The Effect of Leverage and Managerial Skills on The Return of Shareholders in Malaysia's Top 30 Listed Companies in Malaysia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of leverage and management skills on the return of the shareholder. The study selected the top 30 Bursa Malaysia companies listed as a sample. Proxies of leverage, management expertise, size, price to book ratio, effective tax rate and industry effects are the data collected. The data are collected from the Thomson Reuters from the year 2013 until 2017. The study employed multiple regression analysis to prove the existence of relationships between shareholder’s return and other variables. The main results of the study show the influence of total debt, managerial skills, company size and
industry on shareholder’s return. However, price to book and effective tax rate have no significant influence on shareholder’s return. The results indicated the importance of total debt and managerial skills towards shareholder’s return when size and industry are controlled. The study contributes to current literature in the field.