Financial and economic security of shipping companies: its key indicators and means of its ensuring

Abstract

The high level of competition in the shipping industry, combined with the challenges of the external and internal environment, the need to ensure the protection of shareholders’ interests and to form a positive reputation among stakeholders, cause shipping companies to pay increased attention to the level of their financial and economic security (FES). In such conditions, different approaches to assessing FES become of particular importance. Systematic analysis and comparative assessment of performance indicators makes it possible to determine the level of financial and economic security of the company and reasonably make optimal managerial decisions. The importance of outlining a set of indicators of financial and economic security is due to the need to identify weaknesses and threats to the FES of a shipping company. Calculation of performance indicators and assessment of the financial consequences of managerial decisions allow investigating the cause-and-effect relationships between the influencing factors and the financial condition of the company. In this context, special attention should be paid to the means of ensuring the financial and economic security of shipping companies, which reflect a set of measures aimed at minimizing risks, increasing financial stability, forming stable functioning and innovative development of the company in a volatile market environment. The purpose of the study is to determine the key indicators and means of ensuring the financial and economic security of shipping companies and to apply a practical approach to calculating indicators and the general integrated indicator of the financial and economic security on the example of a specific shipping company. The objectives of the study were to analyse different approaches to determining indicators of financial and economic security; to assess indicators that characterize the financial and economic security of shipping companies; to specify the means of ensuring the financial and economic security of shipping companies. The study is based on the integrated application of various methods: analysis and synthesis (when studying FES indicators), a systems approach (when systematizing key indicators as components for calculating a single integrated indicator), classification (when grouping FES provisioning tools), cause-and-effect dependence (when substantiating the influence of various factors on the values of FES indicators), economic and mathematical (when calculating the integrated FES indicator). It has been established that determining a set of indicators of financial and economic security of shipping companies is a key element of the process of its assessment. In accordance with the analysis of existing approaches to determining indicators and current challenges for FES, the following groups of indicators were selected: profitability, liquidity, and leverage ratios, as well as indicators characterizing a company’s corporate, social, and environmental management practices. The value of the integrated financial and economic security indicator for 2020—2024 has been determined for the shipping company A. P. Møller— Mærsk. It has been found that during the period under analysis, the worst value of the integrated indicator was observed in 2020, which corresponds to the permissible FES level. Cause-and-effect relationships between influencing factors and the values of individual indicators have been established. The means of ensuring the financial and economic security of shipping companies have been systematized. These means are used to improve the financial stability and profitability, interaction with customers, risk management, cybersecurity, continuity of the company’s work, and its innovation-driven development. Besides, they help implement effective managerial ESG practices. Conclusion. Determination of key indicators of financial and economic security of shipping companies and calculation of the integrated FES indicator of the shipping company A. P. Møller — Mærsk in the dynamics for 2020—2024 showed gaps in the company’s financial stability. This was due to insufficiently efficient distribution of equity among various projects, lack of training of employees on data ethics, artificial intelligence, labour relations, and occupational safety, inadequate environmental responsibility of the company, which ultimately negatively affected its financial and economic security, reducing investment attractiveness. In further research, the author plans to assess the potential of financial and economic security of shipping companies and determine the role of innovation-driven development in increasing the FES level.