The paper examines the determinants of financing obstacles for firms using survey data from over 10,000 firms across 80 countries. It finds that older, larger, and foreign-owned firms report fewer financing obstacles. These findings confirm the usefulness of size, age, and ownership as a priori classifications of financing constraints, while challenging other classifications. The study also highlights that institutional development is the most important country characteristic explaining cross-country variation in financing obstacles. The research uses a unique firm-level survey database, the World Business Environment Survey (WBES), which provides direct measures of firms' perceived financing obstacles. The study explores how firm characteristics such as size, age, ownership, and sector influence financing obstacles. It finds that smaller and younger firms face higher financing obstacles, while listed firms, multinational enterprises, and foreign-owned firms report lower obstacles. The paper also investigates the effect of country-level financial and institutional development on financing obstacles. It finds that firms in countries with higher levels of financial intermediary development, stock market development, legal system efficiency, and GDP per capita report lower financing obstacles. Institutional development is identified as the most important country characteristic explaining cross-country variation in financing obstacles. The study concludes that firm characteristics such as size, age, and ownership are important predictors of financing obstacles. However, some classifications, such as being listed or a multinational enterprise, may be misleading due to spurious correlations. The results suggest that institutional development is crucial in alleviating financing obstacles, and that firm-level characteristics are important in identifying financially constrained firms. The study contributes to the literature by providing new insights into the determinants of financing obstacles and the role of institutional development in reducing them.The paper examines the determinants of financing obstacles for firms using survey data from over 10,000 firms across 80 countries. It finds that older, larger, and foreign-owned firms report fewer financing obstacles. These findings confirm the usefulness of size, age, and ownership as a priori classifications of financing constraints, while challenging other classifications. The study also highlights that institutional development is the most important country characteristic explaining cross-country variation in financing obstacles. The research uses a unique firm-level survey database, the World Business Environment Survey (WBES), which provides direct measures of firms' perceived financing obstacles. The study explores how firm characteristics such as size, age, ownership, and sector influence financing obstacles. It finds that smaller and younger firms face higher financing obstacles, while listed firms, multinational enterprises, and foreign-owned firms report lower obstacles. The paper also investigates the effect of country-level financial and institutional development on financing obstacles. It finds that firms in countries with higher levels of financial intermediary development, stock market development, legal system efficiency, and GDP per capita report lower financing obstacles. Institutional development is identified as the most important country characteristic explaining cross-country variation in financing obstacles. The study concludes that firm characteristics such as size, age, and ownership are important predictors of financing obstacles. However, some classifications, such as being listed or a multinational enterprise, may be misleading due to spurious correlations. The results suggest that institutional development is crucial in alleviating financing obstacles, and that firm-level characteristics are important in identifying financially constrained firms. The study contributes to the literature by providing new insights into the determinants of financing obstacles and the role of institutional development in reducing them.