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On the Determinants of Corporate Usage of Financial Derivatives
Author(s) -
Goldberg Stephen R.,
Godwin Joseph H.,
Kim MyungSun,
Tritschler Charles A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of international financial management and accounting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-646X
pISSN - 0954-1314
DOI - 10.1111/1467-646x.00034
Subject(s) - business , finance , financial system
We analyze firm characteristics associated with adoption and then level of financial derivatives usage for U.S. non‐financial firms. Interest‐rate derivatives are disaggregated from foreign‐exchange derivatives. The analysis provides initial evidence on determinants of the level of derivatives usage. We find differences between characteristics of adopters and characteristics influencing level of derivative activity. We also find differences between characteristics of interest‐rate and foreign‐exchange derivatives users. Level of both interest‐rate and foreign‐exchange derivatives usage is positively associated with multinationality, variance of accounting return on assets, and growth opportunities (proxied by research and development expenditures), and size. Interest‐rate derivatives usage is also positively associated with debt levels. The findings on the adoption decision generally confirm other research. Our findings are consistent with extant theories.