摘要
Research is scarce on non-financial characteristics, including owner characteristics and their influences on capital structure in the establishment phase. The objective of this study is to examine the factors affecting firms＇ availability of external finance, utilizing a sample of Finnish start-up micro firms. The overall purpose is not to produce a comprehensive model for capital structure, but to illustrate the importance of non-accounting characteristics in explaining the attractiveness of the new venture from the lender＇s point of view. The results show that a founder who has prior work experience from the same sector and has little or no personal financial property seems to have higher leverage. After splitting the data into survived and failed firms, lenders viewed work experience positively only in the sample of failed firms. In addition, limited liability companies, firms located in bigger cities, and firms with good demand evaluated by the lender have a lower level of leverage.
