The aim of the research was to get information on usage of financial risk protection instruments in Croatian large and medium-sized companies, as well as to recognize existence of possible differences among characteristics of the companies that use and that do not use them. Survey research based on a telephone interview with financial or accounting managers from a stratified random sample of 101 Croatian companies in October and November 2004 was carried out. The stratification criterion was «number of employees». One stratum contained medium-sized companies that were defined as those with 51-250 employees, and the other one included companies with more than 250 employees. Approximately equal allocation with 50 large and 51 medium-sized enterprises from each of respective strata was applied. Methods of estimation used took into account the procedure of random sampling of units, so that margin of errors could be calculated. Considering normal approximation, in each strata the research result for the proportion, with 95% confidence level and coefficient of confidence z = 1.96, is within margin of error of maximum +/- 14,2%. The results of the survey research based on random sample of 101 Croatian companies shown that there is no statistically significant dependence between the firms’ size and usage of risk protection, so planned stratification was not stressed in further analysis. The research results were compared to the results of similar surveys from Europe and America. The common conclusions in all these studies were that financial managers are aware of the danger arisen from financial and other risks, but the financial policy in most cases is not precisely defined. Even if this policy is defined, it is formal and reactive, and very seldom proactive. Control functions and risk management seem to be quite centralized business functions in most of surveyed companies. There is a lack of systematic standardized «financial risk manager» function, and a well organized financial department seems to be an exception. According to the survey, financial risk protection instruments were used by two fifth of companies from the sample, and the same proportion of them wants to have additional education a about these instruments. Only one fifth of companies covered by the survey have got a kind of developed protection policy. The most often enterprises use financial risk protection services from banks, and in most cases they are satisfied or vary satisfied with these services. The surveyed enterprises worry the most about liquidity risks and currency risks, and interest rate risk is not the subject of such great concerns. This paper deals in details about various haracteristics (such as company size, activity, region, and size of market) of enterprises that are threatened to quite serious extent with various types of financial risks. Interviewees from 41 companies that use financial risk protection methods mentioned that the most often used protection instruments against liquidity risk were: cash flow investment analysis (70% out of 41), and analysis of assets, liabilities and sources (also 70%). Against currency risk surveyed companies most often use: currency futures (34%), selling prices policy (29%) and currency forward (27%). Against interest rate risk the most often applied protection instruments were: interest rate futures (12%) and interest rate management at the money market (10%). The reasons for not using the protection instruments are insufficient knowledge about them, prevailed perception that they are not efficient and that are too expensive. Contribution of this study comes out of the testing of hypothesis about dependence between characteristics of Croatian companies and the usage of financial risk protection instruments. The survey results show that the companies that are using these instruments are more often registered as share holding companies than as limited, they have significantly greater average yearly revenue, and their revenue is increasing more often according to previous year than in companies that are not using protection instruments. Also, companies using controlling approach tend to apply protection instruments in their business. Further, these companies very often use bank services to help them in protection. Last, but not the least, financial managers in companies with active financial protection policy have got higher education than in those companies that are not actively protecting themselves. Usage of financial risk protection instruments contributes the business success of a company. Only continuous and proactive informing about financial position of a company concerning its exposure to total risk may insure survival, keeping market position, and progress of a Croatian company in recognized turbulent environment of domestic transformations, market globalization, and the pressure for accepting rules of a game of international competitiveness. Finally, in the future the researchers and authors of the study paper plan to make a sample survey research based on deeper stratification of population of Croatian businesses, so to include three sizes of companies, concerning number of employees, and to include a kind of financial measure of company’s size, e.g. the factor of yearly revenue, as well, and than it would be possible to make more detailed analysis concerning different companies' features and usage of financial risk management instruments in Croatia.
