Capital Structure and Firm Efficiency

Abstract:  This paper investigates the relationship between firm efficiency and leverage. We consider both the effect of leverage on firm performance as well as the reverse causality relationship. In particular, we address the following questions: Does higher leverage lead to better firm performance? Does efficiency exert a significant effect on leverage over and above that of traditional financial measures of capital structure? Is the effect of efficiency on leverage similar across different capital structures? What is the signalling role of efficiency to creditors or investors? Using a sample of 12,240 New Zealand firms we find evidence supporting the theoretical predictions of the Jensen and Meckling (1976) agency cost model. Efficiency measured as the distance from the industry's 'best practice' production frontier is positively related to leverage over the entire range of observed data. The frontier is constructed using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Using quantile regression analysis we show that the reverse causality effect of efficiency on leverage is positive at low to mid-leverage levels and negative at high leverage ratios. Firm size also has a non-monotonic effect on leverage: negative at low debt ratios and positive at mid to high debt ratios. The effect of tangibles and profitability on leverage is positive while intangibles and other assets are negatively related to leverage.     

会计师事务所激励机制创新探析

人力资本是会计师事务所的核心竞争要素,对人的激励是否恰当直接关系到事务所产品--审计报告的质量,以及事务所的长远发展.事务所的人力资本极具特殊性,因此事务所激励机制应采用分层原则,从动因差异、激励手段组合以及绩效评价三方面进行创新,并注重对注册会计师精神激励和价值观念的融合.     

Marketable Incentive Contracts and Capital Structure Relevance

This article investigates the claim that debt finance can increase firm value by curtailing managers' access to “free cash flow.” We first show that incentive contracts that tie the managers' pay to stockholder wealth are often a superior solution to the free cash flow problem. We then consider the possibility that the manager can trade on secondary capital markets. Liquid secondary markets are shown to undermine management incentive schemes and, in many cases, to restore the value of debt finance in controlling the free cash flow problem.     

Access to Capital, Capital Structure, and the Funding of the Firm

Based upon a large data set of public and private firms in the United Kingdom, I find that compared to their public counterparts, private firms rely almost exclusively on debt financing, have higher leverage ratios, and tend to avoid external capital markets, leading to a greater sensitivity of their capital structures to fluctuations in performance. I argue that these differences are due to private equity being more costly than public equity. I further examine the private firms subsample to show that private equity is more costly than its public counterpart due to information asymmetry and the desire to maintain control.     

Small Firm Capital Structure and the Syndicated Loan Market

We show that small firms using syndicated loans for their mid- and long-term financial needs have significantly higher leverage than firms that do not borrow in this market. This difference cannot be attributed to firm characteristics like the availability of growth opportunities, asset tangibility, R&D spending, profitability and net sales that are known to influence capital structure. We also find that the capital structure of other firms that borrow in the syndicated loan market is not different from those that do not. We show that already highly leveraged small firms are more likely to borrow in the syndicated loan market than other firms. The higher debt in the capital structure of small firms that rely on syndicated loans consequently can be attributed to the availability of capital rather than demand for capital, as shown more generally by Faulkender and Petersen (Rev Financ Stud 19(1):45?C79, 2006).     

高管股权激励与资本结构动态调整

研究高管股权激励对资本结构动态调整的影响,对优化公司资本结构、完善高管收入分配制度、提高公司业绩水平具有重要意义。本文利用2003-2013年我国A股上市公司的动态面板数据,研究了高管股权激励对资本结构动态调整的影响。结果发现,高管股权激励强度与资本结构调整速度显著正相关;且当资本结构向下调整时,股权激励对资本结构动态调整速度的促进作用会更大。基于制度因素的进一步分析表明,相比国有企业,股权激励对资本结构调整速度的影响在非国有企业中更加显著;而2006年股权分置改革后,股权激励对资本结构调整速度的影响也更得到进一步强化。本文的研究不仅丰富了我国特殊经济制度背景下公司资本结构动态调整理论,也为公司制定有效的激励契约提供了理论依据。     

Capital Structure,Corporate Taxation and Firm Age*

This paper analyses the relationship between corporate taxation, firm age and debt. We adapt a standard model of capital structure choice under corporate taxation, focusing on the financing and investment decisions typically faced by a firm. Our model suggests that the debt ratio is associated positively with the corporate tax rate and negatively with firm age. Further, we predict that the tax-induced advantage of debt is more important for older firms than for younger ones. To test these hypotheses empirically, we use a cross-section of around 405,000 firms from 35 European countries and 127 NACE three-digit industries. In line with previous research, we find that a firm's debt ratio increases with the corporate tax rate. Further, we observe that older firms exhibit smaller debt ratios than their younger counterparts. Finally, consistent with our theoretical model, we find a positive interaction between corporate taxation and firm age, indicating that the impact of corporate taxation on debt increases over a firm's lifetime.     

Disentangling Sentiment from Cyclicality in Firm Capital Structure

This study examines the relationship between capital structure choices and investor and managerial sentiment, finding that periods of positive sentiment are associated with reduced leverage within firms. We focus on the cyclicality of leverage using non-orthogonalized sentiment indices and find a strong negative relationship. Leverage, therefore, appears countercyclical, implying that the decision to take on debt is a consequence of either Admati et al.'s (2018) ratchet effect or a managerial attempt to time the market. Our findings lead us to question some fundamental capital structure theories, namely, trade-off (Kraus and Litzenberger, 1973), and Hackbarth's (2008) managerial traits theory. Instead, we favour the idea that leverage is a consequence of countercyclical market timing behaviour.     

Market Structure,Internal Capital Markets,and the Boundaries of the Firm

We study how the creation of an internal capital market (ICM) can invite strategic responses in product markets that, in turn, shape firm boundaries. ICMs provide ex post resource flexibility, but come with ex ante commitment costs. Alternatively, stand‐alones possess commitment ability but lack flexibility. By creating flexibility, integration can sometimes deter a rival's entry, but commitment problems can also invite predatory capital raising. These forces drive different organizational equilibria depending on the integrator's relation to the product market. Hybrid organizational forms like strategic alliances can sometimes dominate integration by offering some of its benefits with fewer strategic costs.     

会计师事务所人力资本与薪资对其经营绩效之影响

知识经济时代,人力资本与薪酬诱因设计是影响会计师事务所经营绩效的关键因素。人力资本与薪酬诱因设计是否随着会计师事务所经营环境竞争日益激烈,而更有助于经营绩效的提高,目前仍缺乏相关证据。有鉴于此,本研究采用2004至2007年「会计师事务所服务业调查报告」之普查资料,探讨会计师事务所人力资本、薪资与经营绩效三者间之关联性。实证发现:实证结果显示,会计师事务所人力资本越高,则薪资水平越高;会计师事务所薪资水平越高,则经营绩效越好;会计师事务所人力资本越高,则经营绩效越好;员工薪资在人力资本与经营绩效间之间扮演着中介之角色。在审计市场环境日益艰困情况下,研究结果可提供会计师事务所的经营者在决策时一个有用之参考。     

资本会计论与要素复合观

资本实体的价值由资产、负债、收益和费用四大要素构成 ,这种复合观念为资本的核算与监控提供了新的概念框架 ,揭示了会计对象构成的整体性和层次性 ,也指出了资本信息相对于其他会计信息的优先性     

我国上市公司资本结构与企业价值研究

资本结构与企业价值关系的理论既有净收入法、净营业收入法又有MM定理所述的无关论的观点。通过实证研究的方法，选取我国上市公司中的“综合”行业为研究对象，对MM定理之命题1进行的检验结果认为，资本结构与企业价值之间没有关系。究其原因，一方面在于资本结构的科学决策问题并没有得到上市公司的重视；另一方面在于市场的理性投资选择不够。     

Capital Allowances and the Incentive to Invest

In recent years many organisations have moved towards a total quality management (TQM) path in their quest for quality. Accounting researchers have become interested in understanding how accounting systems are implicated within a TQM environment. This paper reports on a case study of TQM adoption and changes in management accounting systems (MAS) within a New Zealand construction company. It evaluates organizational approaches to implement TQM as a strategic option and the subsequent change in MAS. The paper suggests that an organisation may initiate TQM practices to promote ‘institutional’ and ‘quality’ culture rather than for purely technical reasons. It also suggests that when an organisation adopts new management practices such as TQM, it may lead to changes in the organisation's internal control mechanisms, such as management accounting and reporting processes.     

The Impact of Capital Structure Change on Firm Value: Some Estimates

This study develops a model based on current corporate finance theories which explains stock returns associated with the announcement of issuer exchange offers. The major independent variables are changes in leverage multiplied by senior security claims outstanding and changes in debt tax shields. Parameter estimates are statistically significant and consistent in sign and relative magnitude with model predictions. Overall, 55 percent of the variance in stock announcement period returns is explained. The evidence is consistent with tax-based theories of optimal capital structure, a positive debt level information effect, and leverage-induced wealth transfers across security classes.     

Accounting Practice Harmony, Accounting Regulation and Firm Characteristics

Harmonization of accounting standards has been the subject of many initiatives taken at international, regional and national levels in recent years. Policy makers advancing this idea believe that accounting regulation harmony will lead to practice harmony. The literature in the area of accounting harmonization also generally relies on a similar belief.
Comparing accounting regulations and accounting practices of two countries that are pursuing a program of harmonization, Australia and New Zealand, revealed some association between the levels of regulation harmony and practice harmony. Although this indicates that regulatory harmony can improve practice harmony, the association is 'noisy', suggesting that there are also other factors affecting practice harmony. Evidence adduced here shows that accounting practice harmony is also associated with firm-specific characteristics.     

Firm Internationalization and Capital Structure in Developing Countries: The Role of Financial Development

We investigate the relationship between internationalization and the level of debt financing for more than 18,000 firm/year observations from thirty-one developing countries in the period 1991-2006. We argue that this relationship can be affected by both country-level and firm-level factors. The results show that in developing countries with relatively higher financial development, firm internationalization corresponds with a greater level of debt when firms have more growth opportunities (which also indicate a higher level of asymmetric information). This evidence suggests that relatively developed financial markets in developing countries at least partially mitigate the effect of asymmetric information and decrease the agency cost of debt for firms with higher levels of internationalization.     

Capital Structure and Corporate Control: The Effect of Antitakeover Statutes on Firm Leverage

We find that firms protected by second generation state antitakeover laws substantially reduce their use of debt, and that unprotected firms do the reverse. This result supports recent models in which the threat of hostile takeover motivates managers to take on debt they would otherwise avoid. An implication is that legal barriers to takeovers may increase corporate slack.     

CEO任期与企业资本投资

本文基于管理者在一定约束条件下追求自身利益最大化的逻辑思路,分析管理者任期与企业资本投资之间的关系,重点检验我国上市公司CEO的既有任期和预期任期对企业投资水平和投资效率的影响。研究结果发现,在管理者任期与投资水平的关系上,国有企业与非国有企业表现一致:CEO的既有任期越长,企业的投资水平越高;CEO的预期任期越短,企业的投资水平越低。在管理者任期与投资效率的关系上,国有企业与非国有企业表现不同:非国有企业的过度投资程度与CEO的既有任期及预期任期无关,而国有企业CEO的既有任期越长,过度投资问题越严重;CEO的预期任期越短,过度投资问题越能得到缓解。     

中国资本结构实证研究方法的思考

本文利用实证研究文献作为数据,对中国资本结构实证研究成果,站在技术方法的角度进行回顾和思考。我国有关资本结构的实证文献按研究主题可以分为三个领域：①资本结构基本理论研究；②资本结构经济效果研究；③资本结构影响因素研究。针对每个领域分别从研究方法,即解释变量和被解释变量的定义和计量、样本的选取、模型的选择、估计和假设检验等方面进行了统计分析,为会计研究人员在研究方法选择上提供借鉴。