Debt Policy Analysis of Czech Companies

Abstract

The attitude of companies towards the use of debt depends on many factors that can be generally called corporate debt policy. This study deals with the debt policy of companies in the Czech Republic, focusing on the factors affecting the appropriate amount of debt and their debt policy in general. The aim of this contribution is to reveal dominant factors affecting companies in their debt policy decisions and to analyze the possible impact of selected classifying factors on firm's responses. The findings of this study are based on a questionnaire survey and the subsequent statistical analysis of responses. The most important factors affecting the appropriate amount of debt proved to be financial flexibility and the volatility of earnings and cash flows. For deciding on debt policy, the most important factor was insufficiency of internal funds. Statistical analysis revealed several differences in response to debt-policy questions according to the legal form of business, the industrial sector, the company size and the origin of capital.