Temporal and geographical analysis of solvency in SMES: the Spanish timber sector

Abstract

The work presented here aims to check whether the sawmilling sector in Spain has suffered the consequences of the economic crisis in the past decade in the same way as other economic sectors in general. To do this, we proceeded to analyze the behavior of the solvency of a sample of 50 Spanish companies in the sawmilling industry (NCEA 1610 Denomination: Sawmilling and planing of wood), basically in order to determine which explanatory variables significantly influence the solvency of the companies studied sector. The explanatory variables used were obtained from the balance sheet and income statement of the companies considered, from which calculated a number of financial ratios. Therefore it has carried out an empirical analysis covering two aspects: First, it has made a temporal analysis in order to determine if the determinants of the solvency of companies in the sector have varied before and after the crisis. And secondly we proceeded to carry out a geographical analysis in order to determine if there is a different behavior between the companies in the sector in each geographical area from the rest of Spain, so much before the crisis and subsequently to it.