The dissertation is a complex research of theoretical and methodical bases of the formation of the system of financial safety of a trade enterprise. The problem of maintaining financial security is especially important for trade enterprises, whose share in the total number of bankruptcies in recent years was the largest among business structures, and the instability of the organizational environment tends to increase in the face of increased competition. In these circumstances, the search for promising ideas to ensure the financial performance of enterprises, the development of new approaches to identification and prior appropriate response to external and internal threats, is an extremely important task. The object of research is the process of forming the financial security system of a trade enterprise. The subject of research is a set of theoretical and methodological provisions and practical aspects of financial security management of a trade enterprise. The set of methods and techniques is used in the work, which allowed to implement the conceptual unity of the research. Methods of comparative analysis, systematization, and generalization, analogy, and abstraction were used in substantiating the categorical apparatus of the study, which allowed to provide a comprehensive approach to studying the essence of the financial security of the enterprise. Methods of comparative analysis, systematization, and generalization, grouping, sampling, composite method of integrated assessment, expert assessments, trend forecasting became the basis for studying the conditions of financial security of trade enterprises depending on the dynamics of the external environment and internal capabilities to appropriately respond to their actions. Methods of system analysis, generalization, matrix positioning, scientific abstraction were used in the development of financial security management of an enterprise. According to the results of the study, the concept of «strategic period of financial security of the enterprise» was introduced into the scientific lexicon as a probable time of threatening objective changes in the external organizational environment that can lead to losses with further bankruptcy and serves as a time criterion of strategic ability to provide liabilities to counterparties in the future. Improved species differentiation of financial security of the enterprise on operational, current and strategic grounds, which in combination with the implemented, targeted, possible and dynamic forms of their presentation allows to provide a comprehensive view of the level of financial security of the enterprise and serves as an analytical basis for appropriate management decisions. A methodical approach to assessing the financial security of the enterprise is proposed, which, provides for a consistent increase in the evaluation characteristics in a differentiated mode, and the received configurations of values of indicators allow to regulate financial security of the enterprise on separate components. Decomposition of financial threats to the enterprise was improved based on the determination of dissonant deviations in the values of interrelated indicators of financial security, which reflect the violation of their interaction, the ratio of the achieved level and direction of change, which will identify signs of such threats. Further development of understanding the essence of financial security of the enterprise based on calculation-analytical and organizational-managerial interpretation of its categorical affiliation was achieved. In turn, this allowed to present and differentiate the financial condition of the enterprise and the management control subsystem of security as objects of evaluation. The interpretation of the concept of «strategic financial security of the enterprise», is proposed, which, in contrast to the existing ones, is supplemented by an essential characteristic as the ability and capability of the market entity to provide permanent financing of development and fulfillment of financial obligations to counterparties during the strategic period, which is a temporal measurement of the probable occurrence of objective strategic changes in the external organizational environment, which may lead to a loss of financial security of the enterprise. Methodical approaches to ensuring the strategic security of the enterprise by substantiating the features and determining the duration of the strategic period are developed, which serves as a temporal criterion for recognizing the potential of strategic security of the enterprise from threats to its financial condition based on fixing the retrospective current financial security during the relevant period.
