기존의 자본구조에 관한 연구는 주로 자본구조 결정요인에 대한 연구나 자본구조의 평균회귀성향 여부를 분석하는 것이었다. 그러나 본 연구에서는 부채를 적게 사용하는 기업의 재무적 특성을 알아보고 부채를 많이 사용과 기업가치 차이를 비교 분석한 다음 보수적인 자금조달정책을 취하는 기업의 정책의 지속성여부를 조사하였다. 1989-2007의 19년간에 걸쳐 우리나라 유가증권시장 상장기업을 대상으로 한 분석 다음과 같은 사실을 발견하였다. 첫째, 저 부채 사용은 특정 업종에만 나타나는 현상이 아니고 여러 업종에 걸쳐 나타나고 있으며, 수익성이 높아 영업활동에서 현금흐름이 많은 기업들이었다. 그러나 시기적으로 볼 때는 주식발행의존도라든지 시설투자의 영향, 기업규모나 영업위험, 배당과 부채의존도와의 관계 등에 있어서는 외환위기 이전과 이후가 각각 다른 행태를 보였다. 둘째, 차입금의존도와 기업 가치와는 직접적인 관계는 없고 수익성이나 성장성과 관련한 간접적인 관계밖에 없는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 전기에 보수적인 자금조달을 하다가 다음 기에 보수적인 정책을 포기한 기업이 2000년대에는 30% 이상에 달하여 기업이 자금조달 정책을 일관성 있게 유지하는 것이 아니라 기업이 처한 상황에 따라서 변경시킨다는 사실을 확인하였다. 자금조달정책의 변경요인으로는 영업활동에서의 현금흐름과 투자기회로 나타났다. 반면에 비보수적인 자금조달정책을 사용하다가 다음 기에 보수적인 자금조달정책으로 변경하는 기업에 대한 정책변경 영향 요인은 영업활동에서의 현금흐름과 기초의 현금보유수준으로 나타났다.

Studies around the topic of corporate capital structure which have been witnessed too many times in the last four decades since MM's seminal work in 1958 mainly focus on either identifying the determinants of capital structure or whether there is a target capital structure firms try to pursue to maximize their values. In contrast to these studies, this paper examines the financial characteristics of low leverage firms vis-a-vis high leverage firms for the period of 1989-2007. The samples range from 502 to 583 Korean listed nonfinancial firms depending on the sample period. Major findings are as follows: First, financial conservatism is not limited to a certain number of industries and it tends to change from time to time according to the firms' financial situations rather than maintaining their policies for a long time. Second, low leverage firms(hereafter 'target firms') are more profitable and have more operating cash flows compared to high leverage firms(hereafter ‘control firms’). They also have small investment opportunities and ownership of largest shareholder is higher in target firms compared to control firms. However, payout ratio, firm size, equity financing ratio between target and control firms show different results before vs after financial crisis in 1997. Third, financing policy has no significant impact on the market valuation of the firm after controling for such factor as profitability, growth, risk, dividend, firm size, and ownership which are supposed to influence firm value. Fourth, firms tend to drop their conservative financing policy when they are faced with less operating cash flows and more investment opportunities while control firms adopt more conservative policy when they have high intial cash holdings and high operating cash flows.

Studies around the topic of corporate capital structure which have been witnessed too many times in the last four decades since MM's seminal work in 1958 mainly focus on either identifying the determinants of capital structure or whether there is a target capital structure firms try to pursue to maximize their values. In contrast to these studies, this paper examines the financial characteristics of low leverage firms vis-a-vis high leverage firms for the period of 1989-2007. The samples range from 502 to 583 Korean listed nonfinancial firms depending on the sample period. Major findings are as follows: First, financial conservatism is not limited to a certain number of industries and it tends to change from time to time according to the firms' financial situations rather than maintaining their policies for a long time. Second, low leverage firms(hereafter 'target firms') are more profitable and have more operating cash flows compared to high leverage firms(hereafter ‘control firms’). They also have small investment opportunities and ownership of largest shareholder is higher in target firms compared to control firms. However, payout ratio, firm size, equity financing ratio between target and control firms show different results before vs after financial crisis in 1997. Third, financing policy has no significant impact on the market valuation of the firm after controling for such factor as profitability, growth, risk, dividend, firm size, and ownership which are supposed to influence firm value. Fourth, firms tend to drop their conservative financing policy when they are faced with less operating cash flows and more investment opportunities while control firms adopt more conservative policy when they have high intial cash holdings and high operating cash flows.

financial conservatism, static tradeoff theory, pecking order theory, consistency of financing policy