where WCAit is working capital accruals of firm i in year t , calculated as the change in current assets ( ∆ CA), minus the change in cash and cash equivalents (∆Cash), minus the change in current liabilities ( ∆CL) plus the change in short-term
bank debt ( ∆ Debt). CFOit, CFOt –1 and CFOt + 1 signify cash flow from operations of firm i in years t , t – 1 and t + 1, respectively, calculated as the difference between net income before extraordinary items (NIBE) and total accruals (TA). Total accruals are