Kreditrating von kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen in Zeiten nachhaltiger Berichterstattung

  • Fabian Grüneis

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

The European union sees the financial sector as the central driver of a sustainable economy and has taken measures to promote sustainable growth through various initiatives. These initiatives also include the consideration of sustainability aspects in credit ratings by financial institutions. Although mainly larger companies are affected, also small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) should be assessed in terms of sustainability. However, sustainability data of SMEs are not generally standardized regarding credit rating and this poses a major problem for the assessment of small and medium-sized enterprises, which affects 99.8 percent of all companies in Austria. The aim of this thesis is to show the tasks and objectives of credit rating and which role sustainability plays in the credit rating process. Subsequently, interviews with experts will be used to evaluate which role sustainability plays in credit rating and what sustainability data is required. Based on this, a survey will be conducted with Upper Austrian SMEs in order to show which sustainability data can already be provided by these companies to financial institutions as part of a credit rating. The expert interviews state that Austrian financial institutions are increasingly integrating environmental aspects into their risk assessments, with a particular focus on CO2 emissions. Social and governance aspects currently play a tangential role in the credit rating of SMEs. The results of the survey of Upper Austrian SMEs show that most SMEs are able to record basic sustainability data, such as electricity and water consumption, and provide it to financial institutions for credit rating. Nevertheless, there are considerable differences within the size classes of SMEs. Medium-sized companies are better equipped to provide more comprehensive ESG data, while small and micro companies often face greater challenges, especially regarding the collection of more complex parameters. A key finding of this work is the disparity between the financial institutions required sustainability data and the information available from SMEs. This often results from limited resources and insufficient know-how and displays that SMEs are dependent on support from financial institutions.
Date of Award2024
Original languageGerman (Austria)
SupervisorSusanne Leitner-Hanetseder (Supervisor)

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