Impact of corporate governance characteristics and financial ratios on dividend policy - The case of Vietnamese non-financial firms
Abstract
One of the most contentious topics in modern corporate finance is dividend reform. In this research, the behavior of 57 non-financial firms in Vietnamese market from 2013-2019 is examined to analyze the firms’ financial ratio and corporate governance characteristics that affected to the dividend policy of Vietnam corporates. To determine the impacts on dividend payments decisions of businesses, the OLS regression model is used. The results show that, in financial ratio perspective, profitability and liquidity have a strongly positive relationship with dividend payment. On the contrast, financial leverage showed a negative impact on dividend policy, the other ratios like free cash flow and firm size have no important impact on the dividend decisions. In corporate governance perspective, CEO duality and independent directors show a positive relation with the ratio of dividend payment. Otherwise, board size showed the negative effect on dividend policies; and government ownership and the number of meetings of BOD have little or no impact on the dividend payments. The contribution, limitations, and recommendations are discussed.