The Interaction of Financial Leverage and Firm's Operational Efficiency

The study examines the effect of financial leverage on operational efficiency. This study used a panel data of 102 non-financial companies listed on Nigeria and Ghana stock exchange for the period 2012 – 2016. It was revealed that there is an S-curve relationship between financial leverage and working capital management and cash holding. Also there is a significant moderating effect on the relationship between internationalization and dividend payout. This implies that firms that are involved in international activities are highly concerned with having borrowing as part of their capital structure than solely operating with owners’ capital which might be the case of most domestic firms. Relationship between financial leverage and working capital management and cash holding is considered to be non-monotonic which gives management insight of choosing the right leverage management policy to achieve desired goal.