This study focuses on the dynamic aspect of capital structure which is a relatively new area in the finance literature. By employing panel data, 790 of non-financial listed firms in Malaysia are examined for the period 2000-2009. Conducted using the dynamic Partial Adjustment Model and estimated based on the Generalized Method of Moment, this study investigates the existence of target capital structure, speed of adjustment and factors affecting speed of adjustment. There are evidences of target capital structure and firms do adjust to be at their target from time to time with a considerably rapid speed of adjustment, in line with dynamic trade-off theory. Firms in Malaysia are found to be under-adjusted, being below the required adjustment to be at the target within a year. Study on factors affecting speed of adjustment is a new contribution to the literature as no work has been done regarding this issue in Malaysia. This study also analyzes firm-specific factors affecting speed of adjustment. There is strong evidence on the negative relationship between the speed of adjustment and distance from target leverage suggesting fast adjustment if not being far from target. Firm size and profitability significantly influence speed of adjustment for firms in Malaysia.

Abstract-This paper studies whether financial ratios can predict stock returns for the period from January 2000 to December 2009 in Malaysia stock exchange. We select three financial ratios include dividend yield (DY), earning yield (EY) and book-to-market ratio (B/M) that have been documented to predict stock returns. This study applies generalized least squares (GLS) techniques to estimate the predictive regressions in form of simple and multiple models of panel data sets. The obtained results reveal that the financial ratios can predict stock return, as the B/M has the higher predictive power than DY and EY respectively. Furthermore, the financial ratios are able to enhance stock return predictability when the ratios are combined in the multiple predictive regression model. Index Terms-Financial ratios, Stock return predictability, Predictive regression, Malaysia stock exchange.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the timing behavior and the adjustment toward the target of capital structure interact with each other in the capital structure decisions. Past literature finds that both timing and targeting are significant in determining the leverage ratio which is inconsistent with any standalone framework. This study argues that the preference of the firm for timing behavior or targeting behavior depends on the cost of deviation from the target. Since the cost of deviation from the target is likely to be asymmetric between overleveraged and underleveraged firms, the direction of the deviation from the target leverage is expected to alter the preference toward timing or targeting in the capital structure decision. Design/methodology/approach This study used the GMM system estimators with the Malaysian data for the period of 1992-2009 to fit a standard partial adjustment model and to estimate the speed of adjustment (SOA) of capital structure. Findings This study finds that Malaysian firms, on average, adjust their leverage at a slow speed of 12.7 percent annually and this rate increased to 14.2 percent when the timing variable is accounted for. Moreover, the SOA is found to be significantly higher and the timing role is lower for overleveraged firms compared with underleveraged firms. Overleveraged firms seem to find less flexibility to time the market as more pressure is exerted on them to return to the target regardless the timing opportunities because of the higher costs of deviation from the target leverage. Underleveraged firms place lower priority to rebalance toward the target compared with overleveraged firms as the costs of being underleveraged are lower and hence, these firms have more flexibility to time the market. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study support that firms consider both targeting and timing in their financing decisions. No standalone theory can interpret the full spectrum of empirical results. The empirical work is based on partial adjustment model of leverage; however, this model has been criticized by inability to distinguish between active adjustment behavior and mechanical mean reversion. This is an avenue for future research. Originality/value This study investigates if targeting and timing behaviors are mutually exclusive as theoretically expected or they can coexist. A theoretical explanation and an empirical investigation support the conclusion that firms consider both targeting and timing in their financing decisions. This study provides evidence from Malaysian firms that are characterized by concentrated ownership structure and separation of cash flow rights and control rights of the firm due to pyramid ownership structure. Therefore, it provides evidence on how environmental characteristics may affect the capital structure determinants of the firm.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of financial decision behavior on firm performance of Indonesian public companies using panel data. The dynamic generalized method of moment is utilized in this study. The results show that firm performance is dynamic in nature, which indicates that last year performance affects current performance significantly. Empirical result of financial decision behavior shows that investment, leverage, and dividend per share (DPS) have significant impact on firm performance. Specifically, investment has negative impact on firm performance. Meanwhile leverage has negative effects on return on assets (ROA), but positively affects Tobin's Q. Moreover, DPS positively affects ROA and Tobin's Q. This finding suggests that investment decision of Indonesian firms is overinvestment, indicated with higher investment affects firm performance negatively. Similarly with leverage, the finding reveals that Indonesian public companies borrowed external fund more than they required (overleverage). The positive effect of DPS on firm performance implies that dividends payout to

a b s t r a c tIn this paper we investigate how pyramid structure, separating cash flow rights and control rights, allows ultimate owners to control the company's resources for the creation of private benefits and to avoid punishment for such conduct. Empirical tests are conducted using three-stage least squares regression. The estimated results provide support for the hypotheses proposed that the separation of cash flow rights and control rights have led to the use of excess leverage among pyramidal companies to preserve ultimate owners' control. High levels of leverage, affect the firm's valuation negatively because of the potential for financial distress. Thus, our findings may provide one additional explanation for the severity of the decrease in corporate value among the pyramidal companies in Malaysia as pointed out in the studies of Claessens et al. (2002), Lins (2003, and Lemmon and Lins (2003). Secondly, the empirical evidence from this study provides insight into the forces that influence corporate valuation of firms in developed countries particularly those that have pyramidal structure.