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Prior research shows that financial reporting quality (FRQ) is positively related to investment efficiency for large U.S. publicly traded companies. We examine the role of FRQ in private firms from emerging markets, a setting in which extant research suggests that FRQ would be less conducive to the mitigation of investment inefficiencies. Earlier studies show that private firms have lower FRQ, presumably because of lower market demand for public information. Prior research also shows that FRQ is lower in countries with low investor protection, bank-oriented financial systems, and stronger conformity between tax and financial reporting rules. Using firm-level data from the World Bank, our empirical evidence suggests that FRQ positively affects investment efficiency. We further find that the relation between FRQ and investment efficiency is increasing in bank financing and decreasing in incentives to minimize earnings for tax purposes. Such a connection between tax-minimization incentives and the informational role of earnings has often been asserted in the literature. We provide explicit evidence in this regard.

This study uses data from the new Kauffman Firm Survey to explore gender differences in the use of start-up capital and subsequent financial injections by new firms. We find that, consistent with previous studies, women start their businesses with significantly lower levels of financial capital than men. A new finding from this research is that women go on to raise significantly lower amounts of incremental debt and equity in years two and three. These results hold even controlling for a variety of firm and owner characteristics, including the level of initial start-up capital and firm sales. Our findings also reveal that women rely heavily on personal rather than external sources of debt and equity for both start-up capital as well as follow-on investments. Our findings have implications for further research into gender differences in financing sources and strategies and business outcomes.

Managers think that retaining resources is more effective than rebuilding resources after exhausting them. However, financing constraints have brought great uncertainty to this resource decision-making implemented by managers. Data of manufacturing listed firms in China from 2009 to 2017 are used here to explore the impact of financing constraints on cost stickiness. This paper finds that internal financing constraints have a significant promoting effect on cost stickiness, while debt financing constraints and equity financing constraints have a significant restraining effect on cost stickiness. The internal control quality has a moderation effect on this relationship. In a firm with low quality of internal control, internal financing constraints can enhance cost stickiness, but the weakening effect of external financing on cost stickiness is not affected by internal control quality.

This paper explores the financing framework for sustainable development in Uruguay, an emerging economy, and examines whether available financing instruments contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in which significant progress is still required in this country. Reports, policy documents and academic literature were reviewed to determine the types of sustainable development financing instruments available, and to analyse the challenges facing emerging economies in this regard. In addition, the financing programmes available from the public sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the financial sector and multilateral credit agencies were examined. The results obtained show that the main financing sources for sustainable development are located within the public sector due to the absence of a developed financial market, and that the existing financial instruments do not address the SDGs where most attention is required. The latter circumstances make it challenging to achieve these SDGs in Uruguay. The study findings highlight the need for greater coordination among all parties to make efficient use of the scarce resources available to an emerging economy and thus enable it to meet its SDGs.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how firms in developing countries finance innovation. Notably, the study seeks to investigate whether innovative firms exhibit financing patterns different from those of non-innovative ones. It also examines the effect of financing sources on firm’s probability to innovate. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. From 28 African countries, 11,173 firms have been included in the sample. A statistical t-test is used for two independent samples and logistic regression models. Findings The results show that innovative firms, specifically innovative small- and medium-size firms exhibit financing patterns different from non-innovative peers. Further analysis indicates that there is no statistically significant difference between the financing patterns of innovative and non-innovative large firms. In Africa, innovation is mostly financed using internal sources and bank finance. Equity finance and bank finance have shown a higher effect followed by internal finance, finance from non-bank financial institutions and trade credit finance on firms’ probability to innovate. Practical implications The management of innovative firms should reduce dependency on short-term and retained earning financing and increase the use of long-term instruments improve innovation performance. Social implications A pending policy task for African leaders is to design and evaluate reforms to create a strong financial sector that willing to support the innovation process. Originality/value This study contributes to the existent literature on finance of innovation by examining how firms finance innovation activities in developing countries. This study provides evidence on how innovative firms exhibit financing patterns different from non-innovative ones from developing countries.

The purpose of the study is to develop a reproducible model for assessing and ranking financial resources in the system of strategic management of enterprises in the IT sector, which would ensure an increase in competitiveness at an acceptable level. To achieve this goal, the article solves the following tasks: to determine a list of the most significant financial resources as objects of assessment in the strategic management of IT enterprises, to explain the criteria for their selection in terms of their impact on competitiveness; to formalize three target levels of competitiveness of an enterprise in the field of information technologies, to determine indicators reflecting the achievements of each level, and to link them to the state of financial resources; to calculate utility functions and integral estimates \"U\" for each financial resource, to form an ordered rating of their impact on the competitiveness of the enterprise and to interpret the results obtained from the perspective of strategic management. Thus, a list of 18 forms of financial resources was substantiated, and a three-level system of competitiveness goals was formed: minimum, normal, and maximum. Also, a quantitative assessment was carried out based on matrices of pairwise comparisons, and integral utility estimates were constructed for each resource. It is shown that the basis of the portfolio for accelerating growth is formed by investments and venture capital, private placements of shares, convertible instruments, and venture debt. An important role in stabilization is played by operating cash flow, long-term client contracts, credit lines, and factoring. A mechanism for implementing management actions and control indicators for the most significant financial resources is proposed. The scientific novelty lies in the combination of a three-level goal of competitiveness with a multi-criteria ordering of the list of financing sources and operational action maps. The practical significance lies in the possibility of quickly forming a rational financing portfolio depending on the selected target level of competitiveness.

Purpose This paper aims to assess the efficiency of public investment in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries at both the global and sectoral level over the 2005–2015 period. Design/methodology/approach This paper estimates efficiency scores using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) models. Efficiency is divided into managerial efficiency (related to inputs management) and technological efficiency (related to production technology). A Tobit model is then used to investigate the determinants of public investment efficiency. Findings The findings suggest that, at the global level, WAEMU countries are less efficient than sub-Saharan African and Asian reference countries. However, the breakdown of global efficiency into managerial and technological reveals that WAEMU countries are more efficient than sub-Saharan African countries in terms of technological efficiency. Moreover, these findings are robust to nonparametric estimation. The assessment of financing sources indicates that external debt has a more positive and significant effect on public investment efficiency than internal debt does. Originality/value This paper is unique in that it disentangles managerial efficiency from the technological efficiency of public investment in WEAMU countries and highlights how financing sources of investment affect its efficiency. In terms of policy implications, the underlying message of the results is that the rules and conditions of domestic or regional debt in the WAEMU countries must be strengthened to ensure better monitoring and then better efficiency of these resources.

An IFRS-based accounting should provide many advantages, both from the point of view of presenting and reporting financial information, as well as from the point of view of decision-making processes, giving companies the opportunity to use the global financial markets to raise capital. In this context, the objective of this research was to identify the perceptions and trends of the Romanian companies’ executive directors as a result of applying international financial reporting standards, especially to identify if the application of IFRS created the opportunity to attract external financing sources at the level of Romanian companies. Most respondents are aware of the benefits that companies should get when applying IFRSs. Thus, 96% of the interviewed managers consider that the main advantages offered by the application of IFRS consist, on the one hand, in increasing the level of transparency and comparability of financial information at international level, and, on the other hand, in increasing the role of accounting in the decision-making process. Such advantages should lead to the increase of the confidence of the potential foreign investors in the Romanian companies and subsequently improve the investment process in the Romanian companies, a benefit that, at the moment, the Romanian entities seems to not get yet.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the innovative firm’s proprietary information has an impact on its debt financing preference. This study also examines the impact of industry-level competition on the debt financing orders and investigates how two exogenous shocks impacted on innovative firms’ financing policies. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the three types of debt data, including bonds, private debt placements and bank loans and patent application data, in the USA from 1987–2008. The number of patents applications and industry-level competition are used as proxies for a firm’s innovation and industry-level sensitivity. In addition, to minimize endogenous concern, this study uses the propensity score matching analysis and difference-in-differences. Findings The patents are the primary determinants for innovative firms to choose the debt types. The paper shows that innovative firms have the debt preference order – public debt, private placement and bank loans. However, as competition increases, innovative firms devise the order reverse. Finally, the paper provides evidence that the American Inventor’s Protection Act (AIPA) and the tech bubble crash made investors depend more on firms with more patents. Originality/value This paper is the first to study the impact of the AIPA on innovative firms’ financial policies using the propensity score matching analysis. The findings imply that both patents and industry-level competition are important factors to understand the capital structures for innovative firms.