Includes bibliographical references / This paper investigates the impact of firm size and industry on the capital structure of listed South African firms. It uses data obtained from firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and tests trade-off theory and pecking order theory for firms of various sizes, firms in different industries and also tests for differences between debt maturities. Multiple fixed effect models are used to firstly test for the main factors that impact capital structure and secondly to test which sources of capital are preferred to finance a change in assets. The analysis shows that firms of different sizes and firms that operate in different industries choose their capital structure in various ways. Larger firms are more highly geared debt more than small firms and smaller firms prefer to use internally generated funds. The two main capital structure theories, trade-off and pecking order, do not explain the difference in behaviour adequately. The paper also finds that similar factors impact both long-term and short-term debt.

Some firms allow their CEO to hold the position of Chair of the Board of Directors while other firms choose to split those two positions between two different individuals. This dissertation first examines whether agency control mechanisms, agency problems, and other firm characteristics are related to the observed choice of one or two individuals in the two positions. The empirical research is based on the hypothesis that having the positions split between two individuals is a means of controlling agency problems when used in concert with (either as a substitute for or as a complement to) other mechanisms for controlling agency problems. Firms are thus viewed as evaluating the costs and benefits of split positions as well as of other agency control mechanisms. They choose the most cost effective means of addressing the problems they face. If split positions are more cost effective, then the firm should choose to split positions other things equal. The very high predictive power of the estimated logistic model confirms the hypothesis that the probability of choosing split positions is related to control mechanisms and agency problems as well as to size and other factors. Some agency control mechanisms perform as complementary agency control mechanisms and some as substitutes for split positions. The results suggest that firms with higher agency costs of debt and equity are more likely to have chosen to split positions. The results are thus consistent with the view of the choice of split positions as a means of managing agency problems in concert with other mechanisms in an integrative decision framework. The second part of the dissertation examines the linkage between the CEO-Chair choice and the performance of the company (as measured by returns or operating efficiency). Shareholder activists argue that poor performance results when the CEO serves simultaneously as the Chair of the Board of Directors, so called "CEO duality." This dissertation examines whether firms that split these positions experience higher accounting performance than firms that do not split the positions. Several hypotheses are tested regarding the effects on firms with split positions. The empirical model indicates that firms that have split positions exhibit, on average, no lower or higher performance than other firms after integrating into the model industry effects, the role of other agency control mechanisms, the size of agency problems, and other firm characteristics. This is consistent with an irrelevance hypothesis as well as with the possibility that firms choose their policies optimally once other factors are accounted for. However, the firms with split positions do exhibit a different relationship between information asymmetry and performance as well as between other agency control mechanisms and performance. The use of agency control mechanisms, for example as measured by the proportion of the firm held by institutional investors, have a greater effect on performance for non-split than for split firms. Overall the results support the notion that firm and management characteristics (such as the level of agency problems, information asymmetry, ownership structure, and the existence of other agency control mechanisms) influence the choice to split positions and influence the role and effectiveness of split positions. The vast majority of firms' choice can be predicted by using such characteristics in an integrated model of the decision. The results imply that the benefits of split positions may be firm specific, that split positions are only appropriate for some firms, and that a net benefit will not be captured by all firms that simply enact a policy of split positions independent of their fundamental characteristics. / Ph. D.

Tinkamas kapitalo struktūros parinkimas lemia sėkmingą įmonės veiklą ir perspektyvas. Keičiantis rinkoms, finansinei ir ekonominei situacijai, keičiasi finansinių šaltinių pasirinkimo alternatyvos. Siekiant rasti optimalią įmonės kapitalo struktūrą reikia efektyviai subalansuoti skolintas ir nuosavas lėšas bei nustatyti kokie veiksniai sąlygoja kapitalo struktūros formavimą. Tai gali būti tiek vidiniai, tokie kaip įmonių galimybės skolintis, pelningumas, įmonės dydis ir kt., tiek išoriniai veiksniai: bendrasis vidaus produktas, infliacija, palūkanų norma ir kt. Šio darbo objektas – įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimas. Darbo tikslas – ištirti Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūrą sąlygojančius veiksnius bei sudaryti kapitalo struktūros ir tiriamų veiksnių ryšio modelį. Siekiant iškelto tikslo, yra nagrinėjami tokie uždaviniai: • remiantis moksline literatūra išanalizuoti įmonės kapitalo struktūros sudėtį bei pagrindines kapitalo struktūros formavimo teorijas ir principus; • atlikti empirinių tyrimų analizę, kuriuose užsienio ir Lietuvos autoriai tiria veiksnius, sąlygojančius kapitalo struktūros formavimą. Ištirti ir palyginti keleto autorių sukurtus kapitalo struktūros formavimo modelius; • sudaryti makroekonominių rodiklių ir finansinio sverto sąveikos modelį bei nustatyti makroekonominių veiksnių poveikį Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimui. Išanalizavus įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimo teorijas galima teigti, kad šios teorijos ir požiūriai neatsako į klausimą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Selection of appropriate capital structure determines the success and prospects of business. With changes in markets, financial and economic situation, there are changes also to the alternatives of funding sources. In order to find the optimal capital structure one has to balance the own and borrowed funds efficiency and to identify what factors determine the structure of capital formation. This can be both internal factors, such as business lending opportunities, profitability, company size, etc., as well as external factors: gross domestic product, inflation, interest rate and others. Objective of this work is corporate capital structure formation. The aim of this work is to explore the factors influencing the capital structure formation of Lithuanian companies and develop the communication model between the analysed factors. In order to achieve the objective, the following tasks are considered: • based on scientific literature, to analyze a company's capital structure composition and the basic theories and principles of the capital structure formation; • to carry out an analysis of empirical research where foreign and Lithuanian authors investigate the factors influencing the capital structure formation. To analyse and compare models for the formation of capital structure developed by several authors; • to develop a model for the interaction of macro-economic indicators and financial leverage and determine the influence of macroeconomic factors on the capital structure... [to full text]

Despite the fact that a preponderance of past studies in corporate finance mainly focus on capital structure decision of firms, the problems of “what factors determine the capital structure choice of firms and how firms adjust their capital structure dynamically” are still riddling. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of capital structure and capital structure adjustment dynamics of banks. To this end, the study employed a quantitative research approach. Specifically, secondary data have been collected through document review of annual reports of selected banks for longitudinal/panel research design. Besides, primary data have been collected through a self- administered questionnaire distributed to the selected Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) for the cross-sectional survey research design of the study. As the method of data analysis, the study estimates both static and dynamic panel models using fixed effect and GMM estimators respectively. Besides, in analyzing the cross-sectional survey responses, appropriate statistical techniques for order-ranked and nominal/categorical items of the responses have been employed. Specifically, in the univariate analysis of survey responses, mean scores and percentage of categorical responses have been computed for order-ranked and nominal items respectively. Moreover, to test the significance of differences of mean scores of order-ranked and percentage of responses of nominal items conditional on bank characteristics, the study employed the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test and the likelihood ratio test respectively. As the result, the tax shield from interest tax deductibility, profitability and/or size of free cash flows, growth opportunities and regulatory pressure factors are found to be significant determinants of capital structure decisions, consistently in estimations of panel models and cross-sectional survey. In iii examining the capital structure adjustment dynamics, both the regression estimation and survey results revealed the tendency of banks in Ethiopia to set target capital structure and adjust towards it at a relatively faster speed of adjustment. Besides, both regression model estimation and survey results disclose the asymmetrical target capital structure adjustment of banks. To be specific, overleveraged or undercapitalized banks adjust more quickly than underleveraged or overcapitalized banks. Further, the speed of target capital structure adjustment is found to be heterogeneous across banks that differ in their absolute deviations from target capital structure, size, regulatory pressure for capital adequacy and ownership. Hence, by empirically examining the determinants and dynamics of capital structure of banks in Ethiopia, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the subject under study, and/or it fills a gap in the existing reference literature on the subject. Most importantly, the study tries to untangle the capital structure issues of banks, especially the dynamics, in the context of the least developed financial system where there are no secondary market and oligopolistic banking sector. / Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) / D.B.L.

The main aim of this work is financial analysis and evaluation of capital structure, whose calculation is applied to concrete company from the South Bohemian region. The analysis was done in three dimensions, when firstly the capital structure of the company was analyzed including horizontal and vertical analysis. Further, types of financing are described and in conclusion the financial efficiency and capital structure are evaluated.

Problematika výběru kapitálové struktury byla a stále je často diskutována akademickou obcí již přes půl století a stále ještě nebylo dosaženo jednoznačného souladu, která teorie kapitálu a jaké determinanty ovlivňují kapitálovou strukturu. Modligliani a Miller (1958) zformulovali moderní teorii kapitálové struktury. Tvrdí, že pokud jsou splněny přísné podmínky, kapitálová struktura je irelevantní pro hodnotu společnosti. Avšak pokud nějaké předpoklady nejsou naplněny, kapitálová struktura se stává významná. Nyní, dvě hlavní teorie kapitálové struktury převládají – teorie hierarchického pořádku a trade-off teorie. Teorie hierarchického pořádku je vysvětlena informační asymetrií mezi manažery a ostatními lidmi. Toto způsobuje rozdílné ocenění vydaných cenných papírů danými skupinami lidí. Proto společnosti preferují vydat cenné papíry nejméně citlivé na dostupné informace. Pokud potřebují volné finance, nejdříve použijí vnitřní zdroje, následně dluh a jako poslední možností je vydání nového vlastního kapitálu. Trade-off teorie řeší rovnováhu mezi daňovým štítem dluhu a náklady finanční tísně. Důsledkem tohoto substitučního vztahu je optimální kapitálová struktura, kterou by se společnosti měly snažit získat a dále udržet. Mnoho výzkumu týkající se výběru kapitálové struktury již bylo provedeno a jeho výsledky jsou stále neurčité. Protože mnoho článků stále nabízí bezvýsledné závěry a jejich výsledky se liší v rámci zemí a skrz časové období, cílem mé práce je prozkoumat kapitálovou strukturu a determinanty kapitálové struktury v rámci Višegrádských zemí v období od 2002 do 2007. Hlavním přínosem této práce je prozkoumat data, která ještě nebyla před tím prozkoumána. Důvod, proč tomu tak je, může být obtížnost v získávání a zpracování dat. Již mnoho článků bylo napsáno o kapitálové struktuře, ale mnohé měly nedostatky. První výhodou mé práce je, že zkontroluji veškeré předpoklady mé analýzy. Znázorňuji, že heteroskedasticita a autokorelace jsou občas přítomny a snažím se je odstranit. Tímto se vyhnu zkresleným výsledkům. Další výhodou mého výzkumu je, že používám relativně velké množství vysvětlujících proměnných. Mnozí autoři záměrně vynechávají proměnné jako likvidita, růstové příležitosti nebo volatilitu tržeb (obchodní risk). Navíc používám tři druhy dluhů jako vysvětlované proměnné – celkový, dlouhodobý a krátkodobý, které nejsou také běžně používané. Dále používám dynamický vztah v zadluženosti, jelikož současná zadluženost může záviset na minulosti z důvodu setrvání nebo pouze částečnému přizpůsobení. Schopnost tohoto docílit je unikátní pro panelová data, která používám v této práci. Výsledkem je, že zadluženost má paměť a závisí na zadluženosti z minulých let. Hlavní závěry mohou být rozděleny do dvou skupin. Do první skupiny patří výsledky regrese z České republiky a Polska a druhé z Maďarska a Slovenska. Výsledky z první skupiny ukazují pozitivní vztah mezi zadlužeností českých a maďarských společností a tempem růstu společností a nedaňovým štítem, který je použit jako náhrada za daňový štít. Zatímco ziskovost, likvidita, struktura aktiv, obchodní riziko a velikost firmy je negativně korelována s dluhem. Tyto závěry podporují teorii hierarchického pořádku. Na druhou stranu, výsledky z Maďarska a Slovenska podporují trade-off teorii. V této druhé skupině struktura aktiv, ziskovost, velikost firmy je kladně korelována se zadlužeností, zatímco zbylé proměnné ukazují zápornou korelaci.

The thesis discusses the possibilities of development finance company with a view to optimizing its capital structure. In the practical part are applied the theoretical findings, is done analysis of the selected company by absolute and relative indicators, is calculated the value of the necessary capital, subsequently determined the most appropriate financing option with respect to the optimal capital structure of the company and recommended what resources the firm should finance the development.

The relevance of this work consists that possibilities of financial management are still insufficiently studied by working capital of the enterprise and sources of his formation for management of the large industrial companies. In this regard in work are investigated theoretical and methodological bases of management of working capital, the structure of working capital of the PJSC Electrozinc enterprise is analyzed and on this basis problems of management of working capital at the enterprise come to light and concrete ways of their solution are proposed. / Актуальность данной работы состоит в том, что возможности финансового управления оборотным капиталом предприятия и источниками его формирования еще недостаточно изучены для целей управления крупными промышленными компаниями. В связи с этим в работе исследуются теоретическую и методологическую основы управления оборотным капиталом, анализируется структура оборотного капитала предприятия ПАО «Электроцинк» и на этой основе выявляются проблемы управления оборотным капиталом на предприятии и предлагаются конкретные пути их решения.

Bakgrund: Små företag skapar fyra av fem nya jobb till samhället och bidrar till Sveriges fortsatta tillväxt och utveckling. Flera organisationer och representanter för små företag argumenterar för subventioner och ett bättre företagarklimat. Företagsfinansiering är ett ämne som diskuteras av många, eftersom alla företag är i behov av finansiering för att driva en verksamhet. Det finns två olika sätt att finansiera sin verksamhet, främmande och eget kapital. Syfte: Syftet med vårt ämnesfördjupande arbete är att kartlägga kapitalstrukturen för små företag. Vidare syftar uppsatsen till att förklara de bakomliggande faktorer som ligger till grund för valet av finansiering. Studien avser att understödja forskningen med ett analytiskt bidrag av de faktorer småföretagare avväger vid valet av kapitalstruktur. Metod: Studien består av både en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ studie. Den kvantitativa studien ämnar kartlägga företags kapitalstruktur samtidigt som den kvalitativa studien syftar att förklara de bakomliggande faktorerna till företagens val av kapitalstruktur. Resultat, slutsatser: Slutsatsen är att en majoritet av små företag väljer att finansiera sin verksamhet enligt Pecking Order Theory på grund av faktorerna asymmetrisk information, kontrollbehov, målsättning och ägarstruktur. Vi fastställer att små företag bortser från effekterna som följer av tillämpning av Pecking Order Theory eller Trade-off Theory och istället grundar sina val av kapitalstruktur enligt ovanstående faktorer. / Bachelor thesis, Controller, Program of Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linneaus University in Växjö, Sweden, Course Code: 2FE24E, Spring 2016 Authors: Andy Jerez, Fredrik Olsson, Viktor Olsson Supervisor: Anders Jerreling Title: A survey of small firms capital structure – A study of factors influence capital structure. Background: Small Businesses create four out of five new jobs to the society and contribute to Sweden's continued growth and development. Several organizations and representatives of these companies argue for subsidies and a better business climate. Corporate finance is a topic discussed due to that all companies are affected and need funding to operate their business. There are two different ways to finance their operations, debt and equity. Purpose: The purpose of our essay is to identify capital structure for small businesses. Furthermore, the study aims to explain the underlying factors that form the basis for selection of financing. The study intends to support research with an analytical contribution of the factors small business considers in the choice of capital structure. Method: The study consists of both a quantitative and a qualitative study . The quantitative study intends to map out the company's capital structure while the qualitative study seeks to explain the underlying factors to the firm's choice of capital structure. Conclusion: The conclusion is that the majority of companies choose to finance their operations using Pecking Order Theory is due to the factors asymmetric information, control issues, objectives and ownership. We establish that small businesses disregard the effects resulting from the application of the Pecking Order Theory or Trade-off Theory and instead base their choice of capital structure of the above factors. Keywords: SME-firms, Financing, Capital Structure, Debt ratio, Capital.

This dissertation includes three essays, which investigate contingent claims pricing subject to credit risk based on the structural approach and analyze associated issues of corporate finance. The first essay develops and examines a partial equilibrium model to investigate the effects of macroeconomic condition and firm-level productivity shocks on the determination of optimal debt ratio. The model extends the contingent-claims models of the firm's capital structure by incorporating both the industry demand and firm-level supply factors into the firm's earnings and unlevered asset value. Our model predicts that the optimal debt ratio is negatively correlated to the macroeconomic conditions and the firm-level productivity. Furthermore, the theoretical implications are totally supported by the pooled feasible generalized least squares estimation with 311 Taiwanese listed manufacturing firms' quarterly data over the period from 1994 to 2003. The differences between the high-tech electronics and other manufacturing firms are also investigated, and particularly the high-tech firms are not tied up with the macroeconomic conditions while the others are. The second essay presents a contingent claim valuation of a callable convertible bond with the issuer's credit risk. The optimal call, voluntary conversion and bankruptcy strategies are jointly determined by shareholders and bondholders to maximize the equity value and the bond value, respectively. Our model not only incorporates tax benefits, bankruptcy costs, refunding costs and a call notice period, but also takes account of the issuer's debt size and structure. The numerical results show that the predicted optimal call policies are generally consistent with recent empirical findings; therefore calling convertible bonds too late or too early can be rational. The third essay provides a closed-form valuation formula for the Black-Scholes options subject to interest rate risk and credit risk. Not only does our model allow for the possible default of the option issuer prior to the option's maturity, but also considers the correlations among the option issuer's total asset, the underlying stock, and the default-free zero coupon bond. We further tailor-make a specific credit-linked option for hedging the default risk of the option issuer. The numerical results show that the default risk of the option issuer significantly reduces the option values, and the vulnerable option values may be remarkably overestimated in the case where the default can occur only at the maturity of the option.