Economic and financial diagnosis of cooperative entreprises (A comparative study of the years 2004 and 2007)

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the economic and financial performance of cooperatives in recent years, specially during 2004 and 2007, on the grounds that in the former of these years companies in general enjoyed a certain stability that disappears with the effects of the current economic crisis, and the latter as the year in which the effects of the crisis are beginning to be perceived globally in the business environment. First, we evaluate the potential importance of cooperative enterprises in Spain. Then, using financial data of a sample of firms for years 2004 and 2007, we carried out a statistical analysis of differences in profitability, financing, performance, solvency, investment and tax burden; also we assessed the existence of possible differences in audit reports issued for the period considered. Finally, we show the results which are consistent with the economic evolution experienced by our country in the period under review, in the sense that most of the financial indicators analyzed of cooperative enterprises are considerably worse in year 2007.