ABSTRACT

Using a representative survey of Dutch entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, (i) we measure their subjective financial knowledge and the extent to which they ask for advice when managing their companies, and (ii) we examine whether subjective financial knowledge and the demand for advice are related to the firm economic performance. We find that the respondents feel more comfortable with accounting subjects than they do with strategic ones, of which they feel that they know the least. Entrepreneurs with a greater extent of financial knowledge are more likely to report a higher gross margin and higher revenue growth for their firm. These entrepreneurs are also less likely to seek advice and to delegate financial decisions. Seeking professional advice does not increase the likelihood of an entrepreneur having better performance. Our results suggest that entrepreneurs’ degree of financial knowledge is related to the success of their businesses, while seeking advice is not significantly correlated with better firm performance.

摘要

通过对荷兰企业家和自营职业者的代表性调查，（i）我们衡量他们的主观财务知识以及他们在管理公司时寻求建议的程度，以及（ii）我们检查主观财务知识和对财务的需求是否相同。建议与公司的经济表现有关。我们发现，受访者对会计科目的感觉比对战略科目的感觉更舒服，而他们认为自己对战略科目知之甚少。拥有更多金融知识的企业家更有可能报告其公司更高的毛利率和更高的收入增长。这些企业家也不太可能寻求建议和委托财务决策。寻求专业建议并不会增加企业家取得更好业绩的可能性。