POSSIBILITIES OF USING ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF FINANCING IN THE CONDITIONS OF SLOVAK FOREST ENTERPRISES

Abstract

The capital structure of a company represents the way in which companies finance their needs. Currently, there is no unifying determining the selection between debt and equity. Existing scientific knowledge does not lead to the creation of a unified theory of capital structure, mainly because of the complexity and number of factors that influence these decisions. Considering the specifics of forest enterprises, including from the point of view of financial management, this problem is even more complex. The article analyses the internal and external factors that influence the decision-making about the optimal capital structure of business entities. In terms of applying the principles of the green economy, the importance of forestry and its contribution to reducing the amount of carbon in the air is emphasized. Forest ecosystems provide benefits known as ecosystem services, which have ecological, social, and economic importance for society. Their fulfilment requires ensuring sufficient and appropriate forms of financing. The article analyses the possibilities of applying the alternative forms of financing that are obtained outside the banking system and classic capital markets in the case of forest enterprises. As the results of the analysis showed, in some cases the choice of a suitable capital source is not a matter of the company's management's decision, but the result of its limited and in some cases conditional availability.