Finally, we include the dividend payout ratio in our regressions to control for the potential impact of the firm’s dividend policy on its cash holdings. To the extent that firms that pay dividends can raise funds relatively easily by cutting their dividends, a negative relationship is expected between dividend and cash holdings (Opler et al., 1999). However, it is possible that dividend-paying firms can also hold more cash than non-dividend paying firms simply to avoid a situation in which they are short of cash to support their dividend payments. If this is the case a positive relation can be observed.