and taxation risks identified
-
- Agrawal, A., Catalini, C., & Goldfarb, A. (2015). Are Syndicates the Killer App of Equity Crowdfunding? (MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 5126- 15).
- Békés, G., & Muraközy, B. (2012). Magyar gazellák: gyors növekedésű vállalatok jellemzői és kialakulásuk elemzése Magyarországon. Hungarian Gazelles: What Makes a High-Growth Firm in Hungary? Közgazdasági Szemle, LIX(3), 233-262.
- Berlinger, E. (2017). A piac és az állam szerepe az innovációban – Kornai János versus Joseph E. Stiglitz. The Roles of the Market and the State in Innovation – János Kornai versus Joseph E. Stiglitz. Közgazdasági Szemle, LXIV, 377-393.
- Böcskei, E (2014). Jegyzett tőkére vonatkozó törvényi előírások. Statutory provisions for subscribed capital. Hungary: Heti Válasz Lap-és Könyvkiadó Szolgáltató Kft. pp. 343-345.
- Camp, J. J. (2002). Venture Capital Due Diligence. A Guide to Making Smart Investment Choices and Increasing Your Portfolio Returns. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Davila, A., Foster, G., & Li, M. (2009). Reasons for management control systems adoption: Insights from product development systems choice by early-stage entrepreneurial companies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34, 322-347.
- GEM (2015). 2015/16 Global Report, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
- Gonzalez, G. (2017). Startup Business Plans: Do Academic Researchers and Expert Practitioners Still Disagree? Muma Business Review, 1(15), 189- 196.
- Gonzalez, G. (2017b). What Factors Are Causal to Survival of a Startup? Muma Business Review, 1(9), 97-114.
- Granlund, M., & Taipaleenmäki, J. (2005). Management control and controllership in new economy firms – a life cycle perspective. Management Accounting Research, 16(1), 21-57.
- Hall, B. (2002). The Financing of Research and Development (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 8773).
- KPMG (2014). Startup Success: A Guide to Growing Your Business.
- Kuti, M., Bedő, Zs., & Geiszl, D. (2017). Equity-based Crowdfunding. Financial and Economic Review, 16(4), 187- 200.
- Madarász, A. (2014). Hogyan született a vállalkozó? (Fogalomtörténeti töredékek Schumpeter vállalkozóelméletéhez). How was the entrepreneur born? Fragments on the history of definitions supplementing Schumpeter’s theory of entrepreneurship. Külgazdasági Szemle, 58(7-8), 3-29.
- Nagy, L. (2017). Impact of the Tax System on the Competitiveness of Businesses and Capital Inflow. Public Finance Quarterly, 1, 22- 38.
- Rajchlová, J., & Svatošová, V. (2016). Benchmarking Study on the Venture Capital Market in the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Netherlands. Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 13(3-1), 191-202.
- Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (1st ed.). New York: Crown Business.
- Silva, J. (2004). Venture Capitalists’ Decision-Making in Small Equity Markets: a Case Study Using Participant Observation. Venture Capital, 6(2-3), 125-145.
- Schröder, C. (2013). Does the Financial System Affects Early Stage Venture Capital Investments? Banks and Bank Systems, 8(1).
- Schumpeter, J. (1912, 1980). A gazdasági fejlődés elmélete. Vizsgálódás a vállalkozói profitról, a tőkéről, a hitelről, a kamatról és a konjunktúraciklusról. Theory of Economic Development. An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Budapest: Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó.
- Stiglitz, J. E., & Weiss, A. (1981). Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information. American Economic Review, 71(3), 393-410.
- Timmons, J. (1977). New venture creation: a guide to small business development. US: R.D. Irwin.
- Yung, Ch. (2009). Entrepreneurial Financing and Costly Due Diligence. The Financial Review, 44(1), 137-149.
- Worldbank, & PwC (2018). Paying Taxes 2018.