The stochastic frontier analysis is employed to investigate efficiency of publicly listed Australian banks over the period 1985-2008. The results suggest that technical, cost and profit efficiency of Australian banks have improved over our sample span. Large banks have attained a higher level of...

This paper uses firm-level data from the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to examine finance-seeking behaviour and outcomes by Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By modelling the determinants of SME financing behaviour and outcomes...

Using the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this paper investigates the effects of firm-level factors, including size, the number of employees, business strategy, and firm lifecycle, on finance seeking (both debt and equity) by Australian small and...

Using the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we examine the level and determinants of agency costs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on the impact of family ownership and the variation in agency costs associated...

There is continuing uncertainty about whether family firms have lower agency costs. This paper proposes that a combination of family ownership and altruism affects agency costs in family firms. To begin with, family ownership can reduce agency costs through better aligning the interests of...