Determinants of Debt Financing Decision in Sri Lankan Listed Companies

Abstract

The primary objective of an organization is to maximize wealth for its shareholders, and for this purpose, the finance manager makes several financial decisions. Financing for its assets is one of the significant financial decisions that concentrates financing with owners' equity or debt from external parties. Several factors influence the financing decision, even though determinant factors of debt financing decisions may differ from time to time due to the changing internal environment of organizations. Therefore, the study aims to identify the internal factors determining the debt financing decisions in Sri Lankan listed companies. Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) consisted of 294 listed companies in 2022, and data were collected from selected 100 non-financial companies from 2008/09 to 2020/21. The dependent variables are a total debt to total assets (Debt ratio), and long-term debt to total assets, and the independent variables are profitability, non-debt tax shield (NDTS), tangibility, growth, size, reputation, liquidity, and risk. Descriptive statistics, correlation, pooled, fixed, and random effect models were used to prove the objective. The results reveal that NDTS and growth are positive, and profitability, tangibility, size, reputation, liquidity, and risk negatively influence total debt decisions. The size of the firm negatively influences the long-term debt decision. Therefore, the study concludes that internal factors are essential to determining the debt decision, and the study will benefit the finance managers for the financing decision and to select the optimum capital structure.