IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v58y2022i3d10.1007_s11156-021-01013-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cost management and corporate payout decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna Golden

    (University of Memphis)

  • Kenneth Zheng

    (University of Wyoming)

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between cost management and dividend payout decisions. Prior studies document that firms with consistent earnings or transitory losses tend to pay out dividends (Skinner and Soltes in Rev Acc Stud 16:1–28, 2011). Ham et al. (J Financ Econ 136: 547–570, 2020) suggest that dividends contain information about the level of permanent earnings. In addition, sales changes influence cost management because cost management has a direct effect on earnings. Prior research shows that when a firm experiences a temporary sales decline, managers are resistant to cutting resources (as quickly as they increase resources when sales grow) due to the expectation that sales will rebound (Anderson et al. J Account Res 41:47–63, 2003). We find that cost stickiness is positively associated with dividend yield. Furthermore, we show that this positive association is concentrated in firms with: (a) selling, general, and administration (SG&A) expenses that creates higher future value; (b) higher ability managers; and (c) no successive sales decreases.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna Golden & Kenneth Zheng, 2022. "Cost management and corporate payout decisions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 911-938, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:58:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-021-01013-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-021-01013-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-021-01013-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-021-01013-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luzi Hail & Ahmed Tahoun & Clare Wang, 2014. "Dividend Payouts and Information Shocks," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 403-456, May.
    2. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:5:p:2093-2116 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kanniainen, Vesa, 2000. "Empire building by corporate managers:: the corporation as a savings instrument," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 127-142, January.
    4. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Watts, Ross L., 1992. "The investment opportunity set and corporate financing, dividend, and compensation policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-292, December.
    5. Kam Fong Chan & John G. Powell & Jing Shi & Tom Smith, 2018. "Dividend persistence and dividend behaviour," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(1), pages 127-147, March.
    6. Fodil Adjaoud & Walid Ben‐Amar, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Policy: Shareholders’ Protection or Expropriation?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5‐6), pages 648-667, June.
    7. Kalay, Avner, 1980. "Signaling, Information Content, and the Reluctance to Cut Dividends," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 855-869, November.
    8. Jagannathan, Murali & Stephens, Clifford P. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2000. "Financial flexibility and the choice between dividends and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 355-384, September.
    9. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely, 2002. "Dividends, Share Repurchases, and the Substitution Hypothesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1649-1684, August.
    10. Martin Holzhacker & Ranjani Krishnan & Matthias D. Mahlendorf, 2015. "The Impact of Changes in Regulation on Cost Behavior," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 534-566, June.
    11. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    12. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    13. Itay Kama & Dan Weiss, 2013. "Do Earnings Targets and Managerial Incentives Affect Sticky Costs?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 201-224, March.
    14. Mark C. Anderson & Rajiv D. Banker & Surya N. Janakiraman, 2003. "Are Selling, General, and Administrative Costs “Sticky”?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 47-63, March.
    15. Ham, Charles G. & Kaplan, Zachary R. & Leary, Mark T., 2020. "Do dividends convey information about future earnings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(2), pages 547-570.
    16. Fodil Adjaoud & Walid Ben-Amar, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Policy: Shareholders' Protection or Expropriation?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5-6), pages 648-667.
    17. Watts, Ross, 1973. "The Information Content of Dividends," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 191-211, April.
    18. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    19. Clara Xiaoling Chen & Hai Lu & Theodore Sougiannis, 2012. "The Agency Problem, Corporate Governance, and the Asymmetrical Behavior of Selling, General, and Administrative Costs," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 252-282, March.
    20. Christian Andres & Andre′ Betzer & Inga Bongard & Christian Haesner & Erik Theissen, 2013. "The Information Content of Dividend Surprises: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5-6), pages 620-645, June.
    21. Miller, Merton H & Rock, Kevin, 1985. "Dividend Policy under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1031-1051, September.
    22. Nicola Dalla Via & Paolo Perego & Steven Cahan, 2014. "Sticky cost behaviour: evidence from small and medium sized companies," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 753-778, September.
    23. Anderson, Michael & Kanatas, George, 1995. "Asymmetric Information, Dividends, and External Financing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 271-290, September.
    24. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    25. Banker, Rajiv D. & Basu, Sudipta & Byzalov, Dmitri & Chen, Janice Y.S., 2016. "The confounding effect of cost stickiness on conservatism estimates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 203-220.
    26. Ole‐Kristian Hope & Wayne B. Thomas, 2008. "Managerial Empire Building and Firm Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 591-626, June.
    27. Ofer, Aharon R & Siegel, Daniel R, 1987. "Corporate Financial Policy, Information, and Market Expectations: An Empirical Investigation of Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(4), pages 889-911, September.
    28. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    29. Mitton, Todd, 2004. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 409-426, December.
    30. Chin-Sheng Huang & Chun-Fan You & Hsiao-Fen Hsiao, 2017. "Dividends and Subsequent Profitability: An Examination of a Dual Dividend Stock Market," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 1-35, March.
    31. Van Eaton, R D, 1999. "Stock Price Adjustment to the Information in Dividend Changes," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 113-133, March.
    32. Dittmar, Amy K, 2000. "Why Do Firms Repurchase Stock?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(3), pages 331-355, July.
    33. Igor Goncharov & David Veenman, 2014. "Stale and Scale Effects in Markets-Based Accounting Research: Evidence from the Valuation of Dividends," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 25-55, May.
    34. Banker, Rajiv D. & Byzalov, Dmitri & Chen, Lei (Tony), 2013. "Employment protection legislation, adjustment costs and cross-country differences in cost behavior," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 111-127.
    35. Cuny, Charles J. & Martin, Gerald S. & Puthenpurackal, John J., 2009. "Stock Options and Total Payout," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 391-410, April.
    36. Ramji Balakrishnan & Thomas S. Gruca, 2008. "Cost Stickiness and Core Competency: A Note," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 993-1006, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Habib, Ahsan, 2020. "Social capital and payout policies," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    2. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    3. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Paul Tanyi & David B. Smith & Xiaoyan Cheng, 2021. "Does firm payout policy affect shareholders’ dissatisfaction with directors?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 279-320, July.
    5. Jie He & Xuan Tian & Huan Yang & Luo Zuo, 2020. "Asymmetric Cost Behavior and Dividend Policy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 989-1021, September.
    6. Naoum, Vasilios-Christos & Ntounis, Dimitrios & Papanastasopoulos, Georgios & Vlismas, Orestes, 2023. "Asymmetric cost behavior: Theory, meta-analysis, and implications," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:179-211 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Ibrahim, Awad Elsayed Awad & Ali, Hesham & Aboelkheir, Heba, 2022. "Cost stickiness: A systematic literature review of 27 years of research and a future research agenda," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    9. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2005. "Patterns in Payout Policy and Payout Channel Choice of UK Firms in the 1990s," Discussion Paper 2005-002, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    10. Szládek, Dániel, 2024. "Osztalékfizetés helyett részvény-visszavásárlás?. A részvény-visszavásárlások népszerűségének lehetséges okai [Share repurchases instead of dividend payments?. The evolution of payout policies and ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 154-175.
    11. Paul McGuinness & Kevin Lam & João Vieito, 2015. "Gender and other major board characteristics in China: Explaining corporate dividend policy and governance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 989-1038, December.
    12. Cristiana Cattaneo & Gaia Bassani, 2020. "Sticky costs: le determinanti e le sfide per manager e accademici," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(Suppl. 1), pages 103-126.
    13. Sven Hartlieb & Thomas R. Loy, 2022. "The impact of cost stickiness on financial reporting: evidence from income smoothing," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3913-3950, September.
    14. David S. Koo & Santhosh Ramalingegowda & Yong Yu, 2017. "The effect of financial reporting quality on corporate dividend policy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 753-790, June.
    15. Céline Du Boys, 2006. "Pay out policy decisions in France A managerial perspective," Post-Print hal-02057673, HAL.
    16. Mabel D. Costa & Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2021. "Financial constraints and asymmetric cost behavior," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 33-83, March.
    17. Tingyong Zhong & Fangcheng Sun & Haiyan Zhou & Jeoung Yul Lee, 2020. "Business Strategy, State-Owned Equity and Cost Stickiness: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Benlemlih, Mohammed, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and dividend policy," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 114-138.
    19. Ham, Charles G. & Kaplan, Zachary R. & Leary, Mark T., 2020. "Do dividends convey information about future earnings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(2), pages 547-570.
    20. Mabel D. Costa & Ahsan Habib, 2021. "Trade credit and cost stickiness," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 1139-1179, March.
    21. Zhaoyang Gu & Song Tang & Donghui Wu, 2020. "The Political Economy of Labor Employment Decisions: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4703-4725, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate payout; Dividend yield; Cost stickiness; Future value creation; Managerial ability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D25 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice: Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:58:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-021-01013-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.