Relationship between financial policy performance and sustainable development of the company

. The objects of the study were large organizations of two different branches of the economy: the water transport industry in the form of joint-stock companies open to stock markets and joint-stock companies of the radio-electronic industry of the Russian Federation. A statistical sample of companies from the total population of companies in each branch was made. Homogeneous groups of companies were created. The subject of study is the sustainable development of companies. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the choice of methods for assessing the level of sustainable development, taking into account the integrated methodology and assessment methods. Tasks: identification of sectoral specificity of activity; review and systematization of methods of analysis of economic, personnel (social) and operational efficiency of researched companies at the moment and retrospective dynamics; disclosure of the main positive and problematic factors of influence on sustainable development; formation of a set of indicators of assessment of sustainable development of companies within the industry; quantitative and qualitative assessment of sustainable development of companies by the proposed set of indicators: the advantages and disadvantages of individual methods. The rating approach, a number of methods of analysis of economic activity were used as a methodology. All companies studied are in the maturity phase in management terminology. The text of the article demonstrates the interim results of the studyA more detailed consideration of the institutional approach to sustainable development analysis and assessment is envisaged. At this stage, the environmental dimension of sustainable development is not being explored for a number of reasons.


Introduction
The purpose of this article is to present the interim results of the solution of a number of tasks in the framework of the study of ways to assess the sustainable development of companies.The study is a continuation of the thesis of Liberova A. and Udalova D., devoted to the sectors under consideration -radio electronics and water transport.The work was carried out in the areas of analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the financial policies of a large number of companies.The study of Tatarintseva S. in the field of financial policy, sustainable economic growth and sustainable development of corporations continues.On the basis of the current literary review, systematization of information and previous author's works, the authors proposed a hypothesis about the close relationship of financial policy, sustainable economic growth and the concept of sustainable development.The article offers to expand and deepen existing methodical provision of assessment of sustainable development of organizations using the principles of increase of efficiency of analysis.As a result, within the sample, homogeneous groups of companies of two branches of economy have been created.The creation of homogeneous groups was preceded by a synthesis of the principles of grouping.The incorporation of principles aims at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of evaluation criteria.
The authors believe that the level of representativeness of the results of the assessment of sustainable growth and development of organisations depends on a number of factors.For example, the comparability of the used databases in statistics and dynamics, the choice of methodological approaches and evaluation techniques.It is rational to identify a group of at least four principles.The principles are formed on the basis of the study and systematisation of scientific-theoretical, scientific-methodological works, acquaintance with empirical studies Adherence to the principles will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the assessment results.
The authors reviewed and systematized the methodological and methodical foundations for the evaluation of sustainable growth.According to the results of the study, methods of assessment for each industry are presented.Significant empirical material is used.In the opinion of the authors, the practical use of methods can be extended to other branches of economy after the preliminary formation of homogeneous groups of companies on the basis of the proposed principles.

Materials and methods
At any stage of the company's operation, there are periods of high volatility and unpredictability of the impact on its activities.This obvious methodological rule leads to an understanding of the necessity of timely assessment of the level of financial sustainability and sustainable development of the company.The interpretation of the broad meaning of sustainability in the modern world leads to an increased interest in the study of the issue of sustainable development and attempts to form various methods of identifying or reflecting the problematic aspects of the sustainable development of companies in different industries.Currently, large companies of the Russian Federation from various branches of the economy publish data on the interaction of business processes within the company with a focus on the social aspect, as well as the impact of company activities on the environment and ways to minimize the impact on nature pollution.The publication of sustainability reporting allows stakeholders to obtain the most complete and timely information about the company's activities with the aim of making not only various management decisions, but also assessment of investment opportunities.In this way, sustainability reporting can focus on sectoral characteristics and identify factors that affect the sustainable development of companies.
At the moment, there is a situation that there is no uniform approach to the evaluation of sustainable development methods.Each company chooses for itself the methodology.It is not possible to obtain results that can be compared even within a single industry.It may be noted that sustainable development reporting is not auditable and that insufficient attention is given to validation.At the same time, it should be noted that an increasing number of Russian companies pay attention to and implement this reporting in their activities.The introduction of sustainability reporting has led to the creation of various methodologies, our research will focus on three methods of sustainability assessment: GRI Standards, RSPP methodology, Dow Jones Sustainability Index.Source: compiled by the authors.
On the basis of the above, it can be concluded that there are many different methods of assessing the sustainable development of companies.Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.As the practice shows, Russian companies apply the RUIE methodology, which takes into account the peculiarities of Russian accounting, but has limited application without reference to the industry.Thus, there is a need to develop a benchmark methodology for assessing the sustainable development of companies, taking into account the specific industry and sanctions against the Russian economy.
The task of assessing the sectoral specificity of financial and economic activities of the organizations in the radio-electronic industry of the Russian Federation was solved using standard methods of financial analysis.
The task of assessing the level of sustainable development within the framework of the existing strategic objectives was solved by comparing the results of the analysis of actual and projected commercial efficiency for 2017-2023 with the values of indicators, which are set by the Radio-electronic Cluster Development Strategy of the Corporation with State Participation until 2025 (further -Strategy).
The task of forming an integral indicator and identifying trends in sustainable development was solved as follows: 1) Selection of coefficients, calculation and formation of the system of indices of dynamics of development in three directions: personnel (social), financial, operational (commercial); 2) Calculation of average values of selected indices (using geometric mean, which gives the most accurate result of averaging relative changes); 3) Calculation of Sustainable Development Indices in three directions and Composite Sustainable Development Index (using arithmetic mean) The selection for this study included companies in the Electronic Component Development and Production Group, as part of a vertically integrated structure of the Corporation with State Participation Key activities of companies were research and development; production of radioelectronic products; provision of services (testing, maintenance, repair).
Absence from stock markets and high share of State participation in companies were features that imposed a number of limitations on the study: no report on sustainable development was published, so the study did not include the environmental dimension of sustainable development due to lack of information; data collection for integrated analysis of economic efficiency of activity was difficult, production and technology aspects of sustainable development were not taken into account due to lack of up-to-date data on noncurrent asset dynamics.
In the framework of our research, the largest companies of the transport industry were selected, which are engaged not only in the transport of goods and passengers, but also in the transshipment of goods, participating in various logistics chains of Russia.

Results
The Source: compiled by the authors.According to Table 2, there is an upward trend in the volume of goods transported through seaports, which makes it possible to separate them as a group for examination.Within the framework of this study, the leader among the European ports was chosen -PJSC «Novorossiysk Sea Trading Port» (further -PJSC «NMTP»).Shares and bonds of PJSC «NMTP» have been on the stock market of Russia since 2014, which allows making a sample of various multipliers and coefficients for evaluation of sustainable development.Source: compiled by the authors.According to Table 3, 18 transport infrastructure companies, 28 industrial companies and 182 equity companies from different sectors of the economy were calculated for comparison with the selected company, identified strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths
Weaknesses -the largest port holding in Russia; -eading position on cargo turnover in Russia; -dividend yield for 2022 9.72%, expected yield for 2023 -8.89%; -according to the fundamentals, the company has a strong growth outlook.
-insufficient investment to upgrade and develop port infrastructure; -lack of innovation and new port technologies; -high enough energy costs for the port; -the company's profit is unstable for 10 years.
Source: compiled by the authors.
When assessing the prospects of investment by investors in PJSC «NMTP» it can be noted that when using indicators of technical analysis of the shares of this company it is necessary to buy, and if the investor owns this asset and conducts fundamental analysis, It is necessary to keep a longer perspective in the investment portfolio.
The next company, which aroused the interest of researchers, is PJSC «Modern Commercial Fleet» (further -Sovkomflot).Sovkomflot is Russia's largest shipping company.Dividends on Sovkomflot's shares were paid in 2021 and amounted to 7.17% of yield, the expected yield in 2023 -4.80%.Source: compiled by the authors.
Companies are currently in a difficult situation due to political risks.From the point of view of stakeholders, this company is suitable for long-term investment and future prospects of opening new Asian sea routes, which will lead to a growth driver Sovkomflot.

Strengths
Weaknesses -cooperation with Gazpromneft in the field of «green technologies»; -development of the Northern Sea Route and growth of liquefied natural gas transportation; -fleet is insured in Russian insurance companies, which allows you to enter international ports; -2 new tankers commissioned; -restructuring of credit obligations in foreign banks and sale of 12 vessels that could not be used in Russian ports.
-inability to use ports USA, Europe, Canada, UK; -ban on attracting foreign investment; -the problem of using Eurobonds to invest in the development of the company.
Source: compiled by the authors.
When assessing the prospects of investment by investors in Sovkomflot, it can be noted that when using indicators of technical analysis of the share of the company it is necessary to buy.From the point of view of sustainable development, it is possible to distinguish three scenarios of acquisition of shares of this company: 1. Negative -sell shares due to sanctions pressure on the company; 2. Neutral -during the recession, the transport sector is one of the most volatile in the economy and the investor is not worth the risk; 3. Positive -when sanctions are lifted, the previous supply chains will be restored.Among the major shipping lines we were chosen -PJSC «Far Eastern Maritime Shipping Company» (further -DMP).Source: compiled by the authors.Source: compiled by the authors.In assessing the investment prospects of investors in the DMP is very high and on technical and fundamental analysis.
А separate object of study for the purpose of the choice of methods for assessing the level of sustainable development were Joint-stock companies of the Russian Federation's radioelectronic industry.
On the world market, the industry has significant scientific, technological and production potential.Radio-electronic products form the base of telecommunication technologies and IT, which are key elements of the world high-tech economy.This point was supported by the significant share of radio-electronics products in other industries: about 20% in the automotive industry, 40% in scientific instrument engineering, 55% in aviation.
In Russia, radio-electronic products on commodity nomenclature are mainly used for the production of machinery, equipment and services in the field of medicine, communication and information transmission.
In addition, the radio-electronic industry is an important component of the modern military-industrial complex of Russia: military-grade radio-electronic products accounted for more than 90% of the total output, radio-electronics companies in 2017 accounted for about 40% of the industrial structure of the enterprises of the military industrial complex.
As a result of the analysis of financial and economic activity of the Russian radioelectronics industry companies, a number of trends and industry characteristics have been identified.
First, there was a cautious policy of leveraging borrowed capital.The activities of companies were financed from equity sources and from sources that were equal to equity sources.
Advances received from buyers and customers as part of accounts payable were an important additional source of financing for most companies (Table 9).On average, the sample was expected to maintain the current trend with a slight growth.The most significant deviations from the general trend were observed in Plant-1 and Plant-2.
Plant № 1 specialized in the production of civilian products, and prepayment of deliveries on the civil market is rarely provided for by business practices.Plant-1 used short-term borrowed capital as a source of funding for ongoing activities.
Plant № 2 used as an additional source of financing a borrowing from the Industry Development Fund with a reduced interest rate.Source: compiled by the authors Third, the performance analysis revealed the presence of crisis phenomena in the development of the sampled companies.For a number of companies there was a negative trend in the growth rate of revenue in the analyzed time interval (Table 11).At the same time, in 2022, an increase in revenue relative to the base year 2017 was achieved, further growth of the indicator is forecast.The slight decline in revenue in the forecast period can be seen as a conservative incomegeneration policy, largely based on existing and highly probable contracts at the time of plan formulation.Source: compiled by the authors In the selected companies, negative dynamics of profitability indicators were also found (Table 12).This is primarily due to the increase in the price of materials and components, as well as the increase in fixed costs compared to the revenue.Source: compiled by the authors A comparison of the targets of the Strategy indicators with the achieved and projected values in the sample revealed a lag in the rate of sustainable development from the target vector (Table 13).
Lagging in average annual revenue growth was due to the specifics of the products produced by the selected group of companies of radio-electronics (electronic components, E3S Web of Conferences 458, 05017 (2023) EMMFT-2023 https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202345805017equipment for radio, television and communications) and the corresponding B2B or B2G sales strategies.These strategies involve multiple-stage, long-term contracts with complex procurement procedures, narrow promotion channels and a limited number of customers.
Lagging in the share of civilian production in income was also due to the industry's traditional focus on military production, with strict pricing standards and poor adaptation to market conditions.
Lagging in profitability indicators was due to the earlier trend of higher than income growth in fixed and other expenditures.Source: compiled by the authors The level of sustainable development was estimated on three components: personnel (social), financial, operational (commercial).
The system of dynamics indices included:  Personnel (social): 1) Headcount index 2) Wage fund index 3) Labour productivity index  Financial: 1) current ratio index 2) Margin of safety index  Operational (commercial) 1) Revenue index 2) Return on sales index 3) Return on net profit index 4) Net working capital turnover index 5) Accounts payable turnover index The values of the integral indicators for the three components and the summary integral indicator reflected the level of sustainable development of the sampled companies (Table 14).Indices above 1 indicated sustainability.Indices below 1 indicated bottlenecks that need to be addressed in management decisions.The decrease in the level of sustainable development of selected companies, when including in the calculation of the forecast period, is due to the existence of accumulated negative trends in financial and operational components, which were not taken into account in forecasting.

Discussion
Previously published studies of authors provided data of analysis of financial and economic activity of companies in various branches of Russian industry, the main activity of which was research and development in the field of natural sciences [1].This study also presented the results of the analysis of companies with this main activity within the radio-electronic industry.Compared with the analysis of the development from 2010 to 2015, the following trends continued from 2019 to 2022: in the management of sources of financial resources: prudent borrowing policy, reliance on equity sources, including a high percentage of received advances in accounts payable; in the management of working assets: medium duration of the production cycle with a medium share of unfinished production in inventories [2].
At the same time, the effectiveness of the income-generation policy is reduced, as evidenced by the manifestation of crisis phenomena: a fall in the rate of growth of incomes and profitability.
Companies in the water transport industry have strengthened their sustainability positions over the past two years.There are several reasons for this.Firstly, the state has strengthened its support of transport companies in accordance with the adjustment of national development programmes.Secondly, the range of leasing companies' services has expanded.Thirdly, more attention is paid to the development and implementation of corporate financial policy.Studies of 2019-2021 demonstrated lower values of drivers of financial condition and results of financial and economic activity of corporations [3].
In 2020 -2021, there was a greater difference in the financial policies and financial and economic performance results of small and medium-sized water transport companies [4].
Certain positive trends regarding the transport sector of the Russian economy as a whole were identified in the authors' previous study on the results of 2021.The changes are associated with the identified dynamics of a set of economic indicators [5].

Conclusion
Joint-stock companies of the radio-electronic industry of the Russian Federation have industry-specific characteristics and adhere to a conservative type of financial policy.In the management of sources of financial resources and working capital this approach allows maintaining a sufficient degree of liquidity and solvency of companies.At the same time, the negative dynamics of profitability indicates a decline in the effectiveness of conservative income-generation policy.The significant lagging in strategic targets also confirms this fact and signals the need for new management decisions.
At the same time, given the business practices and the high proportion of regulated revenues and expenditures in companies providing for the needs of the military-industrial complex, the set strategic goals seem to be too tight and poorly achievable.Based on the interpretation of values of integral indicators (taking into account limitations), the development of sampled companies as a whole can be evaluated as sustainable, despite the presence of accumulated negative trends.
An in-depth assessment of the impact of both positive and negative development trends is possible through the decomposition of indices and the carrying out of factor analysis of the dynamics of individual indicators.Thus, the proposed method of assessment of sustainable development can be applied by top management of companies when making management decisions in order to improve financial policy.
Further research in this thematic area is promising in the following directions:  Statistical data accumulation and definition of benchmarks for sustainable development by types of activities and industries;  Development of the sustainable development assessment model in terms of the comprehensiveness of the financial and economic activities, as well as in terms of ensuring the balance of indicators, while simultaneously assessing the direction of changes.
With regard to the water transport industry for the carriage of passengers and cargo, a significant difference between companies of different scales of entrepreneurship has been revealed.Large ports show the greatest movement towards sustainable development.The sustainable development report is published by the Far Eastern Shipping Company.The values of a number of financial and economic indicators analysed by the authors in the article can serve as a guide for medium-sized sea and river transport companies.The analytical results are of interest to a wide range of industry workers.The four principles stated in the

Table 1 .
Comparative analysis of strengths and weaknesses of companies' sustainable development assessment methodologies

Table 2 .
navigable waterways of the Russian Federation are about 102,000 km long.Although the waterways of the Russian Federation are the longest, they are underutilized and unevenly used in different basins.The main water arteries of Russia can be named rivers Volga, Kama, Don and Neva, as well as the Volgo-Don, Volgo-Baltic and Moscow canals.The development of port infrastructure for the organization and management of traffic on inland waterways is a priority for the State.Ports are an important inland waterway infrastructure.According to the Register of Seaports in the Russian Federation, there are 67 ports.According to the Federal Service for State Maritime Statistics, there are 2,704 ships.Of these, 30.5% are fishing, 20.7% are general cargo, 13.3% are tows, 14.2% are oil tankers, and 11.5% are other.The age structure of sea vessels more than 30 years -52.2%, up to 5 years -8.5%.Transported cargo results 2021 -23.4 million.t. cargo turnover -43.9 billion t.km.Dynamics of cargo handling in seaports from 2017 to 2021

Table 3 .
Financial performance of PJSC «NCTC» for sustainable development.

Table 4 .
Strengths and weaknesses of PJSC «NMTP» for sustainable development.

Table 5 .
Financial indicators of Sovkomflot for sustainable developme, %

Table 6 .
Strengths and weaknesses of Sovcomflot for sustainable development.

Table 7 .
Financial performance indicators of the DMP for sustainable development.

Table 8 .
Strengths and weaknesses of DMP for sustainable development.

Table 9 .
Average percentage of advances in accounts payable,%

Table 13 .
Achieving the strategic objectives of sustainable development, %

Table 14 .
Level of sustainable development