Summarize article below using the annotate bibliography doc. Original work onlyLocate and summarize a University Library article or other valid soucre related to recognizing business opportunities.Prepare a 350- to 600-word summary of your article with respect to determining opportunities to starting a small business.Refer to the sample annotated bibliography—located in the Center for Writing Excellence—as a model for the summary.1
Annotated Bibliography
Student Name
Course/Number
Due Date
Faculty Name
You may include a cover page for
your annotated bibliography. This is
an example of an APA cover page
for undergraduate and master’s
students. Doctoral students should
use the annotated bibliography
sample found on the Doctoral
Writing Resources site under
Formatting.
2
Annotated Bibliography
Biemiller, L. (2013, December 6). From a million MOOC users, a few early research results. The
This
annotated
bibliography
includes
references
formatted
according to
APA
standards.
Chronicle of Higher Education [Web log post]. Retrieved from
An annotated
bibliography is
a list of
references to
books, articles,
web pages, and
other sources.
The reference is
listed first and
is followed by a
brief summary,
or annotation,
of the source.
The annotation
informs the
reader of the
relevance and
quality of the
sources.
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/from-a-million-mooc-users-a-few-early-researchresults/48841
This article discusses a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate
School of Education. Sixteen massive open online courses, or MOOCs, were observed
to determine student retention. Student completion of the courses was unremarkable.
Several differing variables may have contributed to the outcomes of each course based
on topic, length of course, student nationality, and so on. More studies on how MOOCs
are administered and conducted must be made.
Films for the Humanities and Sciences. (Producer). (2014, August). Internet research: What’s
credible? Available from Films on Demand in the University of Phoenix Library
http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=7967&xtid=58373&loid=266720
This video discusses the risks taken with using popular search engines to locate
resources for academic work. It notes that most resources available online are not
guaranteed reliable or peer-reviewed. Some tips are offered to help alleviate some
search issues and to aid in locating appropriate resources. Detailed reasons to not use
Wikipedia and like sites are provided.
Francois, E. J. (2014). Motivational orientations of non-traditional adult students to enroll in a
degree-seeking program. New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource
Development, 26(2), 19–35. doi: 10.1002/nha3.20060
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©2015 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.
Academic
sources should
be relevant
and credible.
Include
sources that
are more
recently
published so
the research is
up to date.
3
The research in this study focused on motivating factors for non-traditional, degreeseeking adults. The Education Participation Scale (EPS) was used to evaluate adults in
associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs. The particulars of the
motivational orientations can be useful for recruitment materials and designing
curriculum.
The
annotations
should be
written in
third person
point of view
just like an
academic
paper.
Shepherd, M. M., & Tsong Shin, S. (2014). The effects of informal faculty-student interaction
and use of information technology on non-traditional students’ persistence intentions and
educational outcomes. Journal of Higher Education Theory & Practice, 14(2), 46–60.
Notice each
entry is listed in
alphabetical
order by
author’s last
name just like
on a reference
page.
The study presented here attempts to address concerns over the education outcomes for
nontraditional students when using social integration. The authors explore the impact of
IT and informal faculty-student interaction. Their results suggest that IT may have a
positive effect on student psychological well-being and academic performance.
TEDTalks. (Producer). (2014, July 18). Bill Gates—Mosquitos, Malaria, and Education [Video
file]. Available from University of Phoenix Media Library ID: 53c93663dd7d12d094c4c6e2
In this TEDTalk, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates discusses some ways
to combat problems in our world. He addresses the lack of support for malaria
elimination in struggling countries and how it affects their ability to thrive. He then
compares this struggle to that of education. There is an inequality with how people
survive physically and mentally in this world. He believes that success hinges on
applying the right tools and paying attention to all who are affected.
Center for Writing Excellence
©2015 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
Number 4, July-August 2008
The- Role- of In-formati-on- for
Re-cog-n-i-si-n-g- Bu-si-n-e-ss
Op-p-ortu-n-i-ti-e-s
An-dre-ja Lu-tar Ske-rbi-n-je-k
Uni-ver-za v Mar-i-bo-r-u, Eko-no-m-sko–po-slo-vna fakulteta Mar-i-bo-r-, Razlago-va 14, 2000 Mar-i-bo-r-, andr-eja.lutar-@uni-m-b.si-
Manager-s need a lo-t o-f kno-w-ledge and i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n to- m-ake deci-si-o-ns and r-eco-gni-ze busi-ness o-ppo-r-tuni-ti-es. They can
acqui-r-e thi-s kno-w-ledge and i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n i-n di-ffer-ent w-ays. Acco-unti-ng i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, par-ti-cular-ly i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n
r-elati-ng to- the cr-edi-tw-o-r-thi-ness o-f busi-ness par-tner-s and co-m-peti-to-r-s, i-s i-m-po-r-tant. Such i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, w-hi-ch can
co-ntai-n no-n-acco-unti-ng i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, i-s o-ften der-i-ved fr-o-m- annual r-epo-r-ts. The fastest and cheapest w-ay o-f accessi-ng
i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n i-s vi-a the Inter-net. Because sear-chi-ng fo-r- i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n abo-ut di-ffer-ent busi-nesses o-n thei-r- Web si-tes can
be ti-m-e co-nsum-i-ng, a qui-cker-, m-o-r-e effi-ci-ent o-pti-o-n i-s to- access thi-s i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n o-n databases that co-ntai-n useful
i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n r-elati-ng to- the m-ajo-r-i-ty o-f busi-nesses i-n the co-untr-y. In thi-s paper-, w-e di-scuss the i-m-po-r-tance o-f
kno-w-ledge and i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n fo-r- r-eco-gni-zi-ng busi-ness o-ppo-r-tuni-ti-es. We also- analyze the appr-o-pr-i-ateness o-f
acco-unti-ng i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n avai-lable fr-o-m- fi-ve o-f the m-o-st w-i-dely used databases co-ncer-ni-ng Slo-vene and Cr-o-ati-an
busi-nesses, fo-r- esti-m-ati-ng the cr-edi-tw-o-r-thi-ness o-f busi-nesses.
Ke-y words: busi-ness o-ppo-r-tuni-ti-es, kno-w-ledge, acco-unti-ng i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, cr-edi-tw-o-r-thi-ness i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, databases,
busi-ness par-tner-s, co-m-peti-to-r-s, annual r-epo-r-ts, appr-o-pr-i-ate i-nfo-r-m-ati-o-n, r-epo-r-ti-ng agenci-es.
144
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
1 In-trodu-cti-onIt is very important for managers to recognize opportunities
for managing a successful business. To support that, they
need a lot of know-ledge and information of any kind. A
vital part of information is that relating to business partners
and competitors w-ith w-hom they already do business or
intend doing business w-ith. Accounting information
contains a lot of information about businesses.
We live in the 21st century, w-hen living and w-orking
w-ithout computer support is unimaginable in many
different fields. Likew-ise, in accounting, computers make
our w-ork easier and enable us to obtain information faster
and more reliably. Using the Internet to access information
at the office or at home is cost-effective and saves a lot of
time (Lutar Skerbinjek, 2005:76).
The annual reports of many businesses can be accessed
on the Internet, usually on the company’s own Web sites.
How-ever, not all businesses have their ow-n Web sites. To
obtain information concerning such businesses, and because
it is very time-consuming to search the information about
many businesses on their Web pages, it is useful to use
databases w-hich feature information relating to the majority
of businesses that operate in a particular country. They are
created and maintained by reporting agencies and credit
reporting agencies, w-hich obtain creditw-orthiness
information as w-ell. Usually, they create creditw-orthiness
information on the basis of information obtained from
annual reports for each business. They create it for many
businesses, so they can compare them and make credit scores
w-ith w-hich they rank businesses.
In this paper w-e discuss the importance of
know-ledge and information for recognizing business
opportunities, and do a comparable analysis of tw-o
databases created by reporting agencies on a national
level. These follow- the National Reporting Agency of
former Yugoslavia, w-hich is called Slu`-ba dru`-benega
knjigovodstva. These are the databases of the Agency for
Public Evidence and Statistics (Agencija za javnopravne
evidence in statistiko (AJPES)) in Slovenia, and the
Financial Agency, Fina (Finan~-na agencija Fina) in
Croatia. Furthermore, w-e perform a comparable analysis
of three databases created by other Credit Reporting
Agencies. These are the GVIN database in Slovenia, the
BonLine database in Croatia, and the database created by
the international business company Creditreform, w-hich
operates in Slovenia, Croatia, and many other European
countries.
On the basis of the results of our comparative
analysis, w-e made a critical evaluation of those
databases, w-hich w-e ex-plained. We believe that such
analysis has not been made, so it w-ill be useful for
Slovene and Croatian businesses and companies globally
that are doing business w-ith them to choose the database
w-hich w-ould be most appropriate for obtaining
creditw-orthiness information.
Number 4, July-August 2008
2
Ne-e-d for kn-owle-dg-e- an-d
i-n-formati-onDrucker and others describe advanced economies as
»know-ledge« economies because they are becoming
progressively less dependent on materials and energy. As
Business Week put it, »The traditional factors of
production – capital and skilled labor – are no longer the
main determinants of the pow-er of an economy. Noweconomic potential is increasingly linked to the ability to
control and manipulate information« (Fitzroy and
Hulbert, 2005: 23). In order to make decisions (for either
decision management or control), managers require
information (Zimmerman, 2000: 652). We live in the
information age, in w-hich modern business
organizations function in a vastly aletered environment.
To prosper, these organizations must treat information as
a valued resource. A steady stream of information is
needed to enable firms to make sound planning decisions
and to control their operations. Firms that use
information effectively can take advantage of their
opportunities and thus gain ground on their competitors
(Wilkinson et al., 2000:4). Indeed, information may be
the most important organizational resource (Bodnar and
Hopw-ood, 2001: 2). Information has economic value in
that is enables decision making, so it contributes to the
achievement of a business’s goals. The information age
classifies information as an important, even dominant,
business resource. The normal operation of a business is
not possible w-ithout information. How-ever, in spite of
the huge supply of data and information, they are still
relativey rare resources, and are not alw-ays available to
everyone, so w-e should use them sparingly (Knez Riedl,
2000a: 31).
The information process of an organization is
roughly equivalent to the nervous system of a human
being. It permeates every part of the organization, as
w-ell as sensitive key areas of the environment. The
better the information an organization gathers about its
performance, its capabilities, and its environment, the
better the organization w-ill perform and the more
effectively it w-ill be able to change (Law-ler et al., 2006:
119). Firms that gather, assimilate, and evaluate ex-ternal
and internal information most effectively gain
competitive advantages over other firms. Recognizing
the importance of having an effective management
information system (MIS) w-ill not be an option in the
future; it w-ill be a requirement. Information is the basis
for understanding in a firm. In many industries,
information is becoming the most important factor in
differentiating successful firms from unsuccessful firms
(David, 2005: 301). The w-ider availability of
information w-ill also accelerate the learning of
competitors, so advantages gained through ex-perience
may be shorter-lived than hitherto. This w-ill inevitably
mean organizations w-ill need to revisit and redefine the
basis on w-hich they are competing more frequently. In
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Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
turn, this w-ill put yet more information demands on the
organization (Johnson et al., 2005: 458). Decision
makers need information, and the more important the
decision, the greater the need (Harrison and Horngren,
2001:5). Managers often have more complete
information about the products or services they offer,
w-hile outsiders rely on information the manager is
w-illing to share (Bergh et al., 2008:134). How-ever,
information acquisition is costly (Schnatterly et al., 2008:
219). An organization’s
capability for creating
know-ledge depends on the ex-tent to w-hich managers
and other know-ledge employees can combine and
ex-change information (Goll et al., 2007).
Number 4, July-August 2008
Information is data w-ith contex-t. Know-ledge is
information w-ith meaning. Wisdom is know-ledge plus
insight and sound judgement. When applied to any
community, these concepts refer to the sum total ex-perience
and learning residing w-ithin an individual, group, enterprise,
or nation. The new- source of w-ealth is know-ledge, not
labor, land, or financial capital. It is the intangible, intellectual
assets that must be managed (Leibold et al., 2002:14).
Know-ledge structures order an information environment in a
w-ay that enables subsequent interpretation and action; they
are built on past ex-perience, and represent organized
know-ledge about a given concept or type of stimulus
(Kabanoff and Brow-n, 2008: 149).
146
Fi-gu-re 1: Forces Dri-vi-ng Indu-stry Com-peti-ti-on. Sou-rce: Wheelen and Hu-nger, 2002: 61.
Organizacija, Volume 41
Meso
and
Smith
Research papers
(2000)
understand
Number 4, July-August 2008
know-ledge
147
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
management as the creation of sustainable advantage through
continued organizational learning. According to Kerste and
Muizer (2002), know-ledge management is dealing w-ith the
structural supply of, and demand for, know-ledge w-ithin an
enterprise. This know-ledge can be developed in an enterprise
or obtained from ex-ternal sources. Know-ledge can be
defined as the aw-areness, consciousness, or familiarity
gained by ex-perience or learning. How-ever, in the contex-t
of organizations, it is not just individual know-ledge that
matters, but the know-ledge of groups of people in the
organization, or the organization as a w-hole. Organizational
know-ledge is the collective and shared ex-perience
accumulated through systems, routines, and activities of
sharing across the organization (Johnson et al., 2005: 133).
Training and development improve quality and make
organizations more efficient; they also develop future talent
and reduce staff turnover (Pardey, 2007:16). The evidence is
that sharing know-ledge and ex-perience is essentially a social
process that relies on ‘communities of interest’ developing
and sharing information because they see it as mutually
beneficial. This could happen through formal systems such as
the Internet (and indeed does), but it is also facilitated by
social contact and trust (Johnson et al., 2005: 134). The
Internet is an ex-tremely important new- technology, and it is
no surprise that it has received so much attention from
enterpreneurs, ex-ecutives, investors, and business observers.
The Internet is an enabling technology – a pow-erful set of
tools that can be used, w-isely or unw-isely, in almost any
industry and as a part of almost any strategy (Leibold et al.,
2002:79). Internet technology provides better opportunities
for companies to establish distinctive strategic positionings
than previous generations of information technology did
(Leibold et al., 2002:80). The Internet is an ex-cellent source
of information about industries as w-ell as individual
companies (Wheelen and Hunger, 2004: 351). The Internet is
supposed to be the great equalizer, allow-ing small and
mediumAs show-n in Figure 1, the nature of competitiveness
in a given industry can be view-ed as a composite of five
presented forces (David, 2005: 94). They do not involve only
competitors, but all other business partners, as w-ell.
Competitive advantage stems from a firm’s ability to leverage
its internal strengths to respond to ex-ternal environmental
opportunities w-hile avoiding ex-ternal threats and internal
w-eaknesses. Thus, like a distinctive competence, a
competitive advantage must be difficult to imitate to be
sustainable. Unlike a distinctive competence, a competitive
advantage must also enable a firm to outperform the firms to
w-hich it is compared (Mooney, 2007). The w-ay to beat low-cost competitiors that have the potential to become serious
competitors is to identify and deal w-ith them early, before
they get a foothold in a market (Morehouse et al., 2008).
So, for a business to gain competitive advantage, it
must obtain information about all the business partners
w-ith w-hich it has or intends to have business
relationships. All of them could have a crucial influence
on the financial success or failure of the business. So it is
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Number 4, July-August 2008
important to obtain as much information about
competitors as possible.
Common data sources can include (Reuvid, 2000: 9):
statutory accounts, returns, and filings credit agency
reports trade of corporate directories online databases,
including the Internet – an increasingly useful source of information on both
industries and potential partners
other publications, eg. trade magazines and new-spapers
prospect lists, contacts, etc. of outside advisers.
A w-ealth of strategic information is available to
organizations from both the published and unpublished
sources listed above. The Internet has made it easier for
firms to gather, assimilate, and evaluate information. It
offers consumers and businesses a broad range of
services and information resources from all over the
w-orld. Interactive services offer users not only access to
information w-orldw-ide
but also the ability to
communicate w-ith the person or company that created
the information. Historical barriers to personal and
business success – time zones and diverse cultures – are
being eliminated. The Internet has become as important
to our society as television and new-spapers (David,
2005: 96).
A very important part of information for decision
making is accounting information. Managers of
businesses use accounting information to set goals,
evaluate progress tow-ard those goals, and to take
corrective action, if necessary (Harrison, Horngren,
2001: 5). Accounting information is crucial in deciding
w-hether to invest money, make a loan, go into business
w-ith a potential partner, or analyze the financial
statements of potential business partners or their ability
to meet scheduled payments or other obligations. So
management needs accounting information for all
businesses it is involved w-ith (business partners,
competitors, businesses to invest in etc.). Developments
w-ithin the global economic environment require that
finance professionals are not only adept at analyzing
internal operations but that they are also ex-posed to, and
thus ex-perienced in, generating information relating to
operations outside their ow-n organisations (Chivaka,
2007:24).
Basic accounting information about business can be
found in financial statements of the business, w-hich are
included in the annual report. The objective of financial
statements is to provide information about the financial
position, performance, and changes in financial position
(i.e. cash flow-) of an entity that is useful to a w-ide range
of users in making economic decisions. The financial
statements show- the results of the stew-ardship or
accountability of management for the resources
shareholders entrust to them (Collier, 2006: 110).
Financial statements, footnotes, and supplementary
schedules constitute the company’s financial report, and
all significant information should be included in the
financial report. Additionally, other relevant
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Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
information, w-hich can assist in understanding the
financial report, is presented in narrative form.
Examples of these types of items are management’s
discussion and analysis and the letter to stockholders
(Schroeder et al., 2005: 550).
According to Company Law- (Zakon o gospodarskih
dru`-bah ZGD-1, 2006) an annual report in Slovenia must
contain a balance sheet, income statement, cash flowstatement, capital flow- statement, supplements to the
financial statements, and a business report. Small businesses
that don’t sell their shares on the organized capital market are
ex-cluded from these requirements Their annual report must
contain a balance sheet and an income statement.
Besides the annual report (balance sheet, income
statement, cash flow- statement) other data such as data
related to a branch, for ex-ample, are important for a better
understanding of the business partner’s other data (^an~er
and Knez Riedl, 2005:147). This means that much ex-ternal
and internal data are needed. These data are components of
creditw-orthiness information.
4 Cre-di-tworthi-n-e-ss i-n-formati-onCreditw-orthiness is the ability of a business to ex-ist and
sustainably develop its business (Knez Riedl 2000b).
Estimating creditw-orthiness, also know-n as corporate rating,
is designed to give investors a relative indication of the ability
of an issuer of a fix-ed-interest security to repay interest and
capital on the security on time and in full. Ratings are intended
to be comparable across different industries, groupings, and
across issuers from different countries, although the
underlying assessments vary from industry sector to sector.
The rating process reflects a review- of the key underlying
strengths and w-eaknesses of the company being rated and is
typically based on five years’ past financial data, plus sector
information, management forecasts, and discussion of future
performance and strategic direction. The rating methodology
for industrial companies may be divided into tw-o broad areas:
business risk and financial risk. Business risk is a qualitative
risk, w-hereas financial risk is a quantitative risk. Rating on
credit quality is looking into future ability to repay debt (Fight,
2001: 137-138).
The most relevant quantitative and qualitative factors of
creditw-orthiness should be taken into account to ensure highquality decision making. The quantitative factors are
presented mainly by financial ratios, based on annual
statements. There are many different, and at the same time
similar, financial ratio systems, w-ith a limited number of
selected ratios, w-hich are fix-ed in their mutual
interdependencies and hierarchy. They are divided into
subgroups, depending on the depth of the analysis goals and
the ex-pectations and demands of decision makers (^an~-er
and Knez Riedl 2005).
Number 4, July-August 2008
To estimate quantitative factors of creditw-orthiness,
eleven groups of ratios can be used (Knez Riedl,
2000:5658):
capacity ratios (number, structure, and changes of
employees; efficiency of w-orking time; technical
capacity)
ex-isting structure and changes of branch ratios
(capacity, structure, and changes of production;
capacity, structure, and changes of sale; capacity,
structure, and changes of ex-port and import)
ratios of products’ and services’ quality (rate of products
w-ith defects; number of reclamation; quality costs in
operating revenue; number of suggestions for
improvement of quality)
financing and investment ratios (value, structure, and
changes of assets and liabilities; equity financing rate;
debt financing rate; share capital rate; long-term
financing rate; short-term financing rate; operating
fix-ed assets rate; operating current assets rate; longterm
assets rate; short-term assets rate; equipment to labor
ratio; accumulated depreciation rate; equity to fix-ed
assets ratio; equity to long-term assets ratio; long-term
financing to long-term assets and normal inventories
ratio; acid test ratio; quick ratio; current ratio)
turnover ratios (current assets turnover ratio; inventory
turnover ratio; trade receivables turnover ratio)
revenue, ex-penses, and income ratios (value and structure of revenues, ex-penses, and income; changes on
revenues; rate of revenues to employees)
efficiency ratios (quantitative capacity of production
to employee; valued ex-tent of production to employee;
revenues to employee)
profitability ratios (net return on equity ratio;
ex-panded return on assets ratio; net return on share
capital ratio)
liquidity ratios (net cash flow- rate; investment to net
cash flow- ratio; debt to net cash flow- ratio; equity to
net cash flow- ratio; cash flow- per share ratio)
ratios of investing in development and innovation
activities (rate of research and development costs in
revenues; rate of new- products/services in business
program; number of innovations to employees;
innovations revenue in revenue rate; savings from
innovations compared to ex-penses); and
environment ratios (containing materials in product;
packaging to sales w-age rate; rate of defective products
to produced quantity; rate of recycled material in
defective products; energy consumption; voter
consmption;
special
emissions;
environmental
investments to all investments rate).
Within quantitative analysis lately there has been more
and more important cash flow- analysis, assisted by properly
designed ratios, as w-ell as analysis of financial flex-ibility
and long-term and short-term efficiency. This means there
are more and more important reports for shorter periods than
a year, even temporary short-term reports and not only
audited annual reports. Besides classical financial ratios,
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Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
series of ratios, calculated on the basis of up-to-date
accounting standards and data on strategic accounting, can be
found (Knez Riedl, 2006:26).
Qualitative factors are descriptive and can be divided
into five groups (Knez Riedl, 2000:59-62): general
characteristics (comprising legal form, ow-nership, age,
size, location, organizational structure, business
relationships, information system)
business activity (standard industrial classification,
business program, product and service quality,
technology)
resources/potentials (e.g. employees, management,
facilities, innovations and investment activity)
market orientation (buyers, suppliers, competitiors); and
other qualitative factors (e.g. business morale,
organizational culture, reputation, strategies,
environmental aw-areness).
So, qualitative analysis takes into account many
qualitative factors relating to the business and its
environment (branch and direct business environment),
market position, management, and accounting of the
business. The risk and perspective of the branch is also
taken into account. Also considered are the businesses’
market position, competitors’ ability, diversification of
programs, ex-tent of selling, diversification of buyers and
suppliers, cost position, and intangible assets.
Management is important, especially in relation to
managing a business, strategy, risks, and goals of the
business (Knez Riedl, 2006:26).
Furthermore, w-e have done a comparative analysis
of five databases in Slovenia and Croatia w-hich offer
creditw-orthiness information.
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Asse-ssme-n-t of database-s wi-th
cre-di-tworthi-n-e-ss i-n-formati-on-
For the comparative analysis, w-e choose the five most
w-idely used databases in Slovenia and Croatia. The first
tw-o are databases on a national level: AJPES in Slovenia
and Fina in Croatia. Businesses are obliged by law- to
give these databases annual reports because they are
based on official national reporting agencies.
Furthermore, w-e choose tw-o databases that are w-idely
used in those tw-o countries: GVIN in Slovenia and
BoneLine in Croatia, as w-ell as Creditreform, an
international database that is used in Slovenia and in
Croatia.
Information on these databases can be found on the
Internet (AJPES, 2008; FINA, 2008; GVIN, 2008;
BonLine, 2008; and Creditreform, 2008), and although
their information could be considered comparable or
equal, detailed research has show-n vital diferences
among them.
From the AJPES, FINA, and GVIN databases w-e
can obtain w-hole annual reports. The BonLine and
Creditreform databases contain only some basic data
150
Number 4, July-August 2008
from annual reports. Fina’s database contains the most
detailed information relating to financial statements for
small and middle-sized businesses. The reason for this is
that Croata’s businesses use international accounting
standards and Slovenia uses our local standards, w-hich
allow-s more synthetic information in financial
statements for smaller businesses. Only the AJPES
database contains supplements to the financial
statements.
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
In Table 1 our assessment of the appropriateness of
creditw-orthiness information for these five databases is
show-n. In our assessment w-e have estimated the
number of calculated ratios in each group of ratios,
w-hich w-e note w-hen defining creditw-orthiness
information and ranking factors. We researched
qualitative and quantitative factors separately, and each
group of included ratios. For each group of ratios w-e
Number 4, July-August 2008
made a rank from 0 to 5. Zero (0) means that the database
does not consider any ratio from the estimated group, 1
means it considers 1% -25 % ratios, 2 means that it
considers 26%-50% of ratios, 3 means that it considers
51%-75% of ratios, 4 means that it considers 76%-99%
of ratios, and 5 means that it considers all ratios from the
group.
Tabel 1: Assessm-ent of apropri-ateness of credi-tworthi-ness i-nform-ati-on
Final assessment of appropriateness is calculated as
an arithmetic proportion of values of included ratios into
groups.
We can conclude that only a small range of ratios is
included in the creditw-orthiness rank of researched
databases. There is no database w-hich w-ould include
all ratios. And there is no group of ratios w-ith all ratios
involved in ranking. Ratios in all databases are mostly
the same ones – those w-hich could be calculated or
obtained from annual reports of businesses or registration
data. So there is no database w-hich w-ould include
capacity ratios, ex-isting structure, and changes of branch
ratios, ratios of products’ and services’ quality, ratios of
investing in development and innovation, environment
ratios, and other qualitative ratios. Liquidity ratio is only
partly involved in the GVIN database; no other database
involves it.
151
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
Qualitative factors are limited to legal form, ow-nership,
152
Number 4, July-August 2008
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
establishment, and founders. They only mention the business
activity w-ithout specific data. Resources/potentials are
limited to the number of employees, and some databases
involve a list of managers. Only the BonLine and
Creditreform databases offered some information about more
important buyers. Important suppliers are mentioned only in
the Creditreform database. The reason for that is also the fact
that data for obtaining such information is not included in the
annual reports of businesses.
Because all databases include pretty much the same ratios,
only the Creditreform database includes some more
qualitative ratios. We beieve, therefore, that the Creditreform
database is the most appropriate for estimating the
creditw-orthiness of Slovene and Croatian businesses.
The GVIN database is more appropriate for branch
analysis, because it includes a comparison w-ith four other
businesses, the economy as a w-hole, and the branch in the
country. No other database does this. In the GVIN database
w-e can also find a comparison of the basic categories from
annual reports and some ratios for the chosen business for the
previous five years, and the same comparison for the branch
to w-hich the business belongs. In the balance sheet and
income statement w-e can find calculations of similar ratios
for the past tw-o years. So w-e can conclude that the GVIN
database is the most appropriate for branch analysis. But w-e
must take into account the fact that this includes information
only about Slovene branches.
The information contained in all five databases is based
on historical data, so it is very risky to predict the future
operation of businesses. A ranking of the businesses could be
found in all databases. The Creditreform database provides the
most specific one, because the rank is set betw-en 100 and
600, w-hile the other databases have a much tighter range.
Because Creditreform contains information concerning most
businesses all over the w-orld, in our opinion it is the most
appropriate database among those w-e researched.
6
Ne-e-de-d chan-g-e-s of an-alyse-d
database-s to be- morede-p-e-n-dable-
Very important creditw-orthiness information w-hich can not
be found in any database is:
capacity, structure, and
changes of production;
capacity, structure, and changes of
sale;
value and structure of revenues, ex-penses, and income;
changes on revenues;
liquidity
ratios,
especially net cash flow- rate;
ratios of investing in
development and innovation activities, especially rate of newproducts/services in business program and savings from
innovations compared to ex-penses;
ratios of products’ and services’ quality, especially
rate of products w-ith defects and number of suggestions
for improvement of quality;
environment ratios;
n
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Number 4, July-August 2008
resources/potentials, especially information about
facilities, innovations and investment activity;
market orientation w-hich include information about
buyers, suppliers and competitiors;
information
about
reputation,
strategies
and
environmental aw-areness.
Each database should include the information listed
above, w-hich is essencial for assessment of businesses
creditw-orthiness.
For better information it should be created from
short-term reports and audited annual reports. And
planned information about nex-t periods should be added.
n
n
n
7 Con-clu-si-onThe success of a business is highly dependent on the
recognition of business opportunities. Management and
other employees need a lot of know-ledge to support that
recognition. Know-ledge and information become the
most important resources for any organization.
Information about the competition is also crucial for
business success. This includes accounting and
nonaccounting information, of w-hich creditw-orthiness
information plays a special role. Qualitative and
quantitative factors are important for the purpose of
ranking a business and estimating its creditw-orthiness.
Databases w-hich offer information about the
creditw-orthiness of a business seldom include
quantitative factors.
Our research analyzed the AJPES, FINA, GVIN,
BonLine, and Creditreform databases. Among them,
Creditreform takes into account the most ratios from all
groups and offers the w-idest rank, so their ranking is the
best. Consequently, w-e believe it is the best database for
estimating the creditw-orthiness of a business. In our
view- such a research has not been conducted for
Slovenia and Croatia, so w-e believe it could be useful for
all users of research databases.
The GVIN database is the most appropriate for doing
an analysis of a Slovene company, because it includes
more comparisons among businesses and w-ith branches
and the economy as a w-hole.
At the end of the paper w-e recommended w-hich
information should be added to analysed databases to
make them more dependable.
n
n
n
n
n
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An-dre-ja Lu-tar Ske-rbi-n-je-k has been em-plo-yed at the
Uni-ver-si-ty o-f Mar-i-bo-r-, Faculty o-f Eco-no-m-i-cs and Busi-ness
si-nce 1993, i-ni-ti-ally as an assi-stant, and si-nce 2003 as Assi-stant
Pr-o-fesso-r- i-n Acco-unti-ng. She has lectur-ed o-n Basi-c
Acco-unti-ng, Co-st Acco-unti-ng, and Co-m-puter- Suppo-r-t o-f
Acco-unti-ng and Audi-ti-ng. She has the degr-ee o-f Speci-ali-st fo-rAudi-ti-ng o-f Annual Repo-r-ts at the Faculty o-f Eco-no-m-i-cs,
University of Ljubljana, and a master’s and doctoral degree
o-f Busi-ness Sci-ence at the Faculty o-f Eco-no-m-i-cs and Busi-ness,
Uni-ver-si-ty o-f Mar-i-bo-r-. She w-as aw-ar-ded her- do-cto-r-al
Organizacija, Volume 41
Research papers
Number 4, July-August 2008
degr-ee i-n 2002. In 1995, she go-t the Fulbr-i-ght Scho-lar-shi-p fo-rr-esear-ch w-o-r-k and w-o-r-ked fo-r- fi-ve m-o-nths at the
Gr-aduate Scho-o-l o-f Busi-ness, Fo-r-dham- Uni-ver-si-ty, NewYo-r-k. Her- bi-bli-o-gr-aphy co-ntai-ns 117 bi-bli-o-gr-aphi-cal uni-ts.
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