Determinants of the Trade Payables of Listed Companies in Bulgaria

The study is based on data on non-financial enterprises in the manufacturing and services sectors that are publicly traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange for the period 2022-2024. The aim is to identify the factors that determine the levels of trade payables of listed companies in Bulgaria after the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The research in the article contributes to clarifying the effects of the pandemic. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis study show that larger firms more easily attract financing from their suppliers. The hypothesis that firms strive to match the maturity of liabilities and assets is also proven. Enterprises that have more Trade receivables, more Inventories and a generally higher share of short-term assets use more trade credit. The positive impact of the Inventories / Total assets ratio on the level of trade payables of firms confirms the transaction theory, according to which financing from suppliers is a subsidy to customers for holding stocks of raw materials for production. The results of the study show a negative impact of short-term credit from banks and other financial institutions on the level of trade credit used by firms in accordance with the hypothesis of substitution between the two types of credit. At the same time, the established positive influence of the ratio Long-term debt/Total assets shows that long-term institutional lending and lending from suppliers are complementary sources of financial resources. It is proven that the maturity of debt to other creditors is important for the nature of its relationship with financing from suppliers. This issue has been poorly studied in previous studies. The importance of the maturity of debt to other creditors is largely determined by the efforts of companies that have attracted expensive long-term debt to reduce their interest expenses by replacing short-term credit to financial institutions with interest-free credit from suppliers. In accordance with this, a positive influence of the ratio Interest Expenses / Interest-bearing Debt on the level of trade payables of companies is observed. The theory of financial distress is also confirmed. Firms that are more indebted seek more financing from suppliers as the risk of bankruptcy increases and access to institutional credit becomes more difficult.