<![CDATA[This study aims to examine the effect of capital structure and firm size on profitability, and to test whether liquidity moderates both relationships among food and beverage companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). A descriptive quantitative approach was applied using panel data from 46 companies during the 2021-2025 period, yielding 230 firm-year observations selected through purposive sampling. Secondary data from annual financial reports were analyzed using a single Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) model per profitability proxy with the aid of SPSS software. The results show that capital structure has a significant but opposite-direction effect on Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE), while firm size significantly affects one profitability proxy but not the other. Liquidity was not proven to moderate the effect of capital structure on profitability under either proxy, but was proven to strengthen the effect of firm size on profitability across both proxies. These findings indicate that the influence of capital structure and firm size on profitability is inconsistent across proxies and sensitive to the length of the observation period. This suggests that company management in the food and beverage sector needs to carefully consider liquidity conditions when designing funding policies, particularly when relying on firm scale as a strategy to improve profitability. This study is limited to a single sector, so the results cannot be broadly generalized to other industries; further research covering additional sectors and longer observation periods is recommended.]]>
