IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v53y2019i2d10.1007_s11156-018-0754-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The asymmetry in firms’ mechanisms of cash holdings adjustments: evidence from the G-5 economies

Author

Listed:
  • Cuong Nguyen

    (The University of Huddersfield)

Abstract

Using a G-5 country sample (France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US) from 1980 to 2007, I find new evidence of the asymmetry in firms’ mechanisms of cash holdings adjustments. They undertake different approaches to move toward their target cash holdings levels conditional on whether they have below- or above-target cash holdings. Specifically, firms with above-target cash holdings adjust mainly via changes in cash flows from financing and investing. They generally reduce their levels of equity proceeds, net debt issues and fixed asset disposal but increase their levels of equity repurchases, dividend payout, net assets from acquisitions, portfolio and short-term investments, and capital expenditures. However, firms with below-target cash holdings adjust mainly via changes in operating cash flows, i.e., they increase their levels of funds from operations but reduce their levels of working capital. The mechanisms undertaken by firms with above-target cash holdings allow them to adjust toward their target cash holdings relatively faster than those with below-target cash holdings, as they possibly incur lower costs than the mechanisms experienced by firms with below-target cash holdings. The results highlight the importance of understanding the asymmetry in firms’ mechanisms of cash holdings adjustments when analyzing how they adjust toward their target cash holdings levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuong Nguyen, 2019. "The asymmetry in firms’ mechanisms of cash holdings adjustments: evidence from the G-5 economies," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 429-463, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:53:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0754-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-018-0754-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-018-0754-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-018-0754-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brennan, Michael J & Thakor, Anjan V, 1990. "Shareholder Preferences and Dividend Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 993-1018, September.
    2. Merton H. Miller & Daniel Orr, 1966. "A Model of the Demand for Money by Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(3), pages 413-435.
    3. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    5. Malcolm Baker & Stefan Nagel & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2007. "The Effect of Dividends on Consumption," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 38(1), pages 231-292.
    6. Miller, Merton H. & Scholes, Myron S., 1978. "Dividends and taxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 333-364, December.
    7. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    8. Leigh A. Riddick & Toni M. Whited, 2009. "The Corporate Propensity to Save," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1729-1766, August.
    9. Faulkender, Michael & Flannery, Mark J. & Hankins, Kristine Watson & Smith, Jason M., 2012. "Cash flows and leverage adjustments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 632-646.
    10. Soku Byoun, 2008. "How and When Do Firms Adjust Their Capital Structures toward Targets?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 3069-3096, December.
    11. Praveen Kumar, 1988. "Shareholder-Manager Conflict and the Information Content of Dividends," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(2), pages 111-136.
    12. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1995. "A Theory of Income and Dividend Smoothing Based on Incumbency Rents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 75-93, February.
    13. Ozkan, Aydin & Ozkan, Neslihan, 2004. "Corporate cash holdings: An empirical investigation of UK companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 2103-2134, September.
    14. Wu, Wenfeng & Rui, Oliver M. & Wu, Chongfeng, 2012. "Trade credit, cash holdings, and financial deepening: Evidence from a transitional economy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2868-2883.
    15. William J. Baumol, 1952. "The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 66(4), pages 545-556.
    16. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Michael S. Weisbach, 2002. "Corporate Demand for Liquidity," NBER Working Papers 9253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Brav, Alon & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Michaely, Roni, 2005. "Payout policy in the 21st century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 483-527, September.
    18. Albert Ando & Dimitrios Christelis & Tsutomu Miyagawa, 2003. "Inefficiency of Corporate Investment and Distortion of Savings Behavior in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 155-190, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jiang, Zhan & Lie, Erik, 2016. "Cash holding adjustments and managerial entrenchment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 190-205.
    20. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    21. Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2007. "Do Tests of Capital Structure Theory Mean What They Say?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1747-1787, August.
    22. Opler, Tim & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Rene & Williamson, Rohan, 1999. "The determinants and implications of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 3-46, April.
    23. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan, 2007. "Corporate governance and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 599-634, March.
    24. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2003. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    25. Brown, James R. & Petersen, Bruce C., 2011. "Cash holdings and R&D smoothing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 694-709, June.
    26. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    27. Mark T. Leary & Michael R. Roberts, 2005. "Do Firms Rebalance Their Capital Structures?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2575-2619, December.
    28. Orlova, Svetlana V. & Rao, Ramesh P., 2018. "Cash holdings speed of adjustment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-14.
    29. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    30. Miller, Merton H & Rock, Kevin, 1985. "Dividend Policy under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1031-1051, September.
    31. Venkiteshwaran, Vinod, 2011. "Partial adjustment toward optimal cash holding levels," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 113-121, August.
    32. Ilan Guttman & Ohad Kadan & Eugene Kandel, 2010. "Dividend Stickiness and Strategic Pooling," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4455-4495, December.
    33. Bliss, Richard T. & Rosen, Richard J., 2001. "CEO compensation and bank mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 107-138, July.
    34. Magnus Blomström & Jennifer Corbett & Fumio Hayashi & Anil Kashyap, 2003. "Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number blom03-1.
    35. Amir Sufi, 2009. "Bank Lines of Credit in Corporate Finance: An Empirical Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1057-1088, March.
    36. Amir Sufi, 2009. "Bank Lines of Credit in Corporate Finance: An Empirical Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1057-1088.
    37. Best, Roger J & Best, Ronald W, 2001. "Prior Information and the Market Reaction to Dividend Changes," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 361-376, December.
    38. Kevin Chiang, Wei-yu & Monahan, George E., 2005. "Managing inventories in a two-echelon dual-channel supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(2), pages 325-341, April.
    39. Subramanian Rama Iyer & Harry Feng & Ramesh P. Rao, 2017. "Payout flexibility and capital expenditure," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 633-659, October.
    40. Bakke, Tor-Erik & Gu, Tiantian, 2017. "Diversification and cash dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 580-601.
    41. Lee, Bong Soo & Suh, Jungwon, 2011. "Cash holdings and share repurchases: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1306-1329.
    42. John, Kose & Williams, Joseph, 1985. "Dividends, Dilution, and Taxes: A Signalling Equilibrium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1053-1070, September.
    43. Sudipto Bhattacharya, 1979. "Imperfect Information, Dividend Policy, and "The Bird in the Hand" Fallacy," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 259-270, Spring.
    44. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2003. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 2.
    45. Orlova, Svetlana V. & Sun, Li, 2018. "Institutional determinants of cash holdings speed of adjustment," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 123-137.
    46. Mulligan, Casey B, 1997. "Scale Economies, the Value of Time, and the Demand for Money: Longitudinal Evidence from Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 1061-1079, October.
    47. Min Teng & Toyohiko Hachiya, 2013. "Agency Problems and Stock Repurchases: Evidence from Japan," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(03), pages 1-30.
    48. Jarrad Harford & Kai Li, 2007. "Decoupling CEO Wealth and Firm Performance: The Case of Acquiring CEOs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 917-949, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tri Tri Nguyen & Manh Cuong Nguyen & Hung Quang Bui & Tuyet Nhung Vu, 2021. "The cash-holding link within the supply chain," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1309-1344, November.
    2. Fryderyk Mirota & Natalia Nehrebecka, 2020. "Dynamika dostosowań transakcyjnej rezerwy płynności przedsiębiorstw do poziomu optymalnego," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 51(6), pages 613-638.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tri Tri Nguyen & Manh Cuong Nguyen & Hung Quang Bui & Tuyet Nhung Vu, 2021. "The cash-holding link within the supply chain," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1309-1344, November.
    2. Cristina Martínez-Sola & Pedro J. García-Teruel & Pedro Martínez-Solano, 2018. "Cash holdings in SMEs: speed of adjustment, growth and financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 823-842, December.
    3. Davide Dottori & Giacinto Micucci, 2018. "Corporate liquidity in Italy and its increase in the long recession," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 981-1014, December.
    4. Efstathios Magerakis & Konstantinos Gkillas & Athanasios Tsagkanos & Costas Siriopoulos, 2020. "Firm Size Does Matter: New Evidence on the Determinants of Cash Holdings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-35, July.
    5. Denis, David J., 2011. "Financial flexibility and corporate liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 667-674, June.
    6. Paulo, Alves, 2018. "Abnormal retained earnings around the world," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 63-74.
    7. Sun, Wenyi & Yin, Chao & Zeng, Yeqin, 2023. "Precautionary motive or private benefit motive for holding cash: Evidence from CEO ownership," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Christopher F. Baum & Mustafa Caglayan & Oleksandr Talavera, 2013. "The Effects of Future Capital Investment and R&D Expenditures on Firms' Liquidity," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 459-474, August.
    9. Nishant B. Labhane & Jitendra Mahakud, 2018. "Dividend Smoothing and Business Groups: Evidence from Indian Companies," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(3), pages 690-706, June.
    10. Qazi Awais Amin & Tom Williamson, 2021. "Firms cash management, adjustment cost and its impact on firms’ speed of adjustment: a cross country analysis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 53-89, January.
    11. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    12. Abdul Rashid & Maryam Ashfaq, 2017. "Financial Constraints And Corporate Cash Holdings: An Empirical Analysis Using Firm Level Data," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(02), pages 1-26, June.
    13. Mar𨁂el鮠Lozano & Simone Caltabiano, 2015. "Cross institutional cash and dividend policies: focusing on Brazilian firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 239-254, January.
    14. Arnold, Marc, 2014. "Managerial cash use, default, and corporate financial policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 305-325.
    15. Daniel Tut, 2022. "Policy uncertainty and cash dynamics," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 422-444, June.
    16. David, Thomas & Ginglinger, Edith, 2016. "When cutting dividends is not bad news: The case of optional stock dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 174-191.
    17. Lins, Karl V. & Servaes, Henri & Tufano, Peter, 2010. "What drives corporate liquidity? An international survey of cash holdings and lines of credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 160-176, October.
    18. Ming-Chi Chen & Chin-Yu Wang & So-De Shyu, 2012. "Liquidity and the Future Stock Returns of the REIT Industry," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 588-603, October.
    19. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2015. "In search of robust methods for dynamic panel data models in empirical corporate finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 84-98.
    20. Beyer, Brooke & Downes, Jimmy & Rapley, Eric T., 2017. "Internal capital market inefficiencies, shareholder payout, and abnormal leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 39-57.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash holdings; Adjustment mechanisms; Adjustment costs; Asymmetric adjustments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:53:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0754-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.