Indicators for evaluating the manager of a small and medium-sized enterprise in the financial and economic analysis system

The relevance of this study stems from the fact that traditional counterparty assessments, based primarily on financial statement analysis and formal due diligence, have limited predictive potential. For small and medium-sized businesses, this limitation is exacerbated by lower transparency and the high concentration of decision-making authority in the hands of the manager in the hands of the manager. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical and methodological basis for incorporating a special set of indicators into a counterparty reliability assessment system that characterize the manager as the center of business decision-making. The methodological framework for the study includes systems, institutional, agency, and comparative approaches, formal logical analysis, and a classification method. The information base includes works on the theory of information asymmetry, agency relationships, transaction costs, and upper-echelon theory, research on small and medium-sized businesses, as well as Russian regulatory and methodological materials regulating counterparty due diligence procedures. As a result, the content of the category "indicators for assessing the manager of a counterparty" was clarified, criteria for their selection were formulated, and the author's grouping of indicators into five blocks was proposed: institutional identifiability, stability of the management trajectory, concentration of management roles, problematic management trace and public information consistency of the management center, and it was also noted that these indicators do not replace financial analysis, but increase its preventive value, primarily when assessing counterparties from the small and medium-sized business sector.

1. Akerlof G.A. The Market for "Lemons": quality uncertainty and the market mechanism // The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1970. Vol. 84, No. 3. Pp. 488–500.

2. Stiglitz J.E., Weiss A. Credit rationing in markets with imperfect information // American Economic Review. 1981. Vol. 71, No. 3. Pp. 393–410.

3. Sokolov E.D., Glisin A.F. Modern techniques and methods for checking counterparties as an integral part of financial investigations in an organization // Bulletin of Eurasian Science. 2024. Vol. 16, No. s1.

4. Bulatenko M.A., Mustafin E.R. Checking information about counterparties as a tool of internal control of contractual relations of an organization // Scientific research and development. Corporate economics. 2024. Vol. 13, No. 1. Pp. 34–40. doi:10.12737/2306-627X-2024-13-1-34-40.

5. Jensen M.C., Meckling W.H. Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure // Journal of Financial Economics. 1976. Vol. 3, No. 4. Pp. 305–360.

6. Williamson O.E. Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations // Journal of Law and Economics. 1979. Vol. 22, No. 2. Pp. 233–261.

7. Dobryyanova E.I. Improving the mechanism for checking counterparties within risk management at small businesses // Bulletin of Eurasian Science. 2022. Vol. 14, No. 6.

8. Gurbanov A. A. Modern features of checking the integrity of a business partner // Waste and resources. 2022. Vol. 9, No. 4.

9. Hambrick D.C., Mason P.A. Upper echelons: the organization as a reflection of its top managers // Academy of Management Review. 1984. Vol. 9, No. 2. Pp. 193–206.

10. The influence of individual characteristics of the manager on the enterprise digitalization process / A.O. Davii, M.A. Molodchik, E.E. Matveeva-Ram, K.Yu. Sanina // Russian Management Journal. 2024. Vol. 22, No. 4. Pp. 698–718.

11. What do small business owner-managers do? A managerial work perspective / J. de Oliveira, E. Escrivão Filho, M.S. Nagano [et al.] // Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research. 2015. Vol. 5. Article 19. Pp. 1–21.

12. Richbell S.M., Watts H.D., Wardle P. Owner-managers and business planning in the small firm // International Small Business Journal. 2006. Vol. 24, No. 5. Pp. 496–514.

13. Matytsina N.P., Komarov E.A. Features of small enterprise management // Symbol of Science. 2024. No. 12-2-1. Pp. 149–151.

14. Federal Law No. 14-FZ of February 8, 1998 "On Limited Liability Companies" (as amended on December 28, 2025). Article 40. URL: https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_17819/a0505ad1f70f2516e6fdf28afb335c3973aed5b3/ (date of access: 16.03.2026).

15. Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007 "On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation" (as amended on May 23, 2025). Article 4. URL: https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_52144/08b3ecbcdc9a360ad1dc314150a6328886703356/ (date of access: 17.03.2026).

16. Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2024. Paris : OECD Publishing, 2024. URL: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/financing-smes-and-entrepreneurs-2024_fa521246-en.html (date of access: 17.03.2026).

17. Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. ED-4-2/4124 of March 16, 2015 "On Due Diligence Measures When Concluding Contracts with Counterparties". URL: https://www.consultant.ru/law/hotdocs/ 42496.html (date of access: 18.03.2026).

18. On the Transparent Business Service // Federal Tax Service of Russia : official website. URL: https://pb.nalog.ru/about.html (date of access: 19.03.2026).

19. Assessment of the degree of financial reliability of a counterparty / A.V. Agibalov, L.A. Zaporozhtseva, I.A. Bugaeva, M.A. Kamalyan // Bulletin of the Financial University. 2013. No. 5 (77). Pp. 54–61.

20. Usenko A.M. Theoretical and methodological foundations of diagnosing financial relations of commercial organizations with counterparties // Financial Research. 2013. No. 1 (38). Pp. 55–59.

21. Grachev A.V., Sikorskaya L.V., Vinogradova Yu.A. Assessment of counterparties reliability as a tool for ensuring the economic security of a business entity // Proceedings of Higher Educational Institutions. Series: Economics, Finance and Production Management. 2022. No. 4 (54). Pp. 44–52.

22. Bychkova S.M., Shvets O.V. Digital technologies: a new reality of counterparty reliability analysis // Accounting. Analysis. Auditing. 2022. Vol. 9, No. 5. Pp. 43–55.

23. Konyukova O.G. Assessment of counterparty reliability as an integral element of the modern economic system // Bulletin of the Moscow Witte University. Ser. 1, Economics and Management. 2025. No. 1 (52). Pp. 49–58.