Labor Union Effect on Corporate Cash Holdings and Their Marginal Value

By using panel data from Korean listed firms, we find that unionized firms strategically hold less cash to enhance their bargaining power against labor unions. We also find that unionized firms are likely to reduce the marginal value of their cash holdings, thereby decreasing shareholder value from the agency theory perspective. This finding complements the agency theory argument that managers tend to waste corporate resources by hoarding cash, particularly when faced with increased information asymmetry and financial constraints. Overall, our results suggest that information-related financial constraints and agency problems are likely to co-exist in unionized firms.     

Earnings Quality Effect on Corporate Excess Cash Holdings and Their Marginal Value

By using panel data from Korea’s listed firms, we find that firms with poor earnings quality are more likely to accumulate excess cash holdings, perhaps in an attempt to buffer themselves from information asymmetry problems. We also find that firms with poor earnings quality are more likely to discount the marginal value of their excess cash holdings because their shareholders appear to question the reason for such cash policy changes from the agency theory perspective. Overall, our results suggest that information asymmetry and agency problems are likely to co-exist in firms with poor earnings quality.     

公司特征、股权结构与现金持有量

在中国特定的制度和治理背景下探讨企业特征与股权结构对企业现金持有量的影响,并从静态和动态两个角度进行实证研究的结果表明,虽然静态实证结果显示权衡理论、代理理论和融资优序理论都能一定程度上解释中国企业的现金持有行为,但动态实证结果显示中国上市公司的现金持有量具有动态的均值复归趋势。这符合权衡理论和代理理论的预期,但不符合融资优序理论预期。     

National Culture and the Valuation of Cash Holdings

Prior studies document that national culture traits are systematically related to cash holdings and attribute this to managerial cultural predispositions. However, it is possible that these preferences reflect investors’ cultural preferences and that managers are simply catering to investors’ preferences. It is also not clear whether the cash holding effects previously documented are value maximizing. By examining the impact of national culture traits on cash valuation, we are able to provide insight into these questions. Specifically, we examine the effect of three national culture traits – individualism, uncertainty avoidance and long‐term orientation – on firm cash valuation. Our results suggest that the previously observed effects of cultural traits on cash holdings and attributed to managerial cultural biases do not reflect investors’ preferences and are not value maximizing.     

大股东控制、市场化程度与公司现金持有水平

运用2003～2008年我国所有非金融类A股上市公司的样本数据,从大股东控制视角出发,重点关注第一大股东持股比例、实际控制人性质和公司所在地区市场化程度对于公司现金持有水平的共同作用。结果表明,第一大股东持股比例与公司现金持有量水平正相关,实际控制人为国有的比非国有的上市公司的现金持有量高;公司外部治理环境的改善,有助于减轻由第一大股东持股比例以及实际控制人性质对公司现金持有量造成的负面影响。     

The Influence of a Credit Rating Change on Corporate Cash Holdings and Their Marginal Value

We examine the influence of credit rating changes on corporate excess cash holdings. We find that downgraded firms increase excess cash holdings by approximately 3% of total noncash assets, compared to a matched sample of firms without a rating change. We largely observe no significant cash policy change following upgrades. While our findings support existing studies on the value of precautionary cash hoarding in the face of increased financial constraint, we find hoarding is value‐decreasing for shareholders. The marginal value of excess cash declines by at least 40% for downgraded firms and much more so when firms have histories of excess cash hoarding.     

The Impact of Ambiguity on Managerial Investment and Cash Holdings

Standard finance theory suggests that managers invest in projects that, in expectation, produce returns that justify the use of capital. An underlying assumption is that managers have the information necessary to understand the distributional properties of the pay‐offs underlying the decision. This paper examines firm investment behavior when managers are likely to find it more challenging to develop expectations of pay‐offs, namely during periods of increased macroeconomic ambiguity. In particular, we examine how macroeconomic ambiguity – proxied by the variance premium (Drechsler, 2010 ) and the dispersion in forecasts of corporate profits from the Survey of Professional Forecasters (Anderson et al., 2009 ) – impacts managerial capital investment and cash holdings. Consistent with ambiguity theory, we find that macroeconomic ambiguity is negatively associated with capital investment and positively associated with cash holdings. These results are robust to alternative explanations related to risk, investor sentiment and economic conditions. Moreover, consistent with recent theoretical real options literature, we find that ambiguity reduces the value of investment opportunities, while risk increases the value of such opportunities. Overall, these findings provide initial empirical evidence on the economic distinction between ambiguity and risk with respect to managerial investment and cash holdings.     

现金持有水平、投资者保护与关联交易

以沪深两市的非金融类上市公司为样本,考察现金持有水平、投资者与关联交易之间的关系,结果发现上市公司的现金持有水平与关联交易显著正相关,这意味着上市公司的现金持有水平越高,基于大股东掏空的关联交易侵占越多;在投资者保护较差的公司,现金持有水平与关联交易之间的正相关关系更强,这说明有效的投资者保护体系能够起到约束大股东通过关联交易从上市公司转移现金的作用。因此进一步引导和规范上市公司的现金分红,以及加强投资者保护的执法力度,是治理关联交易的有效选择。     

超额现金持有水平与产品市场竞争优势——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

有关企业持现动机及其经济后果的已有研究较少关注现金持有的战略效应。本文借鉴公司战略经济学理论,探索性地研究了企业超额持现对产品市场竞争优势的影响,为企业财务决策与产品市场竞争之间的紧密联系提供了新的经验证据。我们研究发现,企业超额持现具有战略效应,且超额持现水平与产品市场竞争优势呈倒U型关系。进一步的研究显示,与民营企业相比,国有企业在相对较低的超额持现水平上出现对产品市场竞争优势影响的负向净效应。     

决定现金持有量：技术还是制度

本文以2003—2008年上海证劵交易所501家上市公司的数据为样本,从技术（企业成长性）和制度（公司治理机制）两个角度出发,实证研究其对企业现金持有量的影响。实证结果表明：企业成长性与现金持有量正相关;股权集中度与现金持有量负相关;股权制衡度与现金持有量正相关。     

Cash Holdings and Corporate Diversification

This paper studies the relation between corporate liquidity and diversification. The key finding is that multidivision firms hold significantly less cash than stand‐alone firms because they are diversified in their investment opportunities. Lower cross‐divisional correlations in investment opportunity and higher correlations between investment opportunity and cash flow correspond to lower cash holdings, even after controlling for cash flow volatility. The effects are strongest in financially constrained firms and in well‐governed firms, and correspond to efficient fund transfers from low‐ to high‐productivity divisions. Taken together, these results bring forth an efficient link between diversification and corporate liquidity.     

Corporate Risk Management under Information Asymmetry

This paper examines the financial and operational hedging activities of US pharmaceutical and biotech firms that are subject to a high level of information asymmetry stemming from R&D investments during 2001–2006. We find evidence in support of the information asymmetry hypothesis à la Froot, Scharfstein and Stein (1993) that hedging helps mitigate the under‐investment problem. Specifically, we find that the use of financial derivatives is associated with greater firm value and that the value enhancement is larger for firms subject to greater information asymmetry and better growth opportunities. There is a synergy between financial hedging and operational hedging where the latter is used to counter product development risk. The results are robust with respect to alternative performance measures, industry‐specific growth measures, and the endogeneity problem. Our work is differentiated from existing studies that examined commodity‐based industries without addressing information asymmetry.     

Corporate Cash Holdings and Acquisitions

We find that acquirers’ announcement returns decline with their cash holdings, but only when at least part of the payment is in the form of stock. We further find evidence that acquirers that use stock payment are overvalued, especially when they have excess cash that they could have used instead. Collectively, our results suggest that investors interpret announcements of stock acquisitions as a signal that the acquirers’ equity is overvalued and that high cash holdings intensify this signal. However, our results are inconsistent with the common belief that cash holdings induce value‐destroying acquisitions.     

Insider Ownership,Subsidiary Cash Holdings,and Economic Consequences: Evidence from Listed Chinese Companies

ABSTRACT

Using a large sample of listed Chinese companies, we investigate how the equity ownership of business group insiders affects subsidiary cash holdings. We find that ownership by the largest shareholders and senior managers in the listed parent firm is negatively related to its subsidiaries’ cash holdings, whereas there is a positive relationship with minority equity in subsidiaries. We also find that the market places a more significant value discount on listed firms whose cash holdings are more located in the affiliated subsidiaries. Our evidence demonstrates how cash policy inside business groups is influenced by insider ownership, and it reveals to what extent cash allocated in subsidiaries may suffer from losses in efficiency.     

Information Asymmetry and Earnings Management: Some Evidence

This paper conducts an empirical investigation of the relationship between information asymmetry and earnings management predicted by Dye (1988) and Trueman and Titman (1988). When information asymmetry is high, stakeholders do not have sufficient resources, incentives, or access to relevant information to monitor manager's actions, which gives rise to the practice of earnings management (Schipper, 1989; Warfield et al., 1995). Empirical results suggest a systematic relationship between the magnitude of information asymmetry and the level of earnings management in two different settings.     

公司治理环境、控制权和现金流权分离与现金持有量价值——基于我国上市公司的实证分析

公司治理环境、控制权和现金流权分离度共同影响着企业的现金持有量,实证研究发现:我国公司治理环境与现金持有量之间为正相关关系;控股股东控制权和现金流权偏离度与现金持有量之间为负相关关系,但是公司治理环境的改善对这种关系有抑制作用;与国有企业相比,治理环境和上市公司现金持有量之间的正相关关系在私营企业中表现得更为明显。     

信息不对称、公司治理与现金持有价值——基于知情交易概率的非平稳面板数据

本文为了研究中国上市公司信息不对称、公司治理和现金持有价值之间的关系,以沪深上市公司2004-2009年数据为基础,利用知情交易概率作为管理者和投资者之间的信息不对称代理变量,以高管持股比例作为公司治理代理变量,利用公司各种财务指标作为控制变量,发现信息不对称与中国上市公司现金持有价值呈显著负相关,高管持股比例和现金持有价值显著正相关,支持自由现金流理论和委托代理理论,信息不对称程度越高,管理者越可能滥用现金,导致现金持有价值下降,而提高公司治理,加强投资者保护可以提高现金持有价值。     

投资者保护、大股东持股比例与现金持有量

以2005～2011年沪深两市A股391家上市公司为样本研究投资者保护、大股东持股比例和现金持有量的关系,研究结果表明,大股东持股比例与现金持有量间呈倒"U"型关系。进一步按照投资者保护程度的高低对样本进行分组,研究发现,当大股东持股比例小于48%时,投资者保护程度高的组,大股东持股比例和现金持有量呈显著正相关关系;当大股东持股比例大于48%时,投资者保护程度高的组,大股东持股比例和现金持有量呈显著负相关关系。     

中国上市公司高管学术经历对企业现金持有的影响

依据沪深A股上市公司2008-2017年数据,考量高管学术经历对企业现金持有的影响。结果表明：高管学术经历通过风险特质和创新活动影响现金持有水平;高管学术经历与现金持有水平正相关,行业竞争的缓和会削弱二者的正相关关系;相对于国有企业,高管学术经历对非国有企业现金持有水平的影响更显著。