Prior work on cash reserves in the US provides mixed evidence on whether shareholders should be
concerned about large reserves. For example, Opler, Pinkowitz, Stulz, and Williamson (1999) find that the
transitional probabilities out of the high cash group are slow, suggesting that managers hold cash as part of a
precautionary motive. Similarly, Mikkelson and Partch (2003) find that persistent extreme cash holdings do
not lead to poor performance and do not represent conflicts of interests between managers and shareholders,
evidence consistent with cash reserves enhancing firm value. Alternatively, Harford (1999) suggests that there
is reason for shareholders to be concerned about managers’ stewardship of large pools of internal funds. He
shows that cash-rich firms are more likely to make acquisitions and their acquisitions are more likely to be
value-decreasing. More broadly, Dittmar and Mahrt-Smith (2007) document that shareholders assign a lower
value to an additional dollar of cash reserves when agency problems are likely to be greater at the firm.