The Impact of Financial Education of Executives on Financial Practices of Medium and Large Enterprises

Last registered on November 30, 2020

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Impact of Financial Education of Executives on Financial Practices of Medium and Large Enterprises
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006820
Initial registration date
November 25, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 30, 2020, 11:38 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
November 30, 2020, 12:15 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Stockholm School of Economics

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Rotterdam School of Management
PI Affiliation
Imperial College London

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2014-01-01
End date
2019-03-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This project studies the impact of a course in finance for executives of medium and large enterprises on firm policies and performance through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Mozambique. We collect and analyze survey and accounting data.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Custodio, Claudia, Diogo Mendes and Daniel Metzger. 2020. "The Impact of Financial Education of Executives on Financial Practices of Medium and Large Enterprises." AEA RCT Registry. November 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6820-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Partner

Type
none
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with top-level executives of medium and large companies in Mozambique, in which we randomized participation in an executive education course in finance. The course focused on investment and capital budgeting decisions, as well as financial decisions including working capital management, capital structure, and risk management.
Intervention Start Date
2017-05-01
Intervention End Date
2017-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Changes in Financial Practices, namely changes in the topics discussed in the Executive Education Course (intervention). Those are: project valuation and capital budgeting, capital structure, working capital management and risk management.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our experimental design is motivated by two common challenges faced by researchers when analyzing the effect of financial education on financial policies: i) the endogenous decision to appoint a financial expert CEO / to obtain financial education; and ii) limited availability of data.
The literature on the effects of managerial human capital on firm policies has mostly relied on cross-sectional analysis, which renders causal inference very challenging as endogenous matching between firms and managers biases the estimates (Guenzel and Malmendier (2020)). Since Bertrand and Schoar (2003), most studies have used panel regressions to estimate potential CEO effects using within-firm variation due to CEOs switching firms. However, Custodio and Metzger (2014) and Fee et al. (2013), for instance, cast doubt on this methodology for identifying managerial effects on policy choices. They argued that CEO turnover events are endogenous, and managerial "style changes" are anticipated by corporate boards at the time of the CEO selection decision. While firm-fixed effects absorb firm heterogeneity that is time invariant, it cannot be ruled out that firm time-varying characteristics, unobserved by the econometrician, such as some strategic decisions, drive both financial policies and the characteristics of the appointed CEOs. In the context of financial expertise, Custodio and Metzger (2014) showed that firms run by managers with past work experience in finance have better access to external financing and allocate their firms’ financial resources more efficiently. However, this study also shows that financial expert CEOs are more likely to be appointed by older firms, which suggests an endogenous matching.
To identify a treatment effect of financial expertise on firm policies, one would need to randomize financial expertise across firms. One way of doing so could be an actual random allocation of CEOs to firms, which would take care of endogenous matching. However, this experiment is not feasible in practice. Moreover, a random allocation of CEOs to firms does not deal with the concern that there are unobservable characteristics of CEOs that correlate with financial expertise. For instance, CEOs with financial expertise might be of higher (or lower) ability or talent.
To overcome endogeneity concerns we propose randomizing financial education of top managers while maintaining the match between CEOs and firms. To be specific, we treat managers with financial education by offering free MBA-style lectures on corporate finance and risk management to top managers. Such a randomized controlled trial (RCT) can be used to identify a treatment effect of finance education on financial policies. The second challenge for our study is the availability of data. First, most companies in Mozambique are private, and access to financial statements is limited. Moreover, some outcomes, such as the use of specific valuation techniques or risk management instruments, are difficult to measure in those statements.
In order to address both concerns, endogeneity and data availability, we implemented the intervention in a staggered way, i.e., we ultimately taught both, the treatment and the control group. By treating both groups, we provide incentives to firms to share their financial statements with us, as well as to participate in face-to-face surveys, allowing us to collect data on nonstandard outcomes. The first cohort – the treatment group – received the treatment in May 2017, while the second cohort – the control group – received the same treatment in November 2018/April 2019.
The staggered nature of the intervention also helps to address the concern that the formation of expectations could bias our estimates (Chemla and Hennessy (2019)) because despite the greater uncertainty for the control group, which is treated later, both the treatment and control groups expect to be treated. Last, it reduces ethical concerns of providing a permanent advantage to one of the groups.
To address the concern of endogenous selection into our treatment, we conducted the randomization among the firms that applied to the program. We also stratified the randomization by industry to ensure that the same industries were represented in both groups. As noted by Sutton (2014), a sample stratified by industry provides a "fair and complete picture of the country’s industrial capabilities". Because there were subsidiaries of business groups in our sample (i.e., companies belonging to the same group that were managed by one or more participating managers) we made sure the these companies were part of the same group to minimize contamination concerns.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Firm-level. Randomization stratified by industry.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Around 100 companies.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Around 100 companies.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 companies treatment, 50 companies control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials