Firm Cash Research Articles

Non-arm's-length transactions, offshore financial centres, transfer pricing agreements and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from U.S. multinational corporations

This paper examines the association between non-arm's-length transactions, the existence of offshore financial centres, the existence of a transfer pricing agreement and corporate cash holdings for a large sample of U.S. multinational corporations over the 2006–2020 period. This study provides evidence that the existence of non-arm's-length transactions and of offshore financial centres increased the level of corporate cash holdings. In contrast, the existence of a transfer pricing agreement reduces the level of firm cash holdings. Overall, these results suggest that development of transfer pricing agreements with taxing authorities reduces multinational corporations' incentives and capacity to shift profits from higher- to lower-tax countries. These results remain robust to alternative specifications of cash holdings and endogeneity tests.

Time-varying firm cash holding and economic policy uncertainty nexus: a quantile regression approach

Time-varying firm cash holding and economic policy uncertainty nexus: a quantile regression approach

Affiliated guarantee risk control and firm cash holdings: Evidence from China

As an inseparable part of a company's business risk, the ability to reduce the impact of affiliated guarantee risk on business decisions has become a topic of great concern to governments. This paper focuses on the “Circular on Enhancing Risk Prevention and Mitigation of Loans from Corporate Guarantee Circles” (ERPML) and explores its impact on affiliated guarantee risk control and firms' cash holdings. The findings suggest that affiliated guarantee risk control increases firms' cash holdings, a conclusion supported by robustness tests. This increase is primarily driven by preventive motives and the reduction of shareholders' agency costs. The heterogeneity test indicates that the influence of affiliated guarantee risk control is more pronounced in nonstate-owned firms and firms with low institutional shareholding, low debt financing and low financialization. Finally, the economic results suggest that affiliated guarantee risk control helps reduce firms' business risks and improve their performance. Overall, this paper provides empirical evidence of the positive economic consequences of strengthening the regulation of associated guarantee risk.

Do board networks matter for corporate cash holdings? Evidence from Australian firms

PurposeIn today’s interconnected world, social capital has emerged as a crucial business competence, drawing significant attention in recent literature. Using social network analysis, this study aims to investigate the impact of network centrality, established by a firm through its board members (i.e. boardroom networks), on corporate cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses extensive panel data comprising 36,963 firm-year observations of firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, spanning a 22-year period (2001–2022). The study uses firm fixed-effect regression along with several alternative specifications and an instrumental variable approach to ensure the robustness of the results. Boardroom network centrality is quantified by five measures that capture different perspectives on networks as viable conduits for resource exchange and information flow: degree, two-step reach, closeness, eigenvector and betweenness.FindingsThe authors find evidence for the benefits of board networks. Firms with well-connected boards (central firms) are more likely to have smaller cash holdings. The findings also reveal distinct effects stemming from local and global properties of centrality, with local network measures playing a more pronounced role in shaping cash-holding decisions. Overall, the evidence reflects the ability of connected directors to enhance governance by limiting managerial discretion over cash reserves, thus reducing agency conflicts associated with cash holdings.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers important insights for regulators, investors and practitioners, highlighting the potential for connected directors to effectively curtail managerial autonomy in deploying corporate cash holdings.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the ongoing discussion about the advantages and drawbacks of board networks, which constitute a vibrant and burgeoning area of research in the finance literature. It also complements scanty network-based studies on firm cash holdings. Importantly, this study extends prior work by providing robust evidence and a comprehensive analysis of the nuanced roles that board networks play in affecting the level of cash reserves.

Debt dispersion and corporate liquidity

AbstractCash holdings are significantly lower for firms with dispersed debt maturity, and this finding is robust to entropy balancing and allowing for the simultaneous selection of dispersion and cash holdings. The relation is strongest for firms with shorter debt maturity and firms that rely on precautionary cash, such as financially constrained firms and firms with volatile cash flows. Markets place a lower value on the cash of firms with high or increasing dispersion, and these firms retain less cash. Collectively, the evidence implies that firms can hedge rollover risk with dispersed debt maturity as an alternative to holding costly cash.

Economic uncertainty and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from Taiwan

We utilize data from publicly listed firms and unlisted entities in Taiwan spanning the period from 1990 to 2020 to investigate the impact of global, Asia-Pacific, China, or Taiwan’s economic uncertainty on firm cash reserves within a small open economy. Our empirical findings indicate that, as economic uncertainty increases, Taiwanese firms demonstrate a tendency to increase their cash holdings, particularly those reliant on exports. Smaller and unlisted export-oriented firms encounter greater challenges in fund management, thereby leading to an augmentation in their cash reserves. Conversely, enterprises primarily focused on domestic sales exhibit a diminished response to uncertainty, with the exception of smaller listed companies that marginally raise their cash holdings. These results illuminate the influence of financing constraints, export reliance, and various uncertainties on decisions pertaining to cash holdings. Furthermore, the study underscores the dependence of Taiwanese firms on trade and emphasizes the impact of external economic uncertainty on their decision-making process.

Digital Technologies, Investor Sentiment, Limits to Arbitrage and Value of Firm Cash Holdings in China's A Stock Market is Good

Cash is a firm’s most liquid asset and this asset can add firm value by mitigating firm financial constraints, reducing debt default risk and opportunity costs. But the positive and negative asset pricing effect of cash holdings are related to digital technologies, sustainable performance and investors’ sentiment and limits to arbitrage. The paper finds the digital technologies and sustainable performance, both are negatively associated with the value of cash holding. The current study also scrutinized that firm’s cash holding value appears to be positive in China’s A stock market, and this asset pricing effect is more significant in periods when investor sentiment is high and in firms confronting high level of limits to arbitrage. This research provides evidences on the asset pricing effect of firm cash holdings and on how inefficient capital market affects this asset pricing effect. The findings of this research are useful for firms) improving cash management and have implications for supervising department to improve stock market efficiency.

Do paid maternity leave mandates affect corporate cash holdings?

This study examines whether paid maternity leave laws affect corporate cash holdings. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find the staggered introduction of these laws significantly reduce firm cash reserves, especially in labor-intensive industries. Further analysis indicates that increased employee productivity post-adoption associates with declining cash holdings, representing a channel linking these laws to precautionary savings motives.

The Effect of Climate Risk on Firm Cash Holdings: Evidence from the Euro Area

The Effect of Climate Risk on Firm Cash Holdings: Evidence from the Euro Area

Cash Brilliance: Exploring Pakistan's Business Landscape through the Lens of Competitors' Dynamics

This study analyzed the impact of competitors’ factors on firm cash holding policy. Information related to competitors’ activities is necessary for most corporate strategies, but in most financial researches, factors related to competitors are not considered. This study aims at shedding light on the empirical effect of competitors’ specific characteristics in firm’s cash stockpiling decisions. For this purpose, the competitors’ factors were explained by these eight specific explanatory variables that determine the competitors’ specific characteristics such as (NWC, ROA, LEVER, SIZE, DEFA, CAPEX, MTB, and Z-SCORE) and firm cash holding as dependent variable. The target population of the study was Pakistan stock exchange listed manufacturing firms and the sample consists of 40 firms in the spinning textile sector for the 10 years data from 2009- 2018. The data was gathered from the financial statements of companies. Two main sites were used for collecting annual statements of companies the first was PSX (Pakistan Stock Exchange) and the second was companies’ own website. The study used the panel regression model with random effects, after conforming the significance of Hausman Specification Test (1978). The finding of this study was that the company cash holding policy significantly affected by the competitors’ factors. This study revealed that the company can make their cash holding decisions in the light of their competitors’ behaviors. The results offer stimulating insights at the competitors’ factors that compute the firm cash stockpiling decisions. The results might be beneficial for the financial manager, investor and also for the consultant.

The impacts of economic policy uncertainty on firm cash holding in China.

Cash holding is an important strategic decision of enterprises. As a macro-level factor, economic policy uncertainty causes risks, affecting enterprises' cash holdings. Taking the quarterly financial data of China's A-share non-financial listed firms for 2010-2020 as a sample, this study adopts the OLS and fixed effect models to investigate how corporate cash holdings are affected by economic policy uncertainty. The findings indicate that economic policy uncertainty is directly proportional to the level of cash that listed corporations hold. The higher the uncertainty, the more cash the company holds. Among them, state-owned enterprises and the manufacturing industry are more significantly affected by economic policy uncertainty. Finally, considering the regional marketization level and the differences in financing constraints enterprises face, it is concluded through grouping empirical studies that enterprises located in regions with lower marketization levels are more susceptible to policy uncertainty, while financially constrained enterprises are more susceptible to economic policy uncertainty. The study of economic policy uncertainty is helpful to guide enterprises to realize the importance of coping strategies in advance under the background of intensifying economic policy uncertainty. Therefore, this paper proposes to introduce policies on the premise of fully considering the smoothness of the economy and the differences in the conditions of firms of different natures, as well as some proposals to alleviate financing constraints, reduce the adverse effects of uncertainty on firms, and bolster the marketization process.

Socioemotional wealth and cash flow sensitivity of cash: Evidence from India

This paper examines the controlling shareholders’ propensity to increase Cash flow sensitivity of cash in Indian firms. We hypothesize that the controlling shareholders’ tendency to preserve the socioemotional wealth increases cash flow sensitivity of cash in the Indian firms. Using a sample of Indian firms during 2001–2019, we find that controlling shareholders increase the cash flow sensitivity of cash. Controlling shareholders increase cash flow sensitivity of cash to avoid accessing any form of external capital that may threaten the dispersion of their socio-emotional wealth or increase oversight. We further find that this relationship is stronger in the non-business group affiliates. We observe that the socioemotional wealth of the controlling shareholders takes precedence even in the presence of access to lower cost of capital. Preliminary analyses also observe the means through which controlling shareholders preserve wealth in Indian firms. The results are robust to alternate measures of socioemotional wealth of the controlling shareholders and endogeneity concerns.

Emissions trading scheme participation and firms’ cash holdings

This study investigates the effect of participating in an emissions trading scheme (ETS) on firms' future cash holdings. Using global firm-level data from different continents, our findings show that, notwithstanding the benefits of ETS, its membership has a significant impact on firms' cash holding. Additionally, we document that bankruptcy risk, firm growth potential, corporation tax, and financial constraints mitigate the impact of ETS on corporate cash holdings. Furthermore, we find that the country of operations, continent, and legal origin of the domiciled firm influence the association between ETS and firm cash holdings level. The results are robust to difference in differences (DiD) estimation and a variety of econometric specifications.

Working Capital Management and Profitability of Listed Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria

Working capital is the capital needed by a business to finance the day-to-day operations of the business. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of working capital management and profitability of listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the cost trade-off theory. The methodology adopted in the study was an ex-post facto research design. The population of the study consist of ten industrial goods companies in Nigeria. Secondary data from ten listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria's stock exchange for the period of ten years (2012-2021) was obtained based on a convenient sampling method. The statistical tools used were multiple regression analysis and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient aided by SPSS version 22.0. The founding showed a negative significant impact between Inventory, Trade Receivable and Net Profit Margin as well as Return on Asset. Whereas a significant positive impact was observed between the cash conversion cycle and net profit margin as well as return on asset. The study concluded a significant impact on working capital management and profitability of listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria. The study recommends that the credit policy of the companies should be structured in such a way as to improve cash flow thereby reducing the firm cash conversion cycle. Also, professionals should be hired where necessary to ensure efficient management of working capital components to increase profitability.

From low resource slack to inflexibility: The share price effect of operational efficiency

This study examines the relationship between operational efficiency (OE) and stock price crash risk (SPCR). While high OE is arguably associated with better firm performance, it also increases vulnerability to disruptions and exposure to SPCR. Using a sample of US firms from 1997 to 2018, the study finds a positive relationship between OE and SPCR; additional results suggest that firm cash flow volatility serves as the channel through which this relationship is mediated. The study also finds evidence that high-OE firms tend to suppress bad news from investors, which exposes them to SPCR. Furthermore, the study shows that the positive relationship between OE and SPCR beyond the optimal level hurts firm value, highlighting the importance of balancing efficiency improvement efforts with business risk management. The results of this study have implications for managers and owners seeking to mitigate tail risk in firm investment decisions, and underscore the importance of maintaining business flexibility in the pursuit of efficiency.

Does CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit matter in firm cash holdings?

ABSTRACT The psychological factors of senior executives have an important impact on the firm’s financial policies. In this paper, we investigate the association between CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit and firm cash holdings, and find that firms with higher CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit have less cash holdings. Further, we find that financing constraints can mitigate the negative association between CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit and firm cash holdings, whereas financing needs enhances the association between them. Mechanism test illustrates that CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit affects firm cash holdings through corporate investment. Finally, the results reveal that CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit not only promotes the value of cash holdings, but also is significantly positively associated with both accounting performance and market performance. Our findings shed lights on the impact of executive psychological factors on financial decisions and have important implications for cash-holding decisions of listed firms.

I Want to Marry Rich: Why Cash Makes You a Desirable Partner

AbstractBoth academics and practitioners frequently argue that ‘excessive’ firm cash reserves are likely to be squandered and thus may actually be detrimental to firm performance. Contrary to this narrative, we show that large cash reserves can have strong benefits for firms. Specifically, being cash‐rich helps firms form more strategic partnerships because cash helps assure potential partners that the focal firm will be able to adapt to unfolding contingencies. This assurance is particularly relevant in industry conditions that make disruptions either more likely or more costly. We explain how such disruptions arise due to uncertainty about partners' behaviours and thereby extend the literature in the area of transaction cost economics by shifting the focus from intentional opportunism to encompass unintentional factors that can impede a firm's ability to honour partnership agreements. This shift highlights a beneficial role of excess cash that is often overshadowed by the popular narrative on its wastefulness.

Economic policy uncertainty and corporate leverage - does cash holdings matter? Evidence from the U.S.

This research study examines the mediating role of cash holdings between the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and corporate leverage relationship. Using stepwise regression analysis and annual firm-level data of 2,534 U.S. firms listed at NYSE over 1995–2018, we provide novel evidence that cash holdings significantly and partially mediate the EPU-leverage relationship, accounting for a 10.72% increase in the corporate leverage during EPU. We discover that the mediating role of cash holdings between EPU and leverage is sensitive to firm-level heterogeneity. Also, the mediating effect of cash holdings remains significant based on long- and short-term leverage. Finally, our findings are robust to outliers’ effect, alternate EPU measurement, endogeneity concerns and sample-selection bias. The findings of this study highlighted the role of firm cash holdings in a firm’s leverage decision during economic uncertainty and recommends increasing debt financing to incentivize value-increasing decisions and mitigate agency problems by reducing the cost of free cash flows. Policymakers should be aware of public and private firms’ challenges during high EPU. As we showed in this study, firms have to adjust their financial decisions during high economic uncertainty. Also, the study suggests that policymakers should maintain economic policies to avoid external shocks that may force firms to adjust their financial decision-making.

International trade friction and firm cash holdings

In 2017, the United States launched a "301″ investigation, imposed a series of additional tariffs on China, which led to the US-China trade war. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the trade war on firms' cash holdings in the context of China. Our results indicate that the trade frictions have significantly increased cash holdings of manufacturing firms. This effect arises mainly through the channel if increased trade policy uncertainty. Our findings offer direct evidence and guidance for both firm strategy and policymakers in the important trade friction.

The influence of cash flow volatility on firm use of debt of different maturities or zero-debt: International evidence

The empirical international literature on the relationship between firm cash flow volatility and debt maturity and zero-debt policy provides contradictory evidence. Using a large international sample, we find that cash flow volatility is positively associated with our measure of debt maturity at less than the 1% level of significance. Relative to unconditional means of debt maturity, a one standard deviation increase in cash flow volatility implies a 2.57% decrease in the probability of firms using long-term debt, a 5.83% increase in the probability of firms using only short-term debt and an 11.8% increase in the probability of firms using zero-debt. Overall, our results support the screening and the trade-off theories that firms with high cash flow volatility are screened out of the long-term debt market.