Impact of Corporate Governance on Firms’ Financial Flexibility in the Emerging Economy: Evidence From Bangladesh

Abstract

Corporate governance has a positive impact on firm performance. Financial flexible firms are a better performer when there are financial constraints as well as financial crises. However, what motivates financial flexibility is a dearth research area in the existing finance literature. The objectives of this research are to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and financial flexibility; how corporate governance influence financial flexibility; and, what factors of corporate governance are dominant to influence financial flexibility. To pursue the research objectives we chose Cement Industry of Bangladesh as a case. We consider liquidity, Internal Funds and Unused debt capacity as the proxy of financial flexibility and Ownership Concentration, Board Size, Board Independence as Corporate Governance variables and Firm Size, Market to Book Ratio, Debt Capacity, Financial Constraints and Firm Age as control variable to estimate the relationship between corporate governance and financial flexibility. This study evidences that Board Structure has no significant influence on firms’ cash holding(Liquidity).However, Firms Age and Market to Book Value have a significant influence on firms' cash position. This study also finds that Ownership Structure has no positive impact on Firms' Unused Debt Capacity but Financial Constraints and Market to Book Value have a positive significant impact on firms' unused debt capacity. However, Firm Size has a positive relationship with Internal Funds.