(Financial Constraints Based on the Informativeness of Accounting Earnings)

Abstract

Chinese Abstract: 融資限制指的是：公司無法按照最適投資所要求的條件來取得外部資金， 以致無法達到最適投資。本研究建構一個基於盈餘資訊性的融資限制之理論模 型，說明盈餘資訊性與投資現金流量敏感度（融資受限程度指標）之間的關係， 並運用領域交替迴歸模型進行實證。實證結果顯示：當公司融資未受限時，盈 餘資訊性本身與融資限制無關；但當公司融資受限時，此融資受限程度會隨盈 餘資訊性的增加而減少。此外本研究亦發現高成長機會的公司有較高的融資限 制。本研究的結論對財務工作的重要義涵在於：管理當局應增加其會計盈餘的 情報量，進而擴大融資乘數以提高投資上限，以避免公司產生融資限制而成長 受限。English Abstract: Financial constraint refers to the situation under which the firm cannot obtain the required external funds to achieve the optimal investment. In this study, I construct a theoretical financial constraint model based on informativeness of accounting earnings to explore the relationship between the informativeness of accounting earnings and investment cash flow sensitivity (a measure for the degree of financial constraints). Using the regime switching regression model, this study empirically tests the proposition derived from the above theoretical financial constraint model. The empirical result indicates that investment cash flow sensitivity is irrelevant to the informativeness of accounting earnings itself for a firm without financial constraint. However, when a firms is financially constrained, the investment cash flow sensitivity decreases as the informativeness of accounting earnings increases. In addition, the evidence also indicates that firms with higher growth opportunity have higher financial constraints. The important implication of this study to financial management is that management should increase the informativeness of accounting earnings to enhance the investment upper limit through financing multiplier, so that the firm would not suffer financial constraints and thus affect its growth.