I. Introduction
Financial risk means that in various financial activities, due to various unpredictable and uncontrollable factors, the actual financial income deviates from the target financial income, thus suffering economic losses. The financial risks of an enterprise include financing risk, investment risk and income distribution risk. Among them, financing risk is caused by the complexity of financing process and environment and the uncertainty of financing application effect. Investment risk refers to the risk that the actual investment profit rate is less than the expected investment profit rate due to unpredictable changes in the investment environment. It can be said that in the financial management of enterprises, almost all of them are carried out under the conditions of risk and uncertainty. Without risk factors, it is impossible to correctly evaluate the salary level of enterprises.
At present, China's enterprise groups have developed to the stage of economic scale, diversified management and complicated management, and because of this, the risks tend to expand. In this tide of economic globalization, China enterprises may not only embark on colorful roads paved with flowers and gold, but also fall into dark market traps and swamps. How to explore the best trajectory suitable for its own development and build a control system conducive to preventing financial risks of enterprises is a realistic and urgent problem faced by every enterprise.
Second, the reasons for the formation of corporate financial risks
Financial risks exist in all aspects of financial business activities, and the specific reasons for different financial risks are different. There are many reasons for the financial risks of enterprises in China, both external and internal.
(A) objective reasons
First, the macro-environment of enterprise financial management is complex and changeable. The complex and changeable macro-environment of enterprise financial management is the external cause of enterprise financial risk. The macro-environment of financial management includes economic environment, legal environment, market environment, social and cultural environment, resource environment and other factors. These factors exist outside the enterprise, but they have great influence on the financial management of the enterprise. It is difficult for enterprises to accurately predict and change the macro environment. Adverse changes in the macro environment will inevitably bring financial risks to enterprises. For example, the increase in world crude oil prices leads to the increase in refined oil prices, which increases the operating costs and reduces profits of transportation enterprises and fails to achieve the expected financial benefits. The environment of financial management is complex and changeable, and the change of external environment may bring some opportunities or threats to enterprises. If the financial management system can not adapt to the complex and changeable external environment, it will inevitably bring difficulties to the financial management of enterprises. At present, due to unreasonable institutional setup, low quality of managers, imperfect financial management rules and regulations, imperfect basic management and other reasons, the financial management system established by many enterprises in China lacks adaptability and adaptability to changes in the external environment. Specifically, the adverse changes in the external environment cannot be predicted scientifically, and the response is lagging behind, and the measures are ineffective, resulting in financial risks.
Second, the capital structure of enterprises is unreasonable and the proportion of debt funds is too high. In China, capital structure mainly refers to the proportional relationship between equity funds and debt funds in all sources of funds of enterprises. Due to the mistakes in financing decision-making, the unreasonable capital structure of enterprises in China is widespread. Specifically, the ratio of debt funds to total funds is too high. The asset-liability ratio of many enterprises exceeds 30%. Unreasonable capital structure leads to a heavy financial burden and a serious lack of solvency, which leads to financial risks.
Third, the internal financial relations of enterprises are not smooth. The internal financial relationship of enterprises is not smooth, which is another important reason for the financial risk of enterprises in China. Between enterprises and internal departments, between enterprises and superior enterprises, there are problems such as unclear rights and responsibilities and chaotic management in fund management and use and benefit distribution. , resulting in inefficient use of funds, serious capital loss, and the safety and integrity of funds cannot be guaranteed.
(2) Subjective reasons
First, the risk awareness is weak. Financial risks exist objectively. As long as there is financial activity, there must be financial risks. In practical work, the financial managers of many enterprises in China have insufficient understanding of the objectivity of financial risks and lack risk awareness. They believe that as long as the funds are well managed, financial risks will not occur. Obviously, the lack of risk awareness is one of the important reasons for financial risks.
Second, financial decision-making lacks seriousness. Financial decision-making mistakes are another important reason for financial risks. The premise of avoiding financial decision mistakes is scientific financial decision. At present, empirical decision-making and subjective decision-making are common in Chinese enterprises' financial decision-making, and the resulting decision-making mistakes often occur, resulting in financial risks. For example, in the process of fixed assets investment decision-making, due to the lack of serious and systematic analysis and research on the feasibility of investment projects, the incomplete and untrue economic information on which decisions are based, and the low personal quality of decision makers, some enterprises make frequent investment decision-making mistakes. Decision-making mistakes make the investment project unable to obtain the expected income, and the investment cannot be recovered on time, which brings huge financial risks to the enterprise.
Third, the proportion of enterprises selling on credit is large, and the accounts receivable are lack of control. Since the 1990s, China's market has gradually changed from a seller's market to a buyer's market, and there is a widespread phenomenon of unsalable products in enterprises. In order to increase sales and expand market share, some enterprises sell products on credit, resulting in a large increase in accounts receivable, and triangular debts once became a common problem for enterprises. On the one hand, due to the lack of understanding of customers' credit rating and blind credit sales, accounts receivable are out of control, and a considerable proportion of accounts receivable cannot be recovered for a long time until they become bad debts. On the other hand, assets are occupied by debtors for a long time without compensation, which seriously affects the liquidity and security of enterprise assets and produces financial risks.
Fourth, the enterprise inventory structure is unreasonable and the inventory turnover rate is not high. At present, among the current assets of Chinese enterprises, inventory accounts for a relatively large proportion, and many inventories are characterized by excessive inventory backlog and poor inventory liquidity. On the one hand, it takes up a lot of funds of enterprises, on the other hand, enterprises have to pay a lot of storage expenses for keeping these inventories, which leads to an increase in enterprise expenses and a decrease in profits. Long-term inventory, enterprises have to bear the losses caused by falling market prices and improper storage, which leads to financial risks.
#p# III。 Countermeasures to control financial risks of enterprises
In the tide of market economy and in the fierce competitive environment, enterprises should dare to take risks. Risk and income coexist. The greater the risk, the greater the income, and the higher the risk, the higher the income. Enterprises dare not take risks, and may lose many opportunities, because the existence of risks will also bring opportunities for enterprises to obtain high profits. But at the same time, enterprises should also learn to control risks and increase their ability to resist risks. In view of the reasons for the formation of financial risks, enterprises should control financial risks from the following aspects:
(A) to have a strong sense of risk
There are always risks when enterprises take risks. Enterprises can't continue to pursue high profits, regardless of the consequences, invest heavily in debt and increase their financial burden. The profit is not the only criterion to measure the strength of an enterprise. Excessive debt will not only bear a heavy interest burden, but once the production process is interrupted, blocked and the capital turnover is difficult, the enterprise will face the risk of losing credibility and being responsible for compensation, and even lead to bankruptcy. Enterprises should first consider survival, and then high profits. We should eliminate all factors that are not conducive to survival and development, and we should not take the risk that our survival is threatened. We should establish a strong sense of risk to control risks.
(B) choose the most favorable capital structure
Enterprises must choose the most favorable capital structure according to their own risk tolerance, obtain the maximum investment income with the lowest capital cost and the lowest risk degree, and seek the best cooperation between risk and benefit. In a good market environment, adopt a proactive strategy, fully estimate and prepare for possible risks, and borrow more funds appropriately; In an unfavorable environment, carefully and patiently waiting for the favorable opportunity for change, so as to adjust the capital structure and be flexible, can effectively control financial risks.
(C) choose the right way to raise funds
Considering various factors such as capital cost, financial risk and information transmission, enterprises should choose the following investment order to control financial risk and minimize it. First of all, enterprises should choose internal accumulation, which is difficult, risky and confidential, and can reserve more borrowing capacity for enterprises. Secondly, if an enterprise raises funds from the outside, it should first issue ordinary corporate bonds, followed by issuing stocks, because the cost of issuing ordinary stocks is higher than that of issuing bonds, and the final choice of external financing is to borrow from banks to minimize the financial pressure of repaying principal and interest.
(d) Adopt an appropriate lending strategy.
When an enterprise borrows money, it should not be regarded as a simple financial act, but should be carefully considered. Although sometimes borrowing can increase the profits of enterprises and sometimes improve the cash flow, in any case, we should make clear the expected income of borrowing in the changeable enterprise environment. If the expected income is uncertain, the enterprise has no sufficient reason to borrow. Enterprises must know when to borrow and when not to borrow. Only in this way can the financial risks of enterprises be controlled and financial failure will not be caused by blind borrowing.
(5) Maintain profitability.
If the profit can't meet the capital demand of the enterprise, the enterprise will make up the capital gap by reducing the cash balance, selling short-term financial assets, or borrowing more debts, and increase the financial risk of the enterprise. Therefore, only by maintaining profitability, increasing funds and reducing debts can the financial risks of enterprises be controlled.
(six) to maintain a high degree of liquidity
Arrange funds reasonably to avoid financial risks caused by improper fund scheduling. Liquidity is an index to measure the ability of enterprises to pay due debts. Maintaining high liquidity is an important guarantee for enterprises to control financial risks and reduce financial pressure. The easier it is for an enterprise to realize its assets, the stronger its solvency and the stronger its ability to resist financial risks. Enterprises should also arrange funds reasonably. In the arrangement of funds, we should consider the loan maturity date and interest payment date. At the same time, we should give full consideration to the peak and low periods of enterprise funds, so that funds can be used reasonably and financial risks caused by improper use of funds can be avoided.