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Dividend policy of German firms

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Author Info
Goergen, M.
Renneboog, L.D.R.
Correia da Silva, L. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research)

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Abstract

German firms pay out a lower proportion of their cash flows than UK and US firms. However, on a published profits basis, the pattern is reversed. Company law provisions and accounting policies account for these conflicting results. A partial adjustment model is used to estimate the implicit target payout ratio and the speed of adjustment of dividends towards a long run target payout ratio. We find that German firms do not base their dividend decisions on published earnings, but on cash flows. The reasons for the use of a cash flow-based payout policy are: (i) published earnings figures do not correctly reflect corporate performance as German firms tend to retain a significant part of their earnings to build up legal reserves, (ii) the conservative nature of German accounting policies, (iii) published earnings are subject to a higher degree of smoothing than cash flows. Regarding the speed of adjustment of dividends towards the long term target payout ratio, UK and US companies only slowly adjust their dividend policy whereas German are more willing to cut the dividend in the wake of a temporary decrease in profitability. This causes a higher degree of 'discreteness' in the dividends-pershare time series as opposed to the 'smoothness' (i.e., frequent annual small adjustments in the dividend per share) observed in the US and the UK.

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Paper provided by Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research in its series Discussion Paper with number 122.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2004122

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Capital and Ownership Structure
G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

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  2. Watts, Ross, 1973. "The Information Content of Dividends," Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 191-211, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Short, Helen & Zhang, Hao & Keasey, Kevin, 2002. "The link between dividend policy and institutional ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 105-122, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Adaoglu, Cahit, 2000. "Instability in the dividend policy of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) corporations: evidence from an emerging market," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 252-270, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. M Arellano & O Bover, 1990. "Another Look at the Instrumental Variable Estimation of Error-Components Models," CEP Discussion Papers 07, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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  11. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-26, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Terry A. Marsh and Robert C. Merton., 1986. "Dividend Behavior for the Aggregate Stock Market," Research Program in Finance Working Papers 163, University of California at Berkeley.
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  13. Pettit, R Richardson, 1972. "Dividend Announcements, Security Performance, and Capital Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(5), pages 993-1007, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2006. "How relevant is dividend policy under low shareholder protection?," Discussion Paper 73, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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