Explanation : The concern of the financing decision is with
the financing-mix or capital structure or
leverage. The term capital structure refers to
the proportion of debt (fixed-interest sources
of financing) and equity capital (variable-dividend
securities/source of funds). The
financing decision of a firm relates to the
choice of the proportion of these sources to
finance the investment requirements. There
are two aspects of the financing decision.
First, the theory of capital structure which
shows the theoretical relationship between
the employment of debt and the return to the
shareholders. The use of debt implies a higher
return to the shareholders as also the financial
risk. A proper balance between debt and
equity to ensure a trade-off between risk and
return to the shareholders is necessary. A
capital structure with a reasonable proportion
of debt and equity capital is called the
optimum capital structure. Thus, one
dimension of the financing decision whether
there is an optimum capital structure and in
what proportion should funds be raised to
maximise the return to the shareholders? The
second aspect of the financing decision is
the determination of an appropriate capital
structure, given the facts of a particular case.
Thus, the financing decision covers two
interrelated aspects: (1) the capital structure
theory, and (2) the capital structure decision.