Use of Financial Analysis in Operational and Strategic Management in Practice of Polish Business

An important element of business management is systematically conducted financial analysis based both on financial statements and accounting data. The aim of the article is to present the approach of Polish enterprises toward the use of financial analysis in operational and strategic management. The article presents the results of a survey carried out on a group of 248 enterprises. The research carried out concerned the financial statement analysis and the accounting data financial analysis. The originality of the research was influenced by the fact that apart from examining the use of particular analytical areas, their usefulness for managers was additionally checked. The data were analyzed within the following categories: the type of business activity conducted, company size, and range of business operations. The results of this research have shown that the decision-making process in operational and strategic management, based on financial analysis, is more of an art than science.