We begin our examination of the determinants of cash holdings by focusing on
the question of whether managerial ownership and the characteristics of board structure
and ultimate controllers of firms affect cash levels. To do so, we estimate a crosssectional
cash model using the average values of each of the firm characteristics
(except variability and ownership variables) over four years in an attempt to mitigate
problems that might arise due to short-term fluctuations or extreme values in one
year. We measure cash holdings (the dependent variable) in 1999 and the explanatory
variables over the period 1995–1998. Using past values also reduces the likelihood
of observed relations reflecting the effects of cash holdings on firm-specific
factors (see also Rajan and Zingales, 1995, for a similar methodology). Ownership
variables are measured in 1997. Given that equity ownership structure of firms in
a country is relatively stable over a certain period of time, we do not expect that measuring
ownership characteristics in a single year would yield a significant bias in our
results (see also La Porta et al., 2002, among others).