Cash management behavior of firms and its structural change in an emerging money market

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>Driven by fast evolution in the money market during the past two decades, financial and technological innovations, increasing competition, and internationalizing of businesses, cash and treasury management has become an increasingly important function in most firms. It is reasonable to expect that the role of financial transactions in the cash management process in adding to firm value has increased its importance and changed the cash management behavior of firms.</p><p>The main purpose of this study is to investigate this potential behavioral change in cash management by examining the cash management practices behind the models explaining the cash management behavior and to test the stability of some of these models. It is hypothesized that the environmental changes have been remarkable enough to change the cash management behavior, which can be seen as a structural change in the cash management function. The factors assumed to explain this phenomenon may concern organizational and technological arrangements in cash management, likewise professional skills in the area of financial transactions and incentives for these especially created by emerging money markets.</p><p>The examination was conducted using the survey method to map out the best cash management practices followed by Finnish listed manufacturing and service companies and by testing the stability of both static and dynamic models explaining cash management behavior. The empirical part of the study is based on three questionnaires in three separate years, namely 1988, 1994, and 2000, and the empirical estimation of the selected cash management models using financial statement data for the years 1972 to 2001.</p><p>The study concludes that during the research period firms have achieved a significant technological progress (improving systems and methods) and significant behavioral changes (increasing professionalism) concerning cash management practices, referring to opportunities for more effective cash management operations. The stability tests of cash management models indicated that a structural change in cash management behavior occurred after the deregulation years in the money market. These results were consistent with the surveys referring the development in the efficiency of the firms’ cash management.</p></div>