<![CDATA[This study aims to examine the effect of operating expenses on financial performance and the moderating role of capital structure in food and beverage subsector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2022–2024. This study employs a quantitative approach with an associative research design. The population consisted of 83 companies. Using purposive sampling based on predetermined criteria, 71 companies or 213 firm-year observations were initially selected. After the identification and removal of outliers, 187 observations remained for analysis. Operating expenses were measured using the Operating Expense Ratio (OER), financial performance was measured using Return on Assets (ROA), while capital structure was measured using the capital structure ratio applied in this study. Data were analyzed using simple linear regression and Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) with SPSS 26. The results show that operating expenses have a positive and significant effect on financial performance, with a coefficient of 0.167 and a significance level of 0.000. Capital structure does not have a direct significant effect on financial performance, with a significance level of 0.059. However, the interaction between operating expenses and capital structure has a negative and significant effect, with a coefficient of -0.158 and a significance level of 0.032. Thus, capital structure moderates the relationship by weakening the positive effect of operating expenses on financial performance.]]>
