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CEO Risk Incentives and Corporate Cash Holdings

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  • Zhenxu Tong

Abstract

This paper studies the implications of risk‐related agency theory on corporate cash holdings. Cash holdings are less risky but negative NPV projects from the investment perspective. Agency theory predicts that a risk‐averse CEO keeps more cash holdings to reduce firm risk at the expense of shareholder value. We use a measure of CEO risk incentives based on executive stock options, and study its relation with corporate cash holdings. We find that firms with higher CEO risk incentives have less cash holdings. We find that the value of cash holdings is higher in firms with higher CEO risk incentives. These findings are consistent with risk‐related agency theory.

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  • Zhenxu Tong, 2010. "CEO Risk Incentives and Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9‐10), pages 1248-1280, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:37:y:2010:i:9-10:p:1248-1280
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2010.02208.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Susana Álvarez-Díez & J. Baixauli-Soler & María Belda-Ruiz, 2014. "Are we using the wrong letters? An analysis of executive stock option Greeks," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 22(2), pages 237-262, June.
    3. Zhenxu Tong, 2015. "Labor Unions and Forms of Corporate Liquidity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7-8), pages 1007-1039, September.
    4. Atif, Muhammad & Huang, Allen & Liu, Benjamin, 2020. "The effect of say on pay on CEO compensation and spill-over effect on corporate cash holdings: Evidence from Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Chou, Robin K. & Wang, Yu-Chun & Jimmy Yang, J., 2021. "Share pledging, payout policy, and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 18-33.
    6. Efstathios Magerakis & Konstantinos Gkillas & Athanasios Tsagkanos & Costas Siriopoulos, 2020. "Firm Size Does Matter: New Evidence on the Determinants of Cash Holdings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-35, July.
    7. Livne, Gilad & Markarian, Garen & Mironov, Maxim, 2013. "Investment horizon, risk, and compensation in the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3669-3680.
    8. Wan Adibah Wan Ismail & Khairul Anuar Kamarudin & Namrata Gupta & Iman Harymawan, 2022. "Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Corporate Cash Holdings: The Moderating Effect of Investor Protection," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Yung, Kenneth & Nafar, Nadia A., 2014. "Creditor rights and corporate cash holdings: International evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 111-127.
    10. Khalil Jebran & Shihua Chen & Wanying Cai, 2022. "Excess of everything is bad: CEO greed and corporate policies," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1577-1607, November.
    11. Jan Felix Weidemann, 2018. "A state-of-the-art review of corporate cash holding research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 765-797, August.
    12. Huang, Henry He & Liu, Chanjuan & Sun, Li, 2019. "Chemical releases and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 159-173.
    13. Jose Miranda-Lopez & Svetlana Orlova & Li Sun, 2019. "CEO network centrality and corporate cash holdings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 967-1003, November.
    14. Guoqiang Hu & Jason Zezhong Xiao & Yuhan Zhen, 2022. "The Effect of Dialect Sharing on Corporate Cash Holdings in China," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(3), pages 393-431, September.
    15. Muhammad Atif & Benjamin Liu & Sivathaasan Nadarajah, 2022. "The effect of corporate environmental, social and governance disclosure on cash holdings: Life‐cycle perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2193-2212, July.
    16. Laurence Booth & Christos Ntantamis & Jun Zhou, 2015. "Financial Constraints, R&D Investment, and the Value of Cash Holdings," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(04), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Canil, Jean & Karpavičius, Sigitas, 2022. "Managerial risk-taking incentives and cash holding in U.S. firms: Evidence from FAS 123R," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 605-628.
    18. Yacine Belghitar & Ephraim Clark, 2014. "Convexity, Magnification, And Translation: The Effect Of Managerial Option-Based Compensation On Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 37(2), pages 191-210, June.
    19. Livne, Gilad & Markarian, Garen & Milne, Alistair, 2011. "Bankers' compensation and fair value accounting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1096-1115, September.
    20. Nwokoye Anwuli Gladys, 2022. "What Determines Cash Holding of Listed Deposit Money Banks? Evidence from Nigeria," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(6), pages 1-36, June.
    21. Akhtar Tahir, 2022. "Corporate governance, excess-cash and firm value: Evidence from ASEAN-5," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 8(4), pages 39-67, December.

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