Financial Analysis of the State Forestry Organizations: Example of Turkey

Abstract

In countries where the state is the main owner of the forest resources, forestry activities are carried out with allocated shares from government budget resources. In order to ensure effective and efficient use of financial resources and determine whether forestry goals and targets are achieved, it is necessary to perform financial analysis of public forestry institutions. In Turkey, where the state owns majority of forests, the General Directorate of Forestry (GDF) is the main responsible institution for the management of the forestry sector. This study aimed to make financial statement analysis of working capital budget of the GDF, by applying horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, trend analysis and ratio analysis. In this context, balance sheet and income statement of GDF for the period of 2015-2019 are analyzed. It is determined that in the given period, due to increase in “trade receivables”, “other receivables” and “inventories” accounts, total current assets have shown a positive trend. Also there is a steady increase in the equity, which can be considered as a positive development for the GDF. Gross sales and net sales amount doubled in the given period and, by keeping cost of sales and operating expenses under control, net profit of the GDF showed significant increase especially in last three years. Moreover, ratio analysis results revealed that GDF has capacity to satisfy its current and long-term liabilities and increased its profitability in the mentioned period.