ABSTRACT : Uncertainty seems to be the root of prolonged recession period problem and it increases researcher concern regarding its effect to the economy. During high uncertainty period, information is not clear and affect firm’s decision maker regarding their investment, capital structure and also trade credit policy. In this paper, we aim to find the effect of uncertainty to firm’s trade credit policy. Uncertainty is argued to increase firm’s credit risk and thus, firm should adjust their trade credit policy to survive. Our sample includes non-financial listed firms in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), with observation period from 2006 Q1 to 2019 Q4. The financial data used to construct the variables are obtained from the S&P Capital IQ database. The methodology used is fixed effect panel data regression. This study utilized uncertainty measurement developed by Ahir et al. (2018), that is the world uncertainty index (WUI). Using total of 12,773 firm-quarter observations, our result show that uncertainty indeed caused firms to adjust their trade credit policy. Uncertainty caused higher cost of capital, as consequences firms decide to tighten their credit policy to its customer and decrease their payables to the supplier as precautionary to avoid future financial distress.

Keywords:  Uncertainty, trade credit policy, receivable days, payable days

ABSTRAK : Ketidakpastian dianggap menjadi akar dari masalah periode resesi yang panjang dan hal ini meningkatkan kekhawatiran dari para peneliti mengenai efeknya terhadap ekonomi. Pada keadaan ketidakpastian yang tinggi, informasi menjadi tidak jelas dan mempengaruhi pengambil keputusan didalam perusahaan mengenai kebijakan investasi, struktur modal dan juga kredit dagang. Pada penelitian ini, kami bertujuan untuk menemukan efek dari ketidakpastian pada kebijakan kredit dagang perusahaan. Ketidakpastian dikatakan dapat meningkatkan resiko kredit perusahaan dan sehingga, perusahaan perlu menyesuaikan kebijakan kredit dagang mereka untuk dapat bertahan. Sampel penelitian ini termasuk perusahaan non keuangan yang terdaftar pada bursa efek Indonesia (BEI), dengan periode observasi dari 2006 kuartal 1 hingga 2019 kuartal 4. Data keuangan yang digunakan untuk membentuk variabel pebelitian diambil dari the S&P Capital IQ database. Metodologi yang digunakan adalah regresi data panel fixed effect. Penelitian ini menggunakan ukuran ketidakpastian yang dikembangkan oleh Ahir et al.(2018), yaitu the world uncertainty index (WUI). Dengan menggunakan total observasi sebanyak 12.773 perusahaan-kuartal, hasil  yang didapatkan menunjukkan bahwa ketidakpastian mennyebabkan perusahaan untuk melakukan penyesuaian pada kebijakan kredit dagangnya. Ketidakpastian meningkatkan biaya modal dan sebagai akibatnya perusahaan memutuskan untuk memperketat kebijkan kredit kepada pembeli dan menurunkan hutang dagangnya pada pemasok sebagai tindakan berhati-hati untuk menghindari kesulitan keuangan dimasa depan.

Kata Kunci: Ketidakpastian, kebijakan kredit dagang, receivable days, payable days

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