Corporate governance attributes and financing decision of Top 100 Malaysia Public Listed Companies
List of Authors
  • Norziana Lokman , Nurul Syazwani Yazid

Keyword
  • company size, corporate governance, debt ratio, financing decision, liquidity

Abstract
  • A mistaken financing decision can affect the company's efficiency and result in a lower return to the owner and even expose the company to financial distress. The presence of corporate governance is critical to direct a firm towards better governance and sustainable financing decision. This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and financing decision of Top 100 Malaysian Public-Listed Companies (PLCs). Five corporate governance attributes used in this study are the board size, board independence, CEO duality, managerial ownership and institutional ownership. Additionally, four control variables are included in this study, namely, firm size, firm age, profitability and liquidity. The final sample comprising 77 companies has been included with observation over of three years from 2016 to 2018. The data are collected from the company's annual report, which is available on the company and Bursa Malaysia websites. The financing decision was measured using the debt ratio, and the result revealed a moderate level of debt ratio among Top 100 PLCs. The correlation and regression analysis are used to test the relationship between corporate governance attributes and financing decision. However, result showed that none of the corporate governance attributes has a significant relationship with financing decision using the debt ratio as a proxy. Result also shows that liquidity and size of a company have a significant effect on the company's debt ratio. A similar result is also evidenced when the debt ratio is replaced with a debt-to-equity ratio. Overall, the result suggests that the decision to finance a company activity depends on financial needs and characteristic of the company rather than on governance attributes.

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