Accounts payable and firm value: International evidence

We conduct a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis that uses the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008 as an exogenous shock to examine the value effects of accounts payable. Analyses of 136,783 firm-year observations (21,765 companies) from 40 countries show that accounts payable significantly absorbed the reduction of Tobin's Q during the GFC. The value effect is pronounced for civil law, long-term-oriented, and high-uncertainty-avoidance countries, in which long-term relations are likely beneficial. These results are obtained after controlling for other country- and firm-level characteristics as well as with alternative definitions of the global financial crisis and accounts payable. We also find that trade credit in those countries prevents a significant reduction in inventory investments during the GFC.