Are firms as liquid as they appear in annual reports?
研究发现公司在第四财季末现金持有量显著高于其他季度，随后又回落，这一模式在信息不透明、依赖外部融资且监管较弱的企业中更为明显，提醒外部利益相关者需关注年内现金持有量的动态变化。
Abstract Fiscal‐year‐end cash holdings are an important indicator in external stakeholders' assessment of a firm's liquidity and credit risk. Do fiscal‐year‐end cash holdings reflect a firm's intra‐year liquidity conditions? We observe that firms report significantly higher cash holdings in the fourth fiscal quarter, followed by a subsequent reversal. This pattern is pervasive across industries, persistent over time, and not explained by conventional factors or calendar effects. The extent of the fourth‐quarter cash increase is more pronounced for informationally opaque firms reliant on external markets and those with financial constraints and reduced monitoring. We investigate firms' real, financing, and timing activities that could potentially account for this pattern. Our study suggests that a complete picture of intra‐year cash holdings dynamics is necessary for external stakeholders to fully assess a firm's liquidity and credit conditions.