Entrepreneurs manage the capital structure of their start-ups to align the assumption of financial risk with their risk appetite. We focus on the ways in which management control systems (MCS), categorized as financial and non-financial MCS, serve as determinants of financial leverage in start-ups. Of particular interest is the influence of entrepreneurs' financial literacy on this relationship. We test these associations on a sample of business-incubated start-ups by combining survey and archival data. Our results show that financial MCS are negatively associated with financial leverage, unlike non-financial MCS, which are positively related. Entrepreneurs’ financial literacy mitigates the impact of these associations. Overall, our aim is to shed light on how start-ups navigate the trade-off between taking risks and controlling their operations. In addition, we add to the growing literature on the adjustment of financial leverage and the role of MCS and financial literacy in managing such leverage.

中文翻译：

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企业孵化初创企业的管理控制系统、企业财务素养和财务杠杆


企业家管理初创企业的资本结构，以使财务风险的承担与其风险偏好保持一致。我们重点关注管理控制系统 (MCS)（分为财务和非财务 MCS）作为初创企业财务杠杆决定因素的方式。特别令人感兴趣的是企业家的金融知识对这种关系的影响。我们通过结合调查和档案数据，在企业孵化的初创企业样本中测试这些关联。我们的结果表明，金融 MCS 与财务杠杆呈负相关，而不像非金融 MCS 呈正相关。企业家的金融知识减轻了这些协会的影响。总体而言，我们的目标是阐明初创企业如何在承担风险和控制运营之间进行权衡。此外，我们还对越来越多的关于财务杠杆调整以及 MCS 和金融知识在管理此类杠杆中的作用的文献进行了补充。