On January 1, 2018, IFRS 9 became effective in the EU. It introduced the expected credit loss model to allow for timely recognition of credit losses, estimated not only on the actual credit loss experience but also on forward looking information related to current loan portfolio. Although the transition to IFRS 9 should lead to increased impairments and decrease in banks' equity, this effect is ambiguous in the settings characterised by combined effects of optimistic macroeconomic outlook and strong regulatory intervention related to extensive loan portfolio restructuring. This paper investigates day-one transition effect of IFRS 9 on level of loan impairments and total equity of banks in Slovenia, Eurozone country, which barely averted international bailout in 2013 by extensive state assisted bank restructuring. The comparative analysis is done on banks that transferred deteriorated loan portfolio to the state's Bank Assets Management Company and all other banks. In line with expectations we find that banks without extensive asset portfolio improvements recognised additional loan impairments on transition to IFRS 9, whereas the opposite effect is observed for banks which performed state-assisted loan portfolio restructuring. Our study provides additional insight on the effect of institutional and regulatory setting on IFRS 9 implementation effects.

Based on the population of Slovenian firms we analyse the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the firms' financial constraints. In line with the theoretical predictions firm size, ownership, productivity, and export orientation all impact firm's financial situation. With the full onset of the crisis in 2009, financial health of the foreign firms worsened more compared to domestic firms, while the availability of financial resources deteriorated less for more productive firms and for exporters. Even though firm's size has a significant impact on firm's financial constraint, crisis didn't have an additional significant negative effect on firms' financial distress for all but small firms. ARTICLE INFO

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The paper investigates the role and impact of different groups of firms according to their growth type on macroeconomic aggregates at various stages of the economic cycle based on the entire population of firms in Slovenia. The applied classification of growing and fast-growing firms is based on microeconomic theory. Results exhibit that despite larger year-to-year fluctuations, firms with growth towards their long-term equilibrium contributed most to macroeconomic aggregates, i.e. employment, capital and sales, especially in times of economic prosperity. Firms with growth that shifts them closer to their short-term equilibrium proved to be more important primarily for assuring employment stability. Furthermore, we show that using single growth measures prevents us from identifying all growing firms and capturing the true contribution of particular growth groups of firms to studied macroeconomic aggregates. The paper provides both theoretical and empirical information for managers for designing different types of firm growth and enables policy makers to adopt adequate industrial policy measures.