Determinants Of Corporate Cash Holdings Research Articles

Family control, agency conflicts, corporate cash holdings and firm value

PurposeThis paper examines whether family control exerts any influence on corporate cash holdings in Indian listed firms. It also examines how this accumulated cash of family firms impacts firm value.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses dynamic panel data regression estimated using two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) on S&P BSE 500 firms during 2009–2018 for testing the repercussions of family control on the cash levels of a firm. Further, fixed effects regression has been employed for the valuation analysis.FindingsEstimation results showed that family control negatively impacts cash holdings in Indian firms. Further, the cash accumulation by family firms adversely affects the market valuation of the firm. These findings signal a principal–principal (P-P) agency conflict in Indian family firms, i.e. friction between family owners and minority shareholders' interests. Minority shareholders fear that a part of the cash reserves will be used by family members for personal benefits. Thus, they discount cash reserves in family firms.Originality/valueThe study adds to the determinants of corporate cash holdings in emerging markets. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study from India investigating family control as a determinant of cash policy. It sheds light on the P-P agency conflict in Indian family firms. P-P agency conflict is less researched in cash holdings literature as opposed to the principal–agent managerial disputes. Also, the study uses a more comprehensive definition of family control rather than just considering the ownership as used in prior cash holding research.

The dynamic relationship between firms’ cash reserves and financial leverage: evidence from MENA emerging markets

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of financial leverage on corporate cash holdings in the Middle East and North African (MENA) emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThe author applies the dynamic modeling approach to data from nonfinancial firms listed in 10 MENA countries between 2010 and 2019. The empirical model avoids the shortcomings of the prior literature by including indicators of the dynamics of the financial leverage to account for its persistence in the corporate cash holdings reserves.FindingsThis research reports a significant negative relationship between corporate cash holdings and financial leverage. The results support the pecking order model, suggesting that leverage can be regarded as a substitute for holding a larger amount of cash and marketable securities. The author argues that the negative relationship between financial leverage and corporate cash holdings reinforces the precautionary motive to have internal cash reserves rather than external debt to support capital and investment activities by firms in the MENA emerging markets.Practical implicationsThe results of this research provide important insights into cash and capital structure management for nonfinancial listed firms in the MENA emerging markets. Specifically, the paper will help managers to understand the dynamic financial leverage determinants of holding cash in corporations in the MENA emerging markets and encourage policymakers to financially determine the corporate capital structure and cash holdings based on cost and benefits. Managing the firm's capital structure and cash holdings based on trade-offs between costs and benefits would enhance operating cash flow which may play an important role in creating value for shareholders.Originality/valuePrior studies have commonly been concerned with the determinants of corporate cash holdings, but few have investigated the dynamic financial leverage determinants of corporate cash holdings. This paper draws attention to this issue within the context of MENA emerging markets. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study that explores the relationship between cash holdings and financial leverage in MENA emerging markets.

Corporate Cash Holding and Monetary Policy

Corporate cash holding behavior is important to understand firms in terms of management and decision-making, and the finance literature provides diverse views on the determinants of corporate cash holdings. In this study, we examine the cash holding decision from a macroeconomic perspective and investigate whether monetary policy affects firms’ cash holding decisions. Our analysis based on Turkish listed non-financial firms suggests that monetary policy has no effect on corporate cash holdings, contrary to recent empirical evidence. In this regard, the results infer that the relationship between monetary policy and cash holding decisions established before in the literature could not be generalizable.

Determinants of corporate cash holdings: An application of a robust variable selection technique

US firm cash holdings have become increasingly concentrated over time withering shareholder returns and heightening agency problems associated with free cash flows. We investigate the determinants of corporate cash holdings using a robust regression technique (the Least Absolute Deviation Regression, LAD) and a state-of-the-art variable selection procedure (The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator, LASSO). This framework identifies a sparse model which is also resistant to outliers. We obtain several results. First, the median absolute errors of the LAD-LASSOselected variables is significantly lower than the corresponding values of the basic determinants commonly used in the literature, in both in-sample and out-of-sample schemes. Second, financial leverage is a key determinant of cash holdings, indicating that cash and debt policies are tightly related (debt-cash substitutability). Third, none of the corporate governance proxies identified in the literature as a corporate cash holding determinant (managerial ownership, board independence, CEO duality, board size, and institutional ownership) is selected by the LAD-LASSO method, challenging the potency of governance mechanism in corporate cash management. Fourth, the financial crisis of 2008 dramatically changed the selected predictors for cash holdings as well as requiring additional predictors for the period, though their number was heavily curtailed after the period. Fifth, the money demand function is different between financially constrained and unconstrained firms, in both combination and number of influential variables. Finally, prediction error of the LAD-LASSO-based cash model is smaller than that of the principal components regression in both in-sample and out-ofsample prediction. Our findings are of importance to corporate cash managers, shareholders, monetary policy authorities, and scholars on the issues such as adjustment speed of cash holdings and valuation of excess cash reserves, which are based on the fitted values from the cash model.

Economic policy uncertainty and other determinants of corporate cash holdings of Australian energy companies

PurposeThis study aims to investigate a new determinant of corporate cash holdings of Australian energy firms: economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Based on two motives for holding cash: precautionary and speculative motives, the authors argue that EPU increases financing constraints or induces firms to postpone investment projects, thereby increasing their cash holdings. The authors examine whether the Australian policy-related economic uncertainty affects cash holdings of Australian energy companies.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a data set of Australian energy firms from 2010 to 2020 and the Australian EPU index, which measures the uncertainty in economic policy, using news coverage of eight major Australian newspapers. To address the potential endogeneity bias and ensure the robustness of the results, three models are used: ordinary least squares, fixed-effects and dynamic generalized method of moments.FindingsThe authors find that the EPU index has a significant and positive effect on cash holdings, after controlling for firm-specific factors. While firm size and dividend payments have mixed and insignificant effects, other determinants are significant, such as growth opportunities, net working capital, cash flow, cash flow risk, leverage and capital expenditure. The authors also find that the positive effect of EPU on cash holdings is not the manifestation of EPU affecting corporate investments but rather explained by financing constraints.Practical implicationsThe findings have implications for policymakers and regulators in Australia as the uncertainty of their economic policies plays an important role when Australian energy companies determine their cash holding level to manage liquidity risks.Originality/valueThis study is the first to document EPU index as the new determinant of corporate cash holdings of Australian energy companies. Firms in this sector have a great need of funding and liquidity for their operations and capital-intensive projects. High EPU index induces them to hold more cash to avoid liquidity shocks.

Does firm-level political risk affect cash holdings?

We investigate whether firm-level political risk affects corporate cash holdings. Taking a sample of 5424 US firms with 129,750 firm-quarter observations from 2002Q1 to 2021Q3, we find that cash holdings is higher for firms with greater exposure to firm-level political risk. The positive relationship between firm political risk and cash holdings is consistent for financial constraint and non-constraint firms, high and low growth firms, pro-cyclical and counter-cyclical and competitive industries. Further, our findings are consistent to alternative measures of firm-level political risk and cash holdings. In addition, our findings remain robust with different endogeneity tests: a natural experiment, an instrumental variable approach, and a propensity score matching. Overall, we present novel evidence on the determinants of corporate cash holdings.

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings in Hospitality Sector of United States of America: Using Two-Step System GMM

This study investigates the determinants of cash holding in the Hospitality sector in the USA for the period of 14 years from 2005-to 2018. The selection of 2005 as a base year was due to Thomson Reuter Data Stream registered with International Classification Benchmark (ICB). Determinants i.e. LVG, CF-V, and LQTY,have a positive impact, while SZE, CP-EXP, GR_OPP, CACF, A-INT, DDD, and SX have a negative impact on cash holding. Furthermore, model 2 shows a sub-sector where Restaurant and bar is taken as a reference year. Airlines companies retain excess for their operating activities while Hotel is found significant but prevail a negative coefficient. So, they may easily access to financial market easily. Unfortunately, other sub-sector, i-e, gambling, recreational activities, and tours and Travels, are found insignificant. The estimated sign prevails that there is no issue of auto correlation. While Ho of Hansen's test indicates that there is no issue of explanatory variable and error terms.

The determinants of corporate cash holdings: evidence from Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant corporations

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the difference between the determinants of cash holdings of Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms, for non-financial corporations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).Design/methodology/approachThe data include all non-financial firms listed in six GCC markets over a period 2005–2019. The IdealRatings database is used to identify Shariah-compliant firms in the GCC. To examine the determinants of cash holdings, a static model is used. To confirm the applicability of the method applied, the Breusch–Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM) and Hausman (1978) are used to choose the most efficient and consistent static panel regression.FindingsThe results show that, for Shariah-compliant firms, the relevant determinants of cash holdings are leverage, profitability, capital expenditure, net working capital and operating cash flow. For non-Shariah-compliant firms, the only relevant determinants of cash holdings are leverage, net working capital and operating cash flow. The findings suggest that the cash holding decisions of Shariah-compliant firms can be best explained using the pecking order theory. This reveals that Shariah-compliant firms use liquid assets as their first financing option, due to the Shariah regulations.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies may investigate the optimal levels of cash holdings and compare the adjustment speeds toward target cash holdings of both the Shariah-compliant firms and their conventional counterparts.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the difference between the determinants of cash holdings of Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms.

Determinants of corporate cash holdings: evidence from Vietnamese materials firms

This paper investigates factors affecting cash holdings of materials firms listed on Vietnamese stock exchanges. By analyzing data collected from 51 companies in a period of 7 years (from 2013-2019), using FGLS procedure based on fixed effect estimation, the study shows that leverage, profitability, cash conversion cycle, cash flows, and growth opportunities significantly affect the level of cash holdings of Vietnamese materials companies. This study adds more insights in the field of liquidity management in general and cash management in particular by determining factors influencing cash holdings. Outcomes from this research would help managers, investors, and consultants in making corporate governance decisions.

Internationalization and cash holdings before and after the 2008 financial crisis: an empirical investigation of Latin American firms

ABSTRACT This study investigates the determinants of corporate cash holdings for a sample of Latin American domestic and multinational corporations (MNCs) before and after the 2008 financial crisis. Our results show that MNCs have higher cash holdings than firms with only local operations. Before the financial crisis, there is no statistical difference in the cash holdings between the two groups. After the financial crisis, MNCs have higher cash holdings than domestic firms. The negative effect of political risk on cash holdings is less pronounced for MNCs. Internationalization appears to mitigate the impact of economic shocks in Latin American firms.

The impact of the global financial crisis on corporate cash holdings: Evidence from Eastern European countries

This study investigates the impact of the global financial crisis on the determinants of corporate cash holdings and adjustments towards target cash levels using a sample of Eastern European firms. Employing panel fixed effects and GMM estimations, the results reveal that firm-level determinants of cash holdings significantly differ for pre- and post-crisis periods. Moreover, we find significantly lower adjustment speed to attain the optimal cash level in the post-crisis period. Our results are robust to correction for endogeneity. These results hold important implications for Eastern European firms, which are significantly afflicted by the global financial crisis in terms of liquidity shortage and limited financial flexibility.

The Financial Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings: Does Sharia-Compliance Matter?

The Financial Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings: Does Sharia-Compliance Matter?

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings: Case of Agriculture Companies in Indonesia

Objective: Cash holdings are one of the fundamental financial decisions for the company. This study aims to examine the determinants of cash holdings in agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market. Methods: The population in this study was all agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market from 2012 to 2019. The sample was obtained through a purposive sampling method. Data analysis in this study used multiple regressions. Results: This study found that profitability, liquidity, and operating cash flow positively affect the cash holdings of agricultural companies in Indonesia. This study also finds that leverage, firm growth, and firm size have no effect on cash holdings in agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market. Originality/Relevance: This study emphasizes the importance of profitability, liquidity, and operating cash flow as factors that affect the company's cash holdings for agricultural companies in Indonesia. Theoretical/methodological contributions: The results of this study strengthen and complement the results of previous research on the factors that affect a company's cash holdings. Social/management contributions: The findings of this study are important as an effort to map the condition of cash holdings of agricultural companies in Indonesia. This study also advises managers of agricultural companies in Indonesia to increase the company's cash holdings to anticipate future business risks.

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings

Objective: Cash holdings are one of the fundamental financial decisions for the company. This study aims to examine the determinants of cash holdings in agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market. Methods: The population in this study was all agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market from 2012 to 2019. The sample was obtained through a purposive sampling method. Data analysis in this study used multiple regressions. Results: This study found that profitability, liquidity, and operating cash flow positively affect the cash holdings of agricultural companies in Indonesia. This study also finds that leverage, firm growth, and firm size have no effect on cash holdings in agricultural companies on the Indonesia Capital Market. Originality/Relevance: This study emphasizes the importance of profitability, liquidity, and operating cash flow as factors that affect the company's cash holdings for agricultural companies in Indonesia. Theoretical/methodological contributions: The results of this study strengthen and complement the results of previous research on the factors that affect a company's cash holdings. Social/management contributions: The findings of this study are important as an effort to map the condition of cash holdings of agricultural companies in Indonesia. This study also advises managers of agricultural companies in Indonesia to increase the company's cash holdings to anticipate future business risks.

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings in Textile Sector of Pakistan

This study analyzes the impact of tools used for cash holding in the textile sector of Pakistan for the period of 14 years (2005-2018). The tools consist of firm dimension, influence, capital expenditure, expansion opportunity, liquidity, cash stream and cash stream instability and extra expenditure. Unbalanced dynamic panel data is engaged for empirical estimation. For estimation of consistent result active panel information i-e Two-step scheme widespread process of moments is used. System generalized method of moments (GMM) design estimation reveals that compact dimension control, capital expenses, cash stream, cash stream instability and extra dummy affect cash holdings positively while liquidity and growth opportunities affect cash holdings negatively. Lagged cash is used as an instrumental variable and its positive implication (coefficient) reveal that the prior year reserve of cash have a significant impact on the current year and, suggesting these companies have a target level of cash. The academic implication indicates that larger companies in the textile sector retain more cash and easy access to diversify and advance sophisticated technology projects and furthermore will compete in the open market economy.

Determinants of corporate cash holdings: Evidence from the Moroccan market

Determining cash holdings is amongst the most important financial decisions made by heads of corporations. This decision relies on theoretical convictions and views as well as firm specific characteristics. This article analyzes the determinants of cash management in Moroccan corporations. By mobilizing all the theories of optimal financial structure, our research attempts to focus on the field of knowledge in the financial management of cash surpluses. No analysis has been carried out concerning cash and cash equivalents in Moroccan firms. These results could, therefore, contextualize the existing knowledge in this research theme and better understand the behavior of companies and their main trends in terms of cash flow, as well as the objectives and motivations of managers. The sample studied consists of 42 Moroccan companies, which are all publicly traded on the Casablanca Stock Exchange over 13 years (2007-2019). This research uses an empirical econometric study based on a positivist approach with a hypothetical-deductive method. We use panel regression analysis and perform all the necessary tests to determine the exact nature of this dataset. Our results show some evidence that a strong positive correlation exists between liquidity level and cash-flow as well as family shareholding. It is also found that the cash holdings of these companies are significantly negatively affected by how large or small the firm is, working capital requirement, debt leverage, as well as growth opportunity of the firm.

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings Among Asia's Emerging and Frontier Markets: Empirical Evidence from Non-Financial Sector

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings Among Asia's Emerging and Frontier Markets: Empirical Evidence from Non-Financial Sector

Corporate life cycle and cash holding decisions: A South African study

The resource-based view theory suggests that as firms’ resource bases differ along the corporate life cycle, even corporate policies such as cash holdings vary along the life cycle. This study seeks to understand the effect of firm’s life cycle on corporate cash holding behavior. Previous literature has sought to investigate the firm and institutional determinants of corporate cash holdings. Using the resource-based view theory, this study investigates whether corporate life cycle can be another determinant of corporate cash holdings. A panel data analysis of a sample of 112 Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed firms from 2011 to 2018 is utilized to determine if firm’s life cycle does influence cash holding behavior. Dickinson’s cash flow analysis is used to proxy life cycle stages and control other known determinants of corporate cash holdings such as firm size, leverage, profitability, dividend payments, and growth opportunities. Contrary to other studies, this study finds no significant relationship between life cycle stages and corporate cash holdings, suggesting that corporate cash holdings for South African firms are driven by other factors other than life cycle resource allocations. However, it is found that prior year cash balances, firm size, and profitability have significant positive relationships with cash holdings. It is also found that liquid asset substitutes, leverage, and investment opportunities exert a significant and negative influence on corporate cash holdings.

Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings in Hospitality Sector of France, Spain and United States of America

This study determines the effect of parameters used for cash holding in hospitality sector (HS) of target countries i-e France, Spain and United State of America for the period of 14 years (2005-2018). The parameters consist of firm size, leverage, capital expenditure, growth opportunity, liquidity, cash flow, cash flow volatility, asset intangibility, dividend payments and stock exchange. Dynamic panel data is employed for empirical estimation i-e Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). System GMM model estimation reveals that leverage, cash flow volatility and asset intangibility influence cash holdings positively while size, capital expenditure, growth opportunities and cash flow affect cash holdings negatively.

Employee performance and corporate cash holdings

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effect employee performance has on subsequent corporate cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilize panel data estimation, including an instrumental variable approach, to identify the relation between employee performance and subsequent corporate cash holdings. These panel data consist of 11,087 firm-year observations over the period 1992 to 2015.FindingsThe authors document a positive and statistically significant relation between firm employee performance and subsequent cash balances. A one standard deviation increase in employee performance is associated with an increase in cash holdings ranging from 1 to 2 percent. The findings support the view that firms seek to accommodate the preferences of better performing employees, thereby requiring greater levels of cash. This positive relation is most evident among firms with low bond ratings and firms with low managerial ability – characteristics that are indicative of a firm's ability to access capital markets.Originality/valueBetter corporate governance of the firm is commonly associated with lower levels of cash. The findings of this paper, however, suggest that holding greater levels of cash may be a consequence of corporate efforts to accommodate the needs of their employees. The predictive content of employee performance is orthogonal to existing determinants of corporate cash holdings shown in the literature. Furthermore, this paper shows the potential for firm cash balances to be an alternative and transparent measure that signals better employee performance and more socially responsible firm behavior.