Capital structure and financing decisions of agricultural cooperatives: Spanish evidence

The study of the financial structure is a complex and recurrent line of research in the field of corporate finance. Increasing the understanding of the financial structure and its implications on corporate governance is the starting point for improving the access to external financing and reduce transaction costs as to optimize internal funding policies. There is no universal theory of financial structure although partial theories have arisen from empirical studies, attempting to relate structure with different variables. However, at the micro level, the impact of different types of funding could vary according to the economic situation or the type of company. While financial theory has traditionally been based on using internal indicators of the companies as explanatory variables of their financial structure, the empirical evidence reveals that this structure varies over time as a result of macroeconomic conditions of the environment in which they are immersed. This paper provides empirical evidence on the financial structure of cooperatives in Spain and its possible relationship with different variables through a regression model, particularizing the study to agricultural cooperatives. The use of accounting data in different time horizons eases the analysis of the effect of macroeconomic conditions and financial constraints on the determinants of the capital structure of these entities.