Perception of Financial Security in Assessing Business Continuity by SMEs in Poland

The aim of this study is to diagnose how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Poland perceive financial security, and to examine whether there is a significant relationship between this perception and the companies’ market experience.

The motivation for undertaking this topic is the limited number of studies on how SMEs, which form the foundation of the economy and are highly exposed to financial risks, define and operationalize financial security in practice.

This study was based on a CAWI survey conducted among 500 SMEs from the manufacturing, trade and services sectors, and the data was analyzed using the chi-square test, Fisher‘s exact test and a Monte Carlo simulation.

The results indicate that financial security is primarily associated with a stable customer base, available funds in bank accounts, and maintaining financial liquidity, with older companies attaching greater importance to these indicators. The study also reveals that most SMEs rely on trust and informal methods when verifying their contractors, rarely using financial statements.

The contribution of this article is threefold: it enriches the theoretical debate on SME financial security by linking it to the going-concern principle; it provides empirical evidence from Poland that fills an identified research gap; and it offers practical implications for SME managers, auditors and policy makers.