A bright side of financial constraints in cash management

This paper tests whether financial constraints play a disciplinary role in cash dissipation in the presence of agency problems. We hypothesize that when firms have difficulty raising external funds, empire-building managers of cash-rich firms will be less likely to spend cash on negative NPV projects as compared to unconstrained managers. Empirically, we examine firm performance after cash dissipation and associate it with the degree of financial constraints. We find that cash spending by managers in financially constrained firms is associated with higher future profitability and stock returns compared to cash spending by managers in unconstrained firms. Further tests reveal that the positive effect of financial constraints on firm performance is not driven by differences in corporate governance. Financial constraints actually substitute for good governance in disciplining managers. We find that corporate governance improves the efficiency of cash dissipation in unconstrained firms, but not in constrained firms. Likewise, financial constraints' disciplinary effect is found to be concentrated in firms that are poorly governed.     

人力资源管理会计:人力资本与财务资本相结合的理论框架

进入知识经济时代,人力资源与人力资本的重要性凸现,奠基于工业经济时代的会计理论与方法体系将面临严重的挑战.人力资源管理会计突破了以往会计学只研究"物尽其用"的局限,把"物尽其用"置于"人尽其才"的基础上,有助于重构一个与知识经济时代相适应、以人力资本为主导并与财务资本相结合的会计理论与方法体系.     

The financial performance, capital constraints and information environment of cross-listed firms: Evidence from Mexico

This study provides evidence that Mexican firms that choose to trade in the United States as exchange-listed American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) have significantly weaker ex-post (subsequent to cross-listing) financial performances than Mexican firms that are eligible to list in the United States but choose not to do so. Our study is related to the generalizabililty of two streams of international research: global equity offerings studies (e.g., ( [Errunza & Miller, 2003] and [Foerster & Karolyi, 2000]) [Errunza, V. & Miller, D. 2003 Valuation effects of seasoned global equity offerings. Journal of Banking and Finance (September), 1611-1631; Foerster, S. & Karolyi, G., 2000. The Long-run performance of global equity offerings. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (December), 499-527]), based on large, multi-country samples, which show that ADR firms substantially underperform local-market benchmark company returns in years following issuance and accounting characteristics of ADR firms research (e.g., (Lang, Raedy, & Yetman, 2003) [Lang, M., Raedy, J. Smith, & Yetman, M. (2003). How representative are firms that are cross-listed in the United States? An analysis of accounting quality. Journal of Accounting Research]), which employ a multi-country sample and conclude that ADR firms are less aggressive in terms of earnings management and that they report accounting data that are more strongly associated with share prices. The cited studies above use relatively large samples, which are usually considered to be advantageous, but such studies tend to mask individual country differences in market efficiency, legal protections for shareholders, disclosure environment, and shareholder-class features that make generalizations tenuous.We show that cross-listed (ADR) Mexican firms, on average, are smaller, more highly levered, and less profitable than non-cross-listed (NCL) firms. Further, logistic regression models for classifying various ADR and NCL groupings of firms, using financial variables and other firm characteristics, are highly significant. While supplemental tests of earnings quality suggest that NCL firms exhibit nominally smoother earnings, that evidence is not sufficient to explain the stronger financial performance reported for those firms relative to ADR firms. Finally, our tests of value relevance, using book value and earnings to explain price, show significantly higher explanatory power for the ADR firms and generally non-significant explanatory power for the NCL firms. The value-relevance results may indicate that investors in Mexican ADR firms benefit from U.S. regulation and that reported market inefficiency in Mexico may result in low demand for financial statements of NCL firms.This study has the advantage of focusing on a single, emerging-market economy (Mexico, the United State's second-largest trade partner) in contrast to most previous ADR research that uses multi-country samples dominated by developed-market countries. It is also one of the first ADR studies to deal with selection-bias issues by comparing ADR and NCL firms. To gain these advantages, however, we must conduct tests on and draw conclusions from a relatively small sample.     

Corporate acquisitions and financial constraints

Using a large sample of US acquisitions made between 1985 and 2013, we study the effect of financial constraints on acquisition gains and acquisition likelihood. Our findings show that financial constraints of target companies significantly increase acquisition premiums and abnormal returns for both parties. Our results further show that the presence of financial constraints in the target is one of the most important determinants of a takeover bid. This supports the idea that acquisitions may improve the ability of financially constrained companies to access capital through a better reallocation of resources within segments of the same company (e.g., internal capital market) or through better access to external markets. This would eventually benefit bidders too, as new capital would be invested in valuable growth opportunities that otherwise would expire unexercised.     

Oligopolistic equilibrium and financial constraints

We model a dynamic duopoly in which firms can potentially drive their rivals from the market. For some parameter values, the Cournot equilibrium outcome cannot be sustained in an infinitely repeated setting. In those cases, there is a Markov perfect equilibrium in mixed strategies in which one firm, eventually, will exit the market with probability one. Producer surplus in the maximum collusive outcome is greater under bankruptcy consideration, because the outcome that maximizes joint profits is skewed in favor of the more efficient firm. Consumer surplus and social welfare also increase in many cases, although those effects are generally ambiguous.     

Multinational capital structure and financial flexibility

We address multinational capital structure decisions when firms have varying degrees of financial flexibility for shifting income and/or tax shields between subsidiaries. We find: (1) firms can use leverage to dramatically reduce negative valuation effects from operating in a high-tax country; (2) financial flexibility is a key determinant of optimal capital structure, acting as both a substitute and a complement for leverage; (3) multinational firms derive a synergistic effect from financial flexibility, which can enhance their value beyond that for a single-country firm from a low-tax jurisdiction; and (4) optimal capital structure typically differs substantially across subsidiaries, with each having positions in multiple currencies.     

The evolution of financial constraints

We demonstrate that the severity of financial constraints has declined over time for two reasons: (i) improved access to external funds as evidenced by a decreased reliance on internal cash flows, and (ii) an inward shifting investment frontier with reduced investment opportunities. The decline in financial constraints coincides with the documented diminishing sensitivity of investment to cash flows, yet we show that cash flows remain a determining factor in helping constrained firms overcome restricted access to external capital. There is a flight-to-quality during economic shocks, where the adverse effects following periods of tightened credit are particularly pronounced for smaller firms, with larger firms appearing largely unaffected.     

Supply of capital and capital structure: The role of financial development

We explore the effect of financial development on corporate capital structure and the tightness of financial constraints that firms face. We employ an econometric technique that allows us to explicitly test for convergence in capital structure. This technique increases the power of our statistical tests. In doing so, we identify a group of convergent firms. The driving force of convergence is financial development, which positively affects the firms' leverage ratio. We also identify a group of firms, whose leverage is not affected by financial development, because they are financially constrained.     

Two-stage capital budgeting,capital charge rates,and resource constraints

We study two-stage, multi-division budgeting mechanisms that allocate scarce resources among divisions using capital charge rates. Each divisional manager observes private sequential project information and competes for scarce resources over two stages. The optimal capital charge rates in our two-stage setting can be quite different from those that arise in a single-stage setting. If the firm faces a resource constraint at only the second stage, a less severe constraint can imply more first-stage project initiation, which can lead to higher second-stage capital charge rates. If resources are constrained at both stages, a decrease in the severity of the constraint at just one stage decreases the capital charge rate at that stage but increases the capital charge rate at the other stage because each constraint affects the intensity of competition at both stages. This result holds regardless of whether the scarce resources are fungible or non-fungible across stages.     

银行理财与资本市场

银行理财是现代银行一项十分重要的中间业务。银行理财业务的发展,不仅大大拓宽了银行的经营范围,增加了银行取得收益的途径,也为资本市场的发展增添了新的活力。该文介绍了银行理财的主要种类及其存在背景,分析了银行理财资金进入资本市场的联结渠道及其制约因素,指出更多的理财资金应进入资本市场,以更好地满足社会投资需求,有关政策应当对理财资金进入资本市场进行鼓励。     

资金流动性与风险性的权衡——国外大额资金转账系统的演进

大额资金转账系统在过去20年里有着迅猛的发展,并不断努力在流动性供给和结算风险控制之间寻求平衡。该系统在设计和风险管理策略上的不断变化,是与系统交易价值在这段时间的快速增长分不开的。例如,在美国,基于Fedwire(美联储大额资金转账系统)的交易价值在1989年约为当年GDP的50倍,而到了     

Internal financial constraints,external financial constraints,and investment choice: Evidence from a panel of UK firms

This paper uses a panel of 24,184 UK firms over the period 1993–2003 to study the extent to which the sensitivity of investment to cash flow differs at firms facing different degrees of internal and external financial constraints. Our results suggest that when the sample is split on the basis of the level of internal funds available to the firms, the relationship between investment and cash flow is U-shaped. On the other hand, the sensitivity of investment to cash flow tends to increase monotonically with the degree of external financial constraints faced by firms. Combining the internal with the external financial constraints, we find that the dependence of investment on cash flow is strongest for those externally financially constrained firms that have a relatively high level of internal funds.     

Net working capital investment and capital budgeting analysis: Some pedagogical insights

Net working capital (NWC) investment, as a factor in discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, receives little attention in the capital budgeting literature and accounting textbooks. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which this important component of the analysis can be intregrated into the classroom and thus add to the student's overall understanding of capital budgeting. Four areas are discussed: (1) the significance of NWC investment in capital budgeting analysis, (2) the opportunity cost nature of the NWC investment, (3)measurement of the components of the NWC investment, and (4) use of the NWC investment to help restore the bottom line in DCF analysis to a pure cash flow basis. Integration of the fourth point into the topic of capital budgeting is found to be a convenient way to reinforce the student's understanding of the statement of cash flows.     

Business cycles,financial cycles and capital structure

We perform peridogram based cycle analysis of firm capital structure and find evidence that firms’ leverage is both persistent and cyclical. The cyclicality of leverage is supported by the trade-off, pecking order and market timing capital structure theories (Korajczyk and Levy in J Financ Econ 68:75–109, 2003; Bhamra et al. in Rev Financ Stud 23:645–703, 2010). Although market timing theory research supports persistence, previous literature dictates that the trade-off and pecking order theories may predict either persistent or mean reverting leverage. Our tests reject mean reversion in favor of persistent and cyclical leverage. We corroborate pecking order theory literature that predicts leverage is persistent. In these models, when firms’ investment spending is below earnings, leverage decreases. In addition, we examine whether firms change their capital structure as a result of business and financial cycles. Since financial cycles last longer than business cycles, financial cycles should have a long term effect on leverage. Our findings confirm the persistent leverage business cycle models that suggest firms change their capital structure due to financial and credit cycles (Jermann and Quadrini in Am Econ Rev 102:238–271, 2012; Azariadis et al. in Rev Econ Stud 83:1364–1405, 2016). We conclude that leverage is persistent due to the cyclicality of the financing decision.     

The effect of the split share structure reform on working capital management of Chinese companies

Before the introduction of the Split Share Structure Reform (SSSR) of 2005, a dual stock system characterized Chinese-listed firms. The states owned non-tradable shares and private owners held tradable shares. The dual system generated agency problems because state owners enjoyed all the rights reserved for tradable shares but escaped the stock market risk faced by non-state shareholders. Because executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) received rewards based on the book value of assets rather than the market price of shares, they had no incentive to maximize the share price. The SSSR led to the conversion of non-tradable shares to tradable shares, with two major implications: (1) the interests of government and private owners are now more closely aligned and (2) government agents of SOEs are now rewarded and punished based on a firm's market performance. Thus, the expectation is that government agents turn their attention to improving a firm's market performance rather than its book value during the post-reform era. We examine the impact of the SSSR on Chinese firms' investments in working capital. Based on 511 manufacturing firms between 2003 and 2011, we find that the SSSR is associated with significant reductions in working capital investments during the post-reform period. The reduced investment in working capital is associated with improved market performance of these firms.     

The production of strategic and financial rationales in capital investments: Judgments based on intuitive expertise

This paper's aim is to examine how strategic and financial rationales are produced in strategic capital investments. Informed by literature on capital investments, strategic fit, and intuitive expertise, the study examines the production of strategic and financial rationales and how they are related. This is done by conducting a detailed case study of how these rationales are described in decision documents and how the documents were produced. The setting is an acquisition by a large, successful serial acquirer.The analysis reveals how the production of strategic and financial rationales is based on judgments of a myriad of data using rough estimates. We argue that these judgments are made through an intuitive process based on expertise. The study contributes to the literature by surfacing individuals' intuitive expertise as an important ‘hidden’ activity of judgment in strategic investment decision-making. Thus, the study shows, and brings theoretical underpinnings, to how the presence of expertise and the character of the tasks can result in appropriate intuitive judgments positively affecting strategic investment decision-making.     

The real effects of financial constraints: Evidence from a financial crisis

We survey 1,050 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to directly assess whether their firms are credit constrained during the global financial crisis of 2008. We study whether corporate spending plans differ conditional on this survey-based measure of financial constraint. Our evidence indicates that constrained firms planned deeper cuts in tech spending, employment, and capital spending. Constrained firms also burned through more cash, drew more heavily on lines of credit for fear banks would restrict access in the future, and sold more assets to fund their operations. We also find that the inability to borrow externally caused many firms to bypass attractive investment opportunities, with 86% of constrained U.S. CFOs saying their investment in attractive projects was restricted during the credit crisis of 2008. More than half of the respondents said they canceled or postponed their planned investments. Our results also hold in Europe and Asia, and in many cases are stronger in those economies. Our analysis adds to the portfolio of approaches and knowledge about the impact of credit constraints on real firm behavior.