1、资本结构中英文对照外文翻译文献中英文对照外文翻译(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)The effect of capital structure on profitability : an empirical analysis of listed firms in Ghana Introduction The capital structure decision is crucial for any business organization. The decision is important because of the need to maximize returns to various o
2、rganizational constituencies, and also because of the impact such a decision has on a firms ability to deal with its competitive environment. The capital structure of a firm is actually a mix of different securities. In general, a firm can choose among many alternative capital structures. It can iss
3、ue a large amount of debt or very little debt. It can arrange lease financing, use warrants, issue convertible bonds, sign forward contracts or trade bond swaps. It can issue dozens of distinct securities in countless combinations; however, it attempts to find the particular combination that maximiz
4、es its overall market value. A number of theories have been advanced in explaining the capital structure of firms. Despite the theoretical appeal of capital structure, researchers in financial management have not found the optimal capital structure. The best that academics and practitioners have bee
5、n able to achieve are prescriptions that satisfy short-term goals. For example, the lack of a consensus about what would qualify as optimal capital structure has necessitated the need for this research. A better understanding of the issues at hand requires a look at the concept of capital structure
6、and its effect on firm profitability. This paper examines the relationship between capital structure and profitability of companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange during the period 1998-2002. The effect of capital structure on the profitability of listed firms in Ghana is a scientific area that
7、has not yet been explored in Ghanaian finance literature. The paper is organized as follows. The following section gives a review of the extant literature on the subject. The next section describes the data and justifies the choice of the variables used in the analysis. The model used in the analysi
8、s is then estimated. The subsequent section presents and discusses the results of the empirical analysis. Finally, the last section summarizes the findings of the research and also concludes the discussion. Literature on capital structure The relationship between capital structure and firm value has
9、 been the subject of considerable debate. Throughout the literature, debate has centered on whether there is an optimal capital structure for an individual firm or whether the proportion of debt usage is irrelevant to the individual firms value. The capital structure of a firm concerns the mix of de
10、bt and equity the firm uses in its operation. Brealey and Myers (2003) contend that the choice of capital structure is fundamentally a marketing problem. They state that the firm can issue dozens of distinct securities in countless combinations, but it attempts to find the particular combination tha
11、t maximizes market value. According to Weston and Brigham (1992), the optimal capital structure is the one that maximizes the market value of the firms outstanding shares.Fama and French (1998), analyzing the relationship among taxes, financing decisions, and the firms value, concluded that the debt
12、 does not concede tax benefits. Besides, the high leverage degree generates agency problems among shareholders and creditors that predict negative relationships between leverage and profitability. Therefore, negative information relating debt and profitability obscures the tax benefit of the debt. B
13、ooth et al. (2001) developed a study attempting to relate the capital structure of several companies in countries with extremely different financial markets. They concluded that the variables that affect the choice of the capital structure of the companies are similar, in spite of the great differen
14、ces presented by the financial markets. Besides, they concluded that profitability has an inverse relationship with debt level and size of the firm. Graham (2000) concluded in his work that big and profitable companies present a low debt rate. Mesquita and Lara (2003) found in their study that the r
15、elationship between rates of return and debt indicates a negative relationship for long-term financing. However, they found a positive relationship for short-term financing and equity. Hadlock and James (2002) concluded that companies prefer loan (debt) financing because they anticipate a higher ret
16、urn. Taub (1975) also found significant positive coefficients for four measures of profitability in a regression of these measures against debt ratio. Petersen and Rajan (1994) identified the same association, but for industries. Baker (1973), who worked with a simultaneous equations model, and Nerl
17、ove (1968) also found the same type of association for industries. Roden and Lewellen (1995) found a significant positive association between profitability and total debt as a percentage of the total buyout-financing package in their study on leveraged buyouts. Champion (1999) suggested that the use
18、 of leverage was one way to improve the performance of an organization. In summary, there is no universal theory of the debt-equity choice. Different views have been put forward regarding the financing choice. The present study investigates the effect of capital structure on profitability of listed
19、firms on the GSE. Methodology This study sampled all firms that have been listed on the GSE over a five-year period (1998-2002). Twenty-two firms qualified to be included in the study sample. Variables used for the analysis include profitability and leverage ratios. Profitability is operationalized
20、using a commonly used accounting-based measure: the ratio of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to equity. The leverage ratios used include: . short-term debt to the total capital; . long-term debt to total capital; . total debt to total capital. Firm size and sales growth are also included a
21、s control variables. The panel character of the data allows for the use of panel data methodology. Panel data involves the pooling of observations on a cross-section of units over several time periods and provides results that are simply not detectable in pure cross-sections or pure time-series stud
22、ies. A general model for panel data that allows the researcher to estimate panel data with great flexibility and formulate the differences in the behavior of the cross-section elements is adopted. The relationship between debt and profitability is thus estimated in the following regression models: R
23、OEi,t =0 +1SDAi,t +2SIZEi,t +3SGi,t + i,t (1)ROEi,t=0 +1LDAi,t +2SIZEi,t +3SGi,t + i,t (2)ROEi,t=0 +1DAi,t +2SIZEi,t +3SGi,t + i,t (3)where: . ROEi,t is EBIT divided by equity for firm i in time t; . SDAi,t is short-term debt divided by the total capital for firm i in time t; . LDAi,t is long-term d
24、ebt divided by the total capital for firm i in time t; . DAi,t is total debt divided by the total capital for firm i in time t; . SIZEi,t is the log of sales for firm i in time t; . SGi,t is sales growth for firm i in time t; and . i,t is the error term. Empirical results Table I provides a summary
25、of the descriptive statistics of the dependent and independent variables for the sample of firms. This shows the average indicators of variables computed from the financial statements. The return rate measured by return on equity (ROE) reveals an average of 36.94 percent with median 28.4 percent. Th
26、is picture suggests a good performance during the period under study. The ROE measures the contribution of net income per cedi (local currency) invested by the firms stockholders; a measure of the efficiency of the owners invested capital. The variable SDA measures the ratio of short-term debt to to
27、tal capital. The average value of this variable is 0.4876 with median 0.4547. The value 0.4547 indicates that approximately 45 percent of total assets are represented by short-term debts, attesting to the fact that Ghanaian firms largely depend on short-term debt for financing their operations due t
28、o the difficulty in accessing long-term credit from financial institutions. Another reason is due to the under-developed nature of the Ghanaian long-term debt market. The ratio of total long-term debt to total assets (LDA) also stands on average at 0.0985. Total debt to total capital ratio(DA) prese
29、nts a mean of 0.5861. This suggests that about 58 percent of total assets are financed by debt capital. The above position reveals that the companies are financially leveraged with a large percentage of total debt being short-term. Table I. Descriptive statistics Mean SD Minimum Median MaximumROE 0.
30、3694 0.5186 -1.0433 0.2836 3.8300SDA 0.4876 0.2296 0.0934 0.4547 1.1018 LDA 0.0985 0.1803 0.0000 0.0186 0.7665 DA 0.5861 0.2032 0.2054 0.5571 1.1018 SIZE 18.2124 1.6495 14.1875 18.2361 22.0995 SG 0.3288 0.3457 20.7500 0.2561 1.3597 Regression analysis is used to investigate the relationship between
31、capital structure and profitability measured by ROE. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results are presented in Table II. The results from the regression models (1), (2), and (3) denote that the independent variables explain the debt ratio determinations of the firms at 68.3, 39.7, and 86.4 pe
32、rcent, respectively. The F-statistics prove the validity of the estimated models. Also, the coefficients are statistically significant in level of confidence of 99 percent. The results in regression (1) reveal a significantly positive relationship between SDA and profitability. This suggests that short-term debt tends to be less expensive, and therefore increasing short-term debt with a relatively low interest rate will lead to an increase in profit levels. The results also show that profitabilit
