Does Firm Size Strengthen the Effect of Liquidity on Corporate Cash Holding?

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the direct effect of non-cash working-capital liquidity on corporate cash holdings and evaluates whether firm size acts as a moderating variable within the liquidity-intensive property and real estate sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.Research Methodology: A quantitative explanatory approach using panel data was conducted on 42 property and real estate firms (252 firm-year observations) listed from 2018 to 2023. Data were analyzed using regression analysis by EViews 12 software.Results: Statistical findings demonstrate that liquidity has a significant negative direct effect on cash holdings. Importantly, firm size significantly moderates the relationship between liquidity and cash holding in a positive direction, confirming its role as a pure moderator that attenuates liquidity substitution behavior.Conclusions: Organizational scale fundamentally alters corporate liquidity management; while smaller firms substitute non-cash liquidity for physical cash, larger enterprises leverage superior credit access and scale advantages to accumulate internal liquid reserves alongside working capital growth.Limitations: The scope is limited strictly to audited financial disclosures of property and real estate companies in a single emerging market over a six-year period, unobserving qualitative governance factors.Contributions: The study provides financial managers with insights to optimize cash conversion cycles and offers Investors and Regulators (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan-OJK) a diagnostic scale-adjusted framework for evaluating corporate liquidity risk