Approaches of Czech entrepreneurs to debt financing and management of credit risk

Abstract

The aim of this article was to define, quantify and compare significant factors of the debt financing in the segment of SMEs. The research focused on the significant differences between groups of entrepreneurs, defined in relation to gender, education, size and age of the company, was carried out in the Czech Republic in 2015 on a sample of 1,141 respondents. We found that while the importance of the credit risk increased during the crisis, the level of knowledge of conditions under which commercial banks provide loans is relatively low between entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs presume that the credit conditions in commercial banks are not transparent, but agree that the better knowledge of credit criteria allows for easier access to funding. Substantial differences in the assessment of the factors of credit risk by defined groups of entrepreneurs were identified.