The association between firm characteristics and the use of a comprehensive corporate hedging strategy : an ordered probit analysis

We investigate the potential factors that influence the corporate decision to collectively use foreign currency; interest rate; and commodity derivatives and foreign debt. Our Australian results show that firm size (‘scale economies’ hypothesis); leverage (‘financial distress cost’ hypothesis); and block holdings are positively associated with the comprehensive hedging decision, while executive shareholdings has a negative association. However, we do not find any support for the underinvestment or managerial risk aversion hypotheses.