Cash Holdings Policy: a Dynamic Analysis of Brazilian Companies

Main Article Content

Fadwa Muhieddine Dahrouge
Richard Saito

Abstract

This paper investigates how corporate cash holdings were adjusted over time for Brazilian companies during the crisis of 2008-2009. We adopt a dynamic model of corporate cash holdings to evaluate the main determinants for the speed of adjustment of cash holdings at the optimum level. We find evidence that: a) the adjustment costs of Brazilian companies are high implying a delay in reaching the optimum level of cash; b) the low speed adjustment to the optimum level is due to the limited availability of credit and the high cost of bank debt; c) during crisis, the changes in working capital are positively related to the level of cash holdings providing evidence that companies prefer finance to growth with liquidity; d) companies have looked for long-term financing to secure liquidity rather than investing on fixed assets, implying a negative relationship between investment and cash holding.

Article Details

Section
Long Paper
Author Biographies

Fadwa Muhieddine Dahrouge, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE; fadwa@cba.inpe.br;

Richard Saito, Fundação Getulio Vargas

Professor, Fundação Getúlio Vargas - Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo - EAESP/FGV