Methodological approaches to evaluating the financial position of agricultural consumer cooperatives

Subject. As non-profit entities, agricultural consumer cooperatives are supposed to deal with not only economic, but also social issues in the rural area. The article studies key criteria and indicators of the financial position of analyzable cooperatives. Objectives. We refine the technique for evaluating and identifying the main issues that influence the financial position of cooperatives. The study analyzes and determines the main groups of metrics and computes the comprehensive integral indicators of the financial position of the analyzable entities. Methods. We scrutinize proceedings by the Russian and foreign scholars and apply the systems approach, a set of research methods and their techniques, such as the economic-statistical method, balance sheet method, abstraction logic method, grouping, comparison, which we use to statistically process the data, interpret them and make respective conclusions. Results. Some market actors were found to be highly solvent, but liquidity ratios significantly exceed the benchmarks, indicating that resources were not rather reasonably used. As long as the cooperatives have unstable financial results, equity was negative for the entire period, which affected some metrics of financial sustainability. Business operations of the cooperatives was not stable either, though the turnover of resources and capital did not exceed six months. We tested the technique for evaluating the financial position of cooperatives by pointing out three key blocks that had a set of principal indicators. We also determined the comprehensive integral indicator that enabled us to make a year-on-year comparison. Conclusions. To strengthen its financial positions, agricultural consumer cooperatives of the region should increment their equity, expand the scale and types of their operations