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This paper examines whether the cultural background of chief executive officers (CEOs) affects corporate cash holdings. Using UK data from 2000 to 2018, we find that CEOs with a cultural background that emphasises power distance and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with corporate cash holdings, while CEOs with a cultural background that emphasises masculinity are negatively associated with corporate cash holdings. Our results are robust to various robustness tests. Further analyses show that the impact is more pronounced when power is concentrated among top executives, when the CEOs have a degree of discretion in pursuing their own goals, and when information asymmetry is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of international regulations governing the market for corporate control (MCC) on firm risk‐taking using the staggered enactment of country‐level merger and acquisition (M&A) laws of 34 countries. Consistent with the theoretical argument of deterrence, we show that the MCC leads to unintended consequences by discouraging value‐relevant corporate risk‐taking. Our investigation of real earnings management suggests that the MCC induces real earnings smoothing and also provides evidence of short‐termism. This reduction in corporate risk‐taking is associated with a decrease in real investments, an increase in cash‐holding, an increase in debt employment, and a propensity to diversify in M&A. Further examination of the heterogeneous effect of the quality of national governance institutions on the relationship between the MCC and risk‐taking shows that the country‐level investor protection and transparency levels positively moderate the effect of the MCC. Our study highlights that there could be complementary roles played by national institutional features and the MCC in encouraging value‐relevant corporate risk‐taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) has been gaining traction among humanitarian organizations as the preferred aid modality in disaster relief and complex emergencies. While the advantages of cash are well documented, the ongoing digitalization of cash and the emergence of innovative financial instruments can be associated with new operational challenges and a stagnation in innovation. This paper reflects on the changing environment in CVA as a result of technological breakthroughs in the global financial system. The concept of humanitarian innovation is introduced to differentiate it from a similar process in the private sector and to investigate factors, contributing to a slower pace of acceptance, a reluctant implementation, or a complete rejection of innovative approaches in the humanitarian organization. The purpose of the study is to conceptualize the challenges of new technology adoption and scaling, as well as to analyze the direction and current stage of the diffusion of innovation in the humanitarian sphere. Ten interviews with informants representing humanitarian agencies and the private sector were conducted to discuss their experiences with new CVA tools and perspectives on innovation in cash and voucher assistance. The results demonstrate that there is no uniform perception of innovation across the field, and the challenges of diffusion can be associated with several domains, including internal and external capacities, inherent characteristics of new financial technology (fintech), and a wider social, political, and regulatory context. According to the cyclical model of technological change, the innovative CVA fintech is currently at the ferment stage characterized by a high level of uncertainty and competition. The subsequent emergence of several dominant designs followed by incremental innovation is plausible in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to examine the impact of financial constraints and financial distress on cash holdings, both in normal and crisis times. We collected the 4,406 firm-year observations of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Our research shows that companies maintain higher cash holdings during a crisis than in a normal period. However, in contrast to our expectations, companies with financial difficulties (constraints and distress) have lower cash holdings both in normal and crisis times. The originality of our research lies in realizing that different sources of difficulties might overlap at the same time (external with internal). We also analyze how cash holdings react to a combined impact of difficulties of different natures (external and internal). We believe that cash holdings have recently increased their meaning as we face the situation of constant and increasing uncertainty: still ongoing COVID-19 crisis prolonged with Russian aggression on Ukraine and outburst of inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash ownership emits a powerful positive signal. We examine four sources of cash in firms, i.e., cash flows, cash holdings, cash proceeds from debt, and cash proceeds from equity. We examine the effects of cash ownership for firms growing by disruption, and firms growing by acquisition. Information signaling theory maintains that free cash flows may be used to increase shareholder wealth. Two-stage least squares regressions determined the impact of cash funding on disruptors and size of acquisition in the first stage, and cash-funded disruption or cash-funded acquisition in the second stage, for a US sample of 832 disruptor firms and 924 acquirers, from 2000–2020. Disruptions funded by cash holdings, cash flow, and cash proceeds from debt, significantly increased stock returns. A size effect was observed, with small disruptors showing significant effects. Acquisitions funded by cash holdings, cash flow, and cash proceeds from debt, significantly increased stock returns and return on assets. Agency costs significantly reduced returns and profits. Results for disruptions and acquisitions support signaling theory with free cash flows signaling higher share prices for both disruptors and acquirers, and higher profits for acquirers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether foreign cash holdings increase the complexity of analysts' forecasting tasks, thereby affecting their earnings forecasts' properties. In forecasting future earnings, analysts face uncertainty in understanding the firm's economic situation, especially if cash is held by foreign subsidiaries – given that it may be subject to investment inefficiencies. The lack of disclosure about foreign cash makes it difficult for analysts to anticipate and fully incorporate in their estimates the negative performance consequences of foreign cash holdings. Using a sample of U.S. multinational corporations and estimating their foreign cash holdings, we show that a firm with an average level of estimated foreign cash to total assets has a 12.5% higher forecast error and a 13.7% higher forecast dispersion (relative to firms without foreign cash). Moreover, we document that estimated foreign cash is negatively associated with future performance and that, in the presence of large amounts of foreign cash, financial analysts issue more optimistic forecasts. Cross-section analyses show that estimated foreign cash holdings affect analysts' forecasts to a larger extent in the absence of disclosure, consistent with the idea that the lack of disclosure restricts financial analysts' ability to fully incorporate in their estimates the effect of foreign cash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reexamines the impact of institutional development on corporate cash holdings. Our findings confirm that institutional development has a negative effect on corporate cash holdings, which may be partially explained by the financial constraint mitigation effect of institutional development. Our empirical evidence also shows that the corruption index, used as a proxy for the grabbing hand effect, does not mediate the negative effect of institutional development on corporate cash holdings. Furthermore, the impact of institutional development on corporate cash holdings is not significant for large firms and state‐owned enterprises. These results are robust to different measures of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of COVID‐19 on US corporate cash holdings. Our findings suggest that greater pandemic exposure is associated with higher corporate cash holdings and that firms learn from prior experiences as they manage their cash policies. More specifically, the level of cash holdings in firms that experienced severe financial constraints during the 2008 credit crisis and firms with prior severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and H1N1 exposure is significantly lower than that of firms with no prior epidemic or financial constraints experience. Overall, our findings support the learning behaviour of cash and contribute to corporate cash holdings literature by providing insights on the extent to which firms learn from prior experiences to manage their liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether bank lenders react differently to various types of real transaction management (RTM) by borrowing firms. Drawing upon the differential cash and cash flow effects of alternative forms of RTM, we predict and find that banks provide more favorable loan terms, that is, lower interest spread and reduced likelihood of required collateral, for firms reporting more discretionary reductions in research and development (R&D) expenditures. In contrast, lending banks respond unfavorably to borrowers' engagement in RTM through aggressive sales discounts and overproduction of inventories. Additional analysis reveals that the favorable effect of discretionary R&D reductions on loan pricing is greater (smaller) for borrowing firms with a prior relationship with the bank or with a lower level of cash holdings (loans with longer maturity). Overall, our findings suggest that banks, with their unique payoff functions and monitoring incentives, do not view all forms of RTM negatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between corporate social responsibility and trade credit is investigated in this study via the trust (direct) and cash holding (indirect) channels. We discovered that corporate social responsibility and trade credit are strongly correlated, lending support to the trust channel. We also find evidence for the indirect route; particularly, enterprises with high CSR have high cash holdings, which are associated with less trade credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper explores the effect of cash holdings on bank profitability in the context of uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach: Through data on Vietnamese banks from 2007 to 2019, the author measures uncertainty in banking using the dispersion of bank-level shocks and perform dynamic regressions using the generalized method of moments (GMM) and the least squares dummy variable correction. The author uses different measures to comprehensively evaluate bank profitability, including the net interest margins (NIMs), the returns on assets (ROA) and the returns on equity (ROE) Findings: The author documents that more cash holdings reduce bank profits when the uncertainty level is low; however, there is a high uncertainty point at which holding further cash improves bank profitability. Thus, the findings reveal the importance of cash management for banks in times of high uncertainty. Originality/value: This paper is the first to shed light on the impact of cash management on bank profitability while paying close attention to the moderating role of uncertainty. Accordingly, the author indicates the marginal effects of cash holdings on bank profits according to uncertainty levels via drawing plots from interaction terms between continuous variables. This approach exploits all the information exhibited in the interactive variables and hence considerably deepens the understanding of our estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the factors affecting corporate cash holdings for a sample of 598 Indian Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) for nine years (2011–2020). Design/methodology/approach: The system generalized method of moments (GMM) approach is used to examine the determinants of cash holdings in the Indian MSME context. Findings: The article shows liquidity, cash flow, leverage, firm size, probability of financial distress and cash flow volatility significant in explaining cash holding decisions for MSMEs in India. No evidence of firm age and growth opportunities as determinants of cash holdings in Indian MSMEs has been found. In addition, strong evidence of cash flow volatility, cash flow and liquidity in differentiating the cash holding decisions in the service and manufacturing industry has been documented. Originality/value: While earlier research has addressed this problem in developed nations, this is the first study that fulfills the need to investigate the variables that influence MSMEs' cash holding decisions in a developing economy like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether and how Sharia compliance and national governance affect the value of corporate cash holding (cash) in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries. Study results indicate that cash can enhance firm value and such cash value is higher for Sharia-compliant firms than for Sharia non-compliant firms. In addition, cash is particularly valuable when national governance is strong. Furthermore, the positive effect of Sharia compliance on cash value is more pronounced when national governance is strong. Results suggest that internal governance (i.e., Sharia compliance) and external governance (i.e., national governance) should be in sync to maximize cash value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article aims to explore whether a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) transparency alleviates a firm's cash holdings. Design/methodology/approach: CSR transparency ratings encompass both the quantity and the quality of CSR practices, as validated by Bloomberg. While based upon firm-specific disclosure, transparency ratings impound additional information gathered independently by Bloomberg and thus bridge the gap between CSR disclosure and CSR performance. The authors use ordinary least squares estimators, and the authors concentrate on a panel of S&P 500 index companies over the period of 2012–2018 to examine the effect of CSR transparency on corporate cash holdings. Findings: The authors document that a higher level of CSR transparency induces a lower level of corporate cash holdings. Additional results imply that this negative relationship is more pronounced for firms suffering from high information asymmetry, with low financial reporting quality and for those with weak governance. Further analyses document that higher CSR transparency can help firms to enjoy lower cost of debt and to be less financially constrained, enabling high CSR transparent firms to obtain external financing more easily and at a lower cost, thus lowering the need to hoard cash. Ultimately, the study findings suggest that CSR transparency increases the market value relevance of an additional dollar in cash holdings. Originality/value: The authors contribute to both research streams of CSR and corporate cash holdings as they provide evidence about the influence of CSR transparency as a monitoring and insurance-like mechanism on corporate cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how the business environment of a country has an impact on cash management policies of the firms and also to investigate if there is any asymmetry in cash adjustment dynamics when a firm deviates from its long-term target of cash holdings. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of seven emerging Asian countries in the period 2001–2019, the authors investigate the role of country specific variables in the corporate cash holdings and their cash adjustment mechanism. They use the panel data regression method to estimate the results. Findings: The authors find that the overall financial development of a country has a significant impact on corporate cash holdings and cash adjustment dynamics. When a firm has excess cash, the speed of adjustment towards the target is faster as compared to when it has deficit cash holdings. Further, when a firm holds excess cash, it adjusts towards the target using cash from investments; in case of deficit cash holdings, the adjustment happens via cash from financing activities. Practical implications: The results of the study are helpful to corporate managers as these are important references to them to understand and design cash management policies by considering factors that are measured at the country level. It also provides them a clearer understanding about the role of corporate board and information asymmetry in cash holdings. Originality/value: This is the first study which examines the role of country-specific variables on corporate cash holdings and their adjustment mechanism of firms in emerging Asia. Further, the study extends the literature by providing new evidence that there is asymmetry in cash adjustment dynamics of firms after controlling for the overall financial development of a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Main Objectives: This research aims to examine the effects of cash holdings on a firm’s R&D intensity. We further examine how that relationship may be varied across different controlling shareholders. For robustness reasons, we test it in a developing market and a developed market. Background Problems: Economics and business theories state that research and development (R&D) is susceptible to financing constraints due to the lack of collateral value and asymmetric information issues. This argument has been extensively debated with no consensus being reached. Therefore current study focuses on the examination of R&D and cash holding and the role of controlling shareholders. Novelty: The current study considers the importance of controlling shareholders on the relationship between cash holding and R&D intensity. We expect that different controlling shareholders will have different constraints on R&D financing. Research Methods: This study focuses on a sample of public listed companies in Malaysia and Singapore from the year 2012 to 2018, and estimates the model under a two-step GMM panel regression to eliminate the endogeneity issue. Finding/Results: The results show that cash holdings have significant effects on the intensity of R&D. However, that relationship is different across countries and across controlling shareholders. Malaysia’s foreign firms will increase their R&D’s intensity when their cash holdings are high. Meanwhile, Singaporean family firms will reduce the intensity of their R&D when their cash holdings are high. Overall the findings confirm the hypothetical alignment of the agency theory and also the resource-based view theory. Conclusion: Our findings surmise that higher cash holdings cause a lower R&D intensity due to the cash management decisions by managers. A firm with high leverage tends to reduce its R&D intensity when cash holdings are high, and vice versa. This behavior can be found in all the controlling shareholders [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a quasi‐natural experiment and various measures of competition intensity, we examine whether an increase in product market competition is a key driver of firm cash holdings. We find that firms increase cash holdings when competition is intense. The results suggest that the degree of increase in cash holdings is magnified among firms exposed to high predatory threat and financing friction. In addition, we examine if increasing cash holdings offers a competitive advantage in the product market. Our results indicate that firms with large cash reserves make gains in market share at the expense of their rivals. Gains in the product market are more pronounced among firms with low exposure to predatory risk and financing frictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the motives of corporations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to hold cash with a focus on institutional characteristics related to the threat of political extraction. Using firm-level financial data and macro-level and institutional data and applying the GMM estimation method, the study finds that corruption (a proxy of the threat of political extraction) is positively related to cash holdings which suggests that the risk of political extraction induces GCC firms to accumulate cash to make political payoffs and preserve their financial flexibility. In terms of firm-level characteristics, GCC firms follow a pecking order as they deplete more cash the larger their capital expenditures. In addition, GCC firms save cash for transaction and precautionary purposes as indicated by the negative relation between cash and cash substitutes. This is the first study to examine the threat of political extraction on cash holdings using the context of the GCC, a cash-rich region with unique institutional settings. The findings on the GCC countries contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the political extraction-cash holdings relationship by examining a context under which corruption is likely to exert a positive impact on the level of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether firm-level political risk increases managers' propensity to avoid taxes. Using a measure of firm-level political risk developed by Hassan et al. (Quart J Econom 134(4):2135–2202, 2019) and several commonly used measures of tax avoidance, we find that corporate tax avoidance increases with firm-level political risk and that the main results hold in various supplemental and endogeneity tests. In cross-sectional tests, we document that the positive relationship between firm-level political risk and tax avoidance is stronger for lower levels of tax avoidance, and is weaker when firms have superior cash flow performance and higher cash holdings. In addition, we show that the positive relationship between firm-level political risk and tax avoidance is stronger during the Trump administration's trade policy changes as well as during the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of cash held by listed companies has raised academic interest. In particular, many studies have been conducted to understand the reason why companies hold so much cash. Previous studies on the determinants of cash holdings have focused on firm-specific characteristics. More recently, researchers have found that stock liquidity played an important role in explaining the cash holding behaviour. This study examines the effect of stock liquidity on cash holdings among listed companies in Malaysia. The findings indicate that stock liquidity has a positive impact on cash holdings. This suggests that companies have a higher propensity to hold cash to repurchase its own stocks, which resulted in higher stock liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses presidential elections as the proxy for political uncertainties to investigate the impact of election induced political uncertainties on the relationship between cash holdings and firm value for a sample of non-financial firms from the U.S. The findings suggest that the impact of cash holdings on firm value goes down significantly during the years of presidential elections. This finding, however, is confined only to elections in which both presidential candidates are new and for firms headquartered in the states that have always voted for the Democrat candidates in the presidential elections. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the impact of political uncertainties on the relationship between cash holdings and firm value does not hold for gubernatorial elections. Our results are robust after including number of firm-specific and country-specific control variables and after taking into account potential endogeneity concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper investigates how economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects Singaporean-listed firms' corporate cash holdings after the global financial crisis. We apply various technical analyses for panel models of 4,253 yearly observations. Our results indicate that the Singaporean-listed firms' cash holdings ratio (CHR) decreases when Singapore's EPU increases in the period 2009-2018. Further, either global EPU or U.S. EPU indicators are correlated negatively with Singaporean-listed firms' cash reserves. The corporate managers' precautionary motive was not urged by the rise of EPU in the Singapore market. On the other hand, our empirical evidence suggests that Singapore's corporate managers have an explicit speculative incentive in the context of the increased EPU in the post-financial crisis period. This research provides evidence that is at odds with the corporate managers' classical view on precautionary cash savings in the context of the increased uncertainty of economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document a positive relation between firm‐specific investor sentiment (FSIS) and the value of cash. We also show that FSIS has a stronger positive effect on the value of cash than the value of other types of assets, suggesting that our finding is not a simple reflection of firm‐level overvaluation. Our finding is robust to alternative measures of change in cash, different cash regimes, FSIS measured by order imbalance, news sentiment and the tone of earnings conference call transcripts and controlling for market‐wide sentiment, institutional monitoring, corporate governance and endogeneity. Cross‐sectional analyses suggest that the positive relation between FSIS and the value of cash is stronger for firms with better future growth opportunities, larger investment, more innovation activities, higher information asymmetry and more liquid stocks. Overall, our paper sheds light on the important role of FSIS in corporate outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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What has driven the dramatic rise in U.S. corporate cash? Using non-public data, we show that the run-up is not uniform across firms but is concentrated in the foreign subsidiaries of multinational firms. Standard precautionary motives explain only domestic cash holdings, not these burgeoning foreign cash balances. Falling foreign tax rates, coupled with relaxed restrictions on income shifting, are the root of the changing foreign cash patterns. Firms with intellectual property have the greatest ability to shift income to low tax jurisdictions, and their foreign subsidiaries are where we observe the largest accumulations of cash. Received September 6, 2017; editorial decision August 22, 2018 by Editor David Denis. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether an anticipated reduction in future repatriation taxes affects the amount of cash U.S. multinationals hold overseas. We find that the expected benefits of a repatriation tax reduction are positively associated with accelerated accumulations of global cash holdings once Congress proposed legislation. Additional tests examining domestic and foreign corporations, voluntary disclosures of foreign cash, and corporate payout behavior support our conclusion that observed increases in excess global cash are driven by changes in foreign cash. We also document that U.S. multinationals accumulating excess cash engage in complementary organizational and financial reporting activities designed to maximize expected tax benefits. Received December 7, 2017; editorial decision August 18, 2018 by Editor Andrew Karolyi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the link between chief executive officer (CEO) industry tournament incentives (ITIs) and the product-market benefits of corporate liquidity. We find that ITIs increase the level and marginal value of cash holdings. Furthermore, ITIs strengthen the relation between excess cash and market-share gains, especially for firms that face significant competitive threats. Additionally, for firms with excess cash, higher ITIs lead to increased research and development (R&D) expenses, capital expenditures, and spending on focused acquisitions as well as reduced payouts. Overall, our findings suggest that ITIs increase the value of cash by incentivizing CEOs to deploy cash strategically to capture its product-market benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a lender cutoff rule that generates plausibly exogenous variation in credit supply, I investigate a new channel through which funding shocks are transmitted to the real economy. Based on a sample of more than 15,000 loan applications from small- and medium-sized enterprises, I find that precautionary savings motives can aggravate real effects: low-liquidity firms whose loan applications were rejected increase cash holdings and cut noncash assets in excess of the requested loan amount. These results point to the amplifying effect of precautionary savings motives in the transmission of credit supply shocks. Received December 11, 2016; editorial decision February 22, 2018 by Editor Philip Strahan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study time-series and cross-firm variation in corporate cash holdings from 1920 to 2014. The recent increase in cash is not unique in magnitude. However, the recent divergence between average and aggregate cash is new and entirely driven by a shift in cash policies of newly public firms, whereas within-firm changes have been negative or flat since the 1940s. Cross-sectional relations between cash holdings and firm characteristics are stable throughout the century, though characteristics explain little of the trends in aggregate cash. Macroeconomic conditions, corporate profitability and investment, and (since 2000) repatriation taxes explain aggregate cash over the last century. Received August 23, 2017; editorial decision April 28, 2018 by Editor Andrew Karolyi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a unique sample of newly privatized firms from 59 countries, this article provides new evidence about the agency costs of state ownership and new insight into the corporate governance role of country-level institutions. Consistent with agency theory, we find strong and robust evidence that state ownership is positively related to corporate cash holdings. Moreover, we find that the strength of country-level institutions affects the relation between state ownership and the value of cash holdings. In particular, as state ownership increases, markets discount the value of cash holdings more in countries with weaker institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In the digital era, digital transformation has become a strategic imperative for leadership agenda. Many firms have accelerated their pace in digital transformation to improve their performance and competitiveness. Despite increasing attention in the literature on the role of digital transformation in firms' operations, understanding the effect of digital trans formation on corporate finance remains limited. This study focuses on cash holdings, which are essential for firms to survive and thrive. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to examine the critical role of digital transformation on the cash holdings of listed firms in China and provide micro evidence regarding the economic consequences of the digital economy from firm level. This study also aims to deepen our understanding of the influence of digital transformation on firms' operation and financial policy. Additionally, this paper attempts to provide relevant guidance for implementing policies to promote digital transformation and devise corresponding cash holding strategies. Methods: The text analysis method is used to measure the degree of digital transformation of China's A-share listed companies. The sample covers 19,337 observations from 2007-2020. A multiple regression model with firm and year fixed effect is developed to investigate the relationship between digital transformation and corporate cash holdings. In the robustness test, this paper substitutes the independent and dependent variables, and adopts instrumental variable estimation method. In the mechanism test, this paper uses the sub-sample regression method in the mechanism test. Findings & value added: This study reveals that digital transformation can significantly reduce corporate cash holdings by alleviating the precautionary motive, agency motive and transaction motive of cash holdings. Further analysis shows that the negative effect of digital transformation on cash holdings is more profound in high-tech firms and non-state-owned enterprises. The methodology applied in this paper can be used in other economic research of firms. This study provides insights into the effects of digital transformation on corporate financial policy. This provides a solution for reducing firms' cash holdings. This study also deepens the understanding of digital transformation from a corporate perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to review relevant literature on the theme of corporate real investment decisions. We have conducted a comprehensive survey of literature on the studies published in well-reputed journals of finance, i.e., The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies, and The Journal of Financial Economics, during the years 2010 to 2022. The theoretical analysis reveals that information asymmetry, cash holdings, policy uncertainty, idiosyncratic risk, governance quality, financing diversification, financial development, managerial network, investor protection, tax policy, etc., are prominent factors influencing investment decisions. The current review analysis is useful and has certain policy implications for investment managers regarding investment decisions. It guides on the factors that can impede or boost investment volume. Our study has a novel contribution to the literature by summarizing the voluminous empirical literature arranged on physical investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of the country- and firm-level governance practices on the relationship between excess-cash and firm value in ASEAN-5 markets. Using the Generalized Method of Moment models and a sample of 578 firms from 2010 to 2020 the study finds that excess-cash reduces firm value, indicating high agency costs and low firm value. However, excess-cash motivated by managerial ownership, founder CEO, board independence, shareholder rights and creditor rights increase firm value while excess-cash due to managerial entrenchment and CEODuality reduce firm value. In the sub-sample analyses the study finds that entrenched managers and board size play a less effective role in wasting excess-cash in low-excess-cash firms while independent directors play a higher monitoring role in high-excess-cash firms. In addition, governance at the country-level is more effective than at the firmlevel in improving the value of excess-cash in large firms. The study offers unique evidence on the relationship between excess-cash and firm value by integrating corporate governance practices at the firm- and country-levels. The research aids practitioners, academics, policymakers and investors in developing the best liquidity policies to enhance business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship among liquidity risk, cash-holdings, financial constraints, and capital-raising costs. Our results show that cash preservation has different impacts on the liquidity risk explained by different aspects. The liquidity risk is negatively related with cash holdings. More financial constraints increase the liquidity risk. The firms with low capital-raising costs hold more cash because of liquidity needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of government ownership on payout policies, cash holdings, capital expenditures, and borrowing costs for firms in Vietnam. Using the central hypothesis that state‐owned firms (SOEs) are less financially constrained than privately‐owned firms, we provide several main findings. First, we reveal that SOEs typically pay higher dividends, have higher total payouts, but undertake lower repurchases than privately‐owned firms. Second, we find that SOEs have less need to hoard cash and spend less of their cash flow on capital expenditures than non‐state‐owned firms. Finally, our research indicates that SOEs have lower borrowing costs than privately owned firms. These findings support the view that, in frontier markets, firms with non‐state ownership can mitigate the adverse effects of financial constraints by decreasing total payouts to shareholders and instead using their cash flow to increase cash holdings or capital spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate characteristic differences between Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds and conventional funds across 35 different categories, including previously unexplored areas, such as fund manager skills and investment strategies. Further, we examine SRI and conventional funds globally rather than from just one country (e.g., US) or one region (e.g., Europe), covering funds listed in 22 different countries. We also adopt a new Principal Component Analysis (PCA) methodology for matching SRI funds against their conventional counterparts that significantly increases the sample size from previous studies, reducing selection bias and possibly explaining contradictory findings in the prior literature. Contributing to the literature, our findings show that: (i) SRI funds have more diversified portfolios than conventional funds; (ii) SRI funds have lower cash holdings while investing more in US equities; and (iii) SRI fund managers charge a smaller fee and are more successful in managing their portfolios. This is reassuring for investors who invest in SRI funds and for the future health and sustainability of the planet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determinants of a firm's cash holdings have been a popular topic of research in finance, especially after the rapid surge in cash holdings for U.S. firms since the 1980s. The wide array of research has focused primarily on firm-specific factors to explain the cross-sectional variations but has found insufficient explanatory power for the variations in cash holdings. We incorporate variables for macroeconomic conditions and uncertainty with firm-specific variables. Using 19,223 firms with 213,663 firm-year observations from 1971 to 2019 and introducing five variables for macroeconomic conditions of the Aruoba–Diebold–Scotti index and three variables for macroeconomic and financial uncertainty, we find that a firm's sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions and uncertainty plays important role in determining the level of cash holdings. We find supportive evidence from the robustness test with the firm's age that variables for macroeconomic variables have an impact on the level of cash holdings irrespective of the firm's age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how a firm's employment stability affects the level of its cash holdings. We find that firms with high employment stability (as measured by one minus a firm's employment elasticity with respect to its sales) maintain large cash holdings. The positive effect of employment stability on cash holdings is stronger for R&D intensive firms and firms with high firm-specific human capital. These results are consistent with theories predicting that firms hold cash to signal the credibility of their employment policies regarding job security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to evaluate the relationship between social capital and cash holdings in firms. The population under study comprises all listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. A total of 175 firms (1050 year-firm) were selected from 2014 to 2020 to evaluate the relationship between variables using the systematic elimination method. Moreover, the moderating role of financial reporting quality in the relationship between social capital and cash holdings was also studied. This paper used multivariable linear regression (panel data) and the EViews software to implement the study's objectives. The present study results show a negative relationship between the social capital of firms and cash holdings and a positive association between social capital and financial reporting quality. In other words, cash holdings drop with the increase in social capital. Further, financial reporting quality improves with the increase in social capital. The financial reporting quality moderates the relationship between the social capital of firms and cash holdings. This paper indicates that the region's social capital, where the firm is located, has a significant role in contributing to its cash value. The current study is the first to assess social capital structure in the cash holdings literature. The impacts of social capital contribute to financial outputs. Social capital has a positive economic result against strong cooperation norms and dense social networks. Few studies analyzed the effect of social capital on firms' decision making. In this area, the present study contributes to the literature development and the impact of social capital on firms' results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do exchange‐traded funds (ETFs) influence corporate cash holding decisions? Consistent with reduced managerial learning from the stock market and increased uncertainty due to higher ETF ownership, we show that firms included in ETF baskets have higher cash holdings as a precautionary response. We address endogeneity concerns through different natural experiments, namely, the reconstitution of the Russell 1000/2000 index and BlackRock's acquisition of iShares. We identify changes in revenue, external financing, share repurchases and net working capital as potential channels through which cash holdings increase due to higher ETF ownership, with cash holdings increases having a positive impact on firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of country-specific uncertainty on the choice of payment method in international acquisitions. Our results show a negative association between the level of target country-specific uncertainty and cash transactions. Specifically, when the host country experiences a high level of country uncertainty, acquirers are more likely to choose non-cash transactions in which acquiring firms can issue their own equity to the target firm as part or all of the purchase consideration of the deal. The result is robust to alternative tests and analysis of subsamples. We also find that differences in uncertainty between host and home countries are informative of bidders' payment choices. Further, we find that the negative relation between target country-specific uncertainty and cash payment weakens when there are larger differences in power distance between host and home countries. Our findings provide recommendations for policy-making bodies, and have implications for firm managers making corporate restructuring decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine how corporate policies are driven by CEO greed. We hypothesize that greedy CEOs are inclined to implement highly aggressive policies that are beneficial for them but are harmful to shareholders. Specifically, firms with greedy CEOs take excessive risk, make higher investments (R&D and capital expenditure), acquire more debt (both short- and long-term), hoard fewer liquid assets (cash holdings and working capital), and pay less dividend. Using a sample of Chinese firms from 2010 to 2019, the results lend support to our predictions. This work contributes to the literature on upper echelon and agency theory by highlighting how organizational outcomes are influenced by the selfish behavior of greedy CEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the determinants and impact of Say-on-Pay (SoP) votes that are mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. We confirm that vote outcomes are positively related to recent firm performance, and negatively related to CEO compensation in the prior year. We document that greater equity ownership by institutions and outside block holders heightens the vote sensitivities to firm performance and CEO compensation. Our estimates indicate that, despite their non-binding nature, SoP votes are an effective device in monitoring management. SoP vote outcomes have material effects. Firms with adverse voting outcomes exhibit stronger stock and accounting performance in the year following the vote, and are associated with smaller CEO compensation increments. Finally, we find that the increments to cash holding are negatively related, while long-term assets are positively related to SoP vote outcomes. These findings are indicative of a disciplinary shock. Our findings suggest that Say-on-Pay should survive the current efforts to repeal various aspects of Dodd-Frank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study examines the moderating effect of social capital on the association between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and cash holdings. Using a sample of US-listed firms from 1990 to 2018, social capital is found to have a positive moderating effect on the association between EPU and cash holdings. Our finding is robust even if we use alternative measures of cash, EPU, and social capital. Based on these outcomes, we suggest that firms located in a county with a high level of social capital endure high EPU by raising cash easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of banking relationships and ownership concentration on corporate cash holdings (CCH) in 333 Indian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) for nine years (2011–2020). Design/methodology/approach: The authors use system generalized method of moments approach to examine the impact of banking relationships and ownership concentration on CCH. Findings: The paper finds that the firm's number of banking relationships share a concave (inverted U-shaped) relationship with the cash holding levels. Initially, the positive relationship may signal weak creditworthiness of MSMEs or be a consequence of bank free-rider monitoring issues. The negative effect after a certain level shows that the competition among banks reduces the firm's financial constraints and therefore makes the firms hoard less cash. The authors also document an inverse relationship between ownership concentration and cash holdings. The authors' results suggest that the presence of large shareholders acts as efficient monitors, reducing the risk of potential agency conflicts and thereby managerial entrenchment resulting in lower cash levels. This association remains unchanged for MSMEs in the service sector. However, the quadratic association between banking relationships and CCH vanishes in the presence of a service sector dummy in the regression model. The authors find a significant positive linear relationship in this regard. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper that studies banking relationships and ownership concentration as determinants of Indian MSMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the connection between rising intangible capital and the secular upward trend in U.S. corporate cash holdings. We calibrate a dynamic model with two productive assets—tangible and intangible capital—in which only tangible capital can serve as collateral. We highlight the following points: (i) a shift toward intangible capital shrinks firms' debt capacity and leads them to hold more cash, (ii) the effect accounts for three‐quarters of the observed trend in average cash ratios, and (iii) it also accounts for the upward trend of cash ratios in the cross‐section of small and large firms and in the aggregate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether board tenure is associated with corporate cash holding and whether country-level political stability moderates the effect of board tenure on corporate cash holding. Using 16,351 firm-year observations across 39 countries, our main results show that firms with higher average board tenure exhibit lower cash holding. Furthermore, strong political stability mitigates the negative relationship between the average board tenure and corporate cash holdings. Our results are robust to various specifications, including endogeneity issue, weighted least-square regression, global financial crisis effect, and alternative measures for corporate cash holding and country-level institutional factors. Overall, our results imply the need to strengthen the institutional environment, given that countries with stable politics are those with incentives for the board to function effectively. JEL Classifications: G38; G18; M41; M43; M44. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]