THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC ON THE FINANCING STRUCTURE OF ROMANIAN COMPANIES (PART II)

Abstract

The unexpected nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict measures to protect the population during it have, put decision makers in economic entities to a severe test. Their main challenge was to provide the most appropriate mix of funding sources for the business run. In the second part of 2020, data was collected using a questionnaire to record the impact of this epidemic on Romanian economic entities. Through statistical processing, this study sought to identify the factors leading to the change in the financial structure between March and May 2020. The results of the study show that companies used trade credit and state funding programmes to a higher proportion, while domestic sources of funding declined in terms of use the more the operational activity of the company was affected in terms of funding. As regards the importance given to funding sources between March and May 2020, this depends on the following factors: perception of the epidemic’s influence on financing needs, if the operational activity was affected in terms of funding, the extent to which access to finance was a pressing problem, turnover, average number of employees, duration of activity.