The Characteristics of Financial Structure for Fisheries Corporations

어선어업 경영체의 재무구조 특성

The purpose of this study is to investigate empirically the characteristics of financial structure by using 76 fisheries corporations in Korea, and to suggest implications of the empirical results for government's financial policy for fisheries corporations. For the empirical test, we choose the following factors as the explanatory variables of cross-sectional regression analysis:firm-size(SIZE), collateral value of assets(TFATA), business risk(BRISK), growth(GROWTH), effective tax(ET), profitability(PROFIT). Two different debt ratios are used as dependent variables. One is defined as the ratio of total debt to total assets and the other is as that of long-term debt to total asset in terms of book value. The sample consists of 76 fisheries firms and sample period is 14 years from 1982 till 1995. From the results of cross-sectional regression analysis, the adjusted R$^2$values were high, 16∼79% and the overall F values indicated to be statistically significant. The results of cross sectional regression analysis show that the characteristics of financial structure fur fisheries corporations are as follows ; (1) Firm-size and collateral value of assets are the major factors of financial structure for fisheries corporations. That is, the larger firm-size the higher is debt ratio. This means that financial institutions conventionally lend more collateral loans with fixed assets like land, building rather than management capacities or credits. (2) To be consistent with a pecking-order theory, the higher is profitability the lower is debt ratio in fisheries corporations. (3) Corporations with high effective tax rate have lower financial leverage. Although the empirical results are inconsistent with traditional static trade-off theory, we think it would be attributed to government's various tax shelterings for fisheries which are likely to reduce tax shield effect of interests.