7 financial risks in business that can be worth millions
There are always risks in business, and there are many of them. Some cannot be influenced, for example, if the summer in the region turned out to be dry, agribusiness will not be able to do anything about it: the peas will dry up, the rye will not be born. But there are risks that can and should be influenced – these are financial ones.
Financial risks are all situations in which a company can lose money for various reasons: due to the carelessness of the owner, dishonesty of the supplier, buyer, or errors in the currency agreement.
This article presents seven financial risks most often faced by Russian companies based on the experience of our financial directors. Each risk can be minimized, and some can be predicted and eliminated altogether. We will tell you how to do it.
An entrepreneur runs the risk of losing money when dealing with unreliable suppliers or customers. This risk arises, for example, if suppliers delay the shipment of goods or a customer cannot pay bills due to bankruptcy.
The risk of losing money to unreliable suppliers or customers is called counterparty credit risk and can threaten a company from two sides.
Supplier risk
From the buyer’s side
Misha makes bricks in Saratov, and he urgently needs lime from the Sand and Clay company. The companies entered into a contract for a year of supplies. Misha contributed half of the amount, but the manager stopped answering calls after the second shipment. Then it turned out that Sands and Clays was bankrupt, and Misha would not be able to return the prepayment or receive lime. This is because the supplier is not reliable.
Misha sells a large batch of bricks, but the client asks for a month’s delay. Misha agrees, but after a month there is no money. The order is large – the production took him three weeks, and Misha spent a lot of money to make a ton of bricks. Now he will have to take out a loan to pay salaries and work while the litigation continues. The company lost money due to an unreliable buyer.
The credit risk can be visualized as follows:
How to avoid. To avoid the credit risk of counterparties, it is necessary to check suppliers and customers for reliability. This can be done using services.
Free services
What is being checked
“Transparent business” from the Federal Tax Service
Checks the counterparty on six registers, including the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and the register of disqualified persons. Additionally checks the owner and legal address.
Date of registration of the company, type of activity, name of the founder and address. If the registration address is massive, there is a risk that the counterparty is a fly-by-night company.
Bank information system
Are the accounts of the counterparty blocked?
FSSP website
Does the supplier have debts that have been transferred to the bailiffs.
Card file of arbitration cases
Whether the supplier is suing someone. If yes, it shows how much the claim was and what happened there.
Paid services
What is being checked
Outline Focus
All information about the counterparty and automatically collects it into reports. Access for one day costs RUB 1,300, for a year – RUB 61,500.
Sbis
The financial condition of the supplier, the value of the business and its owner. You can check company details, addresses and phone numbers. Free access for 8 days, then you need to create an account for 500 ₽. The cheapest rate is RUB 6000 per year.
Paid services collect information from more open sources. For example, Sbis collects data on companies and owners from six sources: tax, statistics service, Central Bank, Rospatent, Supreme Court and Treasury. Contour.Focus uses twenty-nine sources. And the test results look like this:
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Company check through Kontur.Focus: the service says that there is a financial risk, and it will not get better in the next six months
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Here you can also see how many employees the company has, whether there are any court cases, violations of inspections, and so on.
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At the end – conclusions. In our example, the service says that financial risks are low.
If a company has been working with a supplier or buyer for a hundred years, this is not a reason to stop checking. Especially if the counterparty uses deferred payments. The check must be carried out at least once a quarter, then it will be possible to notice problems in time and stop cooperation, for example, if the counterparty starts going broke, lawsuits will appear in the results of the check.
A company can lose money if it sells or buys goods overseas. There are two risks: getting a fine from a bank for violating foreign exchange laws and going bankrupt on the exchange rate – both are called foreign exchange financial risks. In this section – about the first.
The first option of currency risk is the case when money can be lost due to carelessness. For example, if the yuan is transferred to a supplier from China at a different time than specified in the contract.
The fact is that all foreign exchange transactions are monitored by the bank. He conducts currency control, registers transactions and monitors them.
