企业价值与股利政策英文文献.docx

1、企业价值与股利政策英文文献Dividend policy and firm valueThe dividend decision is an integral part of the firms strategic financing decision. It essentially involves a firms directors deciding how much of the firms earnings, after interest and taxes (EAIT, should be distributed to the firms ordinary shareholders

2、in return for their investment in the firm, and how much should be retained to finance future growth and development. (Sterk and Vandenberg 2004 441-55The objective of the firms dividend decision, like all financial decisions, should be the maximisation of shareholder wealth. If an optimal dividend

3、policy does exist then clearly managers should concern themselves with its determination; if it does not, then any dividend policy will do, as one policy will be equal to another. It should be noted that the dividend decision and dividend policy relate only to ordinary share capital. (Asquith and Mu

4、llins 2003 77-96The payment of preference share dividends is not considered part of a firms dividend policy, as the level of, or method of calculating, the preference dividend is fixed in advance by the terms and conditions of the original preference share offer. Once a dividend policy has been form

5、ulated, setting out the amount and timing, etc. of dividend payments, it should be followed with stability and consistency as its guiding principles. As we shall discuss later, changes to a firms dividend policy can be interpreted in various ways by the financial markets, sometimes with dramatic con

6、sequences for the firms share price. You will note that the dividend decision is made at the level of the firms most senior managers - at board of director level. It is the directors who will decide the amount and timing of dividend payments. Under UK company law the directors cannot be compelled to

7、 recommend a dividend and shareholders cannot vote themselves a higher dividend than that recommended by the directors. (Bajaj and Vijh 2004 193Payment of dividendsIn the UK, in common with many other countries, dividends are usually paid to shareholders twice a year. An interim payment is made half

8、-way through the financial year, with a final payment being made after the end of the financial year. Dividends are paid to the shareholders listed on a firms Share Register on a specified date, known as the Record Date. (Sterk and Vandenberg 2004 441-55 In the stock market, shares of listed compani

9、es are traded on what is known as either a cum-dividend or ex-dividend basis. A listed companys shares are traded cum-dividend for a period after the company announces its results, interim and final. When the shares are trading cum-dividend, buyers of the shares will be entitled toreceive the divide

10、nd payment. When the shares are trading ex-dividend, buyers will not be entitled to receive a dividend payment. This explains why (assuming the absence of any other relevant factors there is usually a drop in a shares price, roughly equivalent to the value of the dividend per share, when the share g

11、oes ex-dividend. (Impson 2005 422-27For instance, distributing capital or certain types of reserves (e.g. share premium account as dividends is prohibited by company law. The determination of distributable profits is set out in a detailed code of statutory regulations. For public and private compani

12、es, the Companies Act 2003 defines distributable profits as: accumulated realised profits, so far as not previously utilised by distribution or capitalisation, less accumulated realised losses, so far as not previously written off in a reduction or reorganisation of capital duly made. These legal re

13、strictions on the payments of dividends are necessary to maintain the capital of a company and to protect the rights and claims of creditors. The relevance (or irrelevance of dividend policy to the value of the firm has been one of the most widely researched topics in finance and accounting. Argumen

14、ts have been advanced on all sides of the issue. Given the inability to structure a single conceptual relationship between dividend policy and the value of the firm, empirical studies of the relationship between dividends and firm value have taken on increased importance. Previous studies have used

15、either short-run measures of stock price or risk-adjusted returns to measure firm value. (Jose and Stevens 2004 652Dividend announcement studies have examined the immediate reaction of the firms stock price to a dividend announcement to determine if the stock price falls by more or less than the amo

16、unt of the dividend. Findings from announcement studies suggest that investors discount dividends. Other studies have tested for the relationship between risk-adjusted returns and dividend yield. Using short-run holding periods, these studies have found that investors require higher risk-adjusted returns from higher dividend yield stocks. While there are controversies over the short-run measures and assumptions of asset pricing models relating returns to firm value, the empi