South African Capital Structure Decisions: A Survey of Listed Companies

This paper explores the factors that influence capital structure decisions in South Africa from the perspective of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The results of a survey of 33 CFOs of JSE listed companies find that South African CFOs are equally likely to follow the Pecking Order or Static Trade-Off theories. However, smaller companies are more likely to follow the Pecking Order theory while larger companies are more likely to follow the Static Trade-Off theory. In addition, the results show that South African companies are more likely to follow the Static Trade-Off theory than companies in other emerging countries.