Abstract:

The aim of the present study is to answer the question of how in less than a year since the introduction of dual settlement system it affected financial management of micro and small businesses. The article analyzes which main factors and how affect liquidity of micro and small enterprises and how the introduction of split payment in Poland affected financial liquidity of micro and small enterprises in the first months of new regulations being in force. The research was conducted among 248 micro and small enterprises of the Silesia region in June 2019, i.e. less than a year after the introduction of the split payment mechanism in Poland. Some business owners were interviewed.. The impact of split payments on the financial situation of micro and small enterprises has also been studied by accounting offices which cooperate with these entrepreneurs. Due to the fact that dual payment mechanism in the first year of its application on a voluntary basis was practically rejected by entrepreneurs, it had no major impact on the liquidity of micro and small enterprises. It is true that the first year of new regulations did not cause large scale use of split payments among micro and small entities, but one should take into account that after the introduction of the obligation to pay for certain services and goods by means of split payments, the scale of occurrence of this type of settlements will significantly increase.  This is one of the few studies on the impact of introducing liquidity divided into financial liquidity of micro and small enterprises. Most of the liquidity management research concerns large enterprises, however, as the results show, blocking the amount of VAT on the accounts of small enterprises may significantly hinder the management of their working capital.