The Modigliani-Miller theorem states that in a frictionless world, when investment policy of a firm is held constant, the dividend policy has no consequence for shareholders. Empirical reality is that different companies deliberately have different dividend policies. Empirical evidence therefore provokes the question as to how firms choose their dividend policies. The assumption of a perfect market is far removed from the situation that we have in emerging markets as Nigeria. These markets exhibit such peculiarities that tend to make them less efficient in processing information into the value of securities. The quality corporate governance in the Nigerian Capital Market is not up to the standard in developed markets of the West. The quality of corporate governance has implication for investment policy and other financial policies of the firm. Markets with poor corporate governance are likely to exhibit the dominance of insiders (Management) in determining financial policies. Insiders as agents of the shareholders, in the face of information asymmetry, largely determine the nature of finance policies. This is accentuated where the level of shareholder activism is weak, resulting in high agency cost, required to align the interest of management with those of shareholders. Literature suggest that dividend payments is one mechanism of reducing agency cost,

The fundamental objective of this study therefore is to determine the impact of agency costs on the dividend policy of Nigerian companies. The other key objective is to determine if the payment of dividends results in the alignment of management interest with those of shareholders of companies in the Nigerian capital markets.

RELEVANCE OF STUDY

The dividend payout policy is one critical decision which management has to make. It is the duty of management to fix dividend payments, hence fashion a dividend policy. The controversy is to the consequence of dividends for the shareholder value has remained since the seminal work of Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1961). A number of studies suggest that most firms have long-term target dividend payout ratio, and that firms engage in dividend smoothening by moving towr5ds the target payout each year. Managers believe that the dividend decision is associated with investment decision and the financial mix decision. Dividend decision feeds back on the investment decision, and has a immediate impact on the firm’s capital structure.

This study has significance at several levels. At the level of scholarship with respect to resting the dividend controversy, title empirical study has been conducted in emerging markets as Nigeria. This study thus contribute empirical evidence in face of numerous theories of dividends, giving the insight into the peculiarities of developing economies as Nigeria, with different institutional structures from those of developed economies.

In recent times the capital market has become a source of long term finance of companies in Nigeria. Investor enthusiasm is evident as IPO of some firms have been oversubscribed. With the quality of corporate governance and public governance, this study provides investors with information as to whether management of companies (agents) synchronize their interest with those of their principal the shareholders.

This study is also relevant for regulatory agencies with the sole objective of improving the market mechanism, protection of investors, and sustaining investor confidence in financial instruments. The impact of agency cost on dividend policy, points to the nature of alignment of interest of shareholders and management, thus regulatory authorities can fashion policies that would strengthen the workings of the capital markets.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study covers companies quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange. The choice of these companies derives from the fact that data extracted from their financial statements are subjected to regulations of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 and the Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS) issued by the companies. The exclusion of financial firms is based on the fact that banks and insurance firms are subject to specific rules and regulation that makes their dividend policy exogenously affected by factors unrelated to their financing needs. The study is covers the year 2005.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The agency problem is that of the relationship between managers and shareholder. The basic question is that of aligning the interest of mangers with those of shareholders and how this impacts upon the fashioning of financial policies of the firm. We raise the following hypothesis.

Hypothesis 1

Transaction cost are incurred in raising external finances from the capital market, when earnings are paid out as cash dividends. Thus dividend payout ratio is negatively related to past growth of revenues and predicted future growth of revenue of companies in Nigeria

Hypothesis 2

The second hypothesis relates dividend pay out ratio to the firm’s risk. Transaction cost is directly related to the firm’s risk – the firm’s operating leverage and financial leverage. Rozeff (1982) considers the firm’s beta as a estimator of financial and operating leverage. We hypothesizes therefore that dividend pay out ratio is negatively related to beta coefficient of companies in Nigeria.

Hypothesis 3

Our third hypothesis is states that dividend pay out ratio is positively related to the number of common shareholders, because agency problems and cost of monitoring increase as the number of common shareholders increases.

Hypothesis 4

Another variable to measure agency cost is the proportion of share hold by insider (directors). As the proportion of shares in the hands of insiders increase, it reduce the influence of outsiders on corporate policy, thus management will tend to increase their own personal benefits. We therefore hypothesize that dividend payout ratio is negatively related to proportion of shares held by insiders.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

One fundamental limitation of this study is that we unable to examine all the financing and payout choices facing the companies. Laporta et a (2000) state that “the prediction of these models that we test are necessarily limited by the fact that we do not look at all financing and payout choices simultaneously”.
Jensen and Mecklin (1976) argue that debt is a veritable mechanism of addressing the agency problems. This study does not take into cognizance this debt factor.
Corporate governance quality is a factor that is important in the agency problem. The incorporation of variables to capture the impact of corporate governance on agency cost, improves the study. This study does not include a corporate governance due to reduced information available and the fact that the Nigerian Capital Market does not have a corporate governance index
This study is a cross sectional study for the fiscal year 2006 and 2007. The paucity of information is the strongest limitation to this study.