This paper investigates corporate cash holding behaviour in Japan, France, Germany, and the
UK using data for 3,989 companies over the period 1983-2000. Our findings reveal that a
country’s legal structure and ownership structure of firms play a significant role in determining
cash holdings. We observe that higher degree of shareholder (creditor) protection is associated
with lower (higher) cash holdings and ownership concentration exerts a negative impact on cash
levels. Moreover, the dynamic cash holding analysis indicates that firms tend to adjust their
cash levels towards a target cash structure. The speed of adjustment of cash holdings for
France, Germany and Japan is found to be similar while firms in the UK seem to adjust to the
target cash level more quickly.