The impact of working capital management on cash holdings of large and small firms: evidence from Jordan

  • Received May 23, 2019;
    Accepted July 31, 2019;
    Published August 14, 2019
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  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/imfi.16(3).2019.08
  • Article Info
    Volume 16 2019, Issue #3, pp. 76-86
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Liquidity is a firm’s ability to pay its current obligations as they come due and thus remain in business in the short run, which reflects the ease with which assets can be converted to cash. The objective of working capital management (WCM) is to minimize the cost of maintaining liquidity while guarding against the risk of insolvency, working capital policy applies to short-term decisions, and capital structure finance applies to long-term decisions.
Several studies have been conducted on the impact of WCM on cash holding levels. The impact of WCM on liquidity and cash holding levels is analyzed in this study. The study also makes a comparison between large- and small-scale firms. Panel data for 62 Jordanian industrial firms covering an eleven-year period (2006–2016) have been analyzed. The descriptive analysis indicates that large firms hold more cash than small firms, as well as more debt, cash flow and growth.
The findings of the data set indicate that WCM, as a variable (working capital net of cash), is a strong predictor of firm cash holding levels. When a firm has several cash substitutes, it will maintain low cash levels. The separate analysis shows that there are significant differences between small- and large-scale firms for determinates related to cash holding levels. Firm size and cash flow ratios were strong predictors of cash holding levels for both samples.

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    • Table 1. Main results of previous studies
    • Table 2. Variable type, denomination and computation
    • Table 3. Descriptive measures
    • Table 4. Correlation matrix
    • Table 5. Determinants of cash holding (CH)
    • Table 6. Determinants of cash holding (CH) (large firms)
    • Table 7. Determinants of cash holding (CH) (small firms)