Gusau Journal of Accounting and Finance (Apr 2021)
DOES OPTIMAL BOARD STRUCTURE INFLUENCES DIVIDEND POLICY OF THE NIGERIAN DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS?
Abstract
This study examines whether optimal board structure influences dividend policy of the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). Optimal board structure in the contest of this study is defined in term of appropriate board size with greater proportion of independence. It postulated that the board of directors comprises of executive and non[1]executive directors and its size depends on the complexity of their business. The study relies on agency and resource dependency theory of corporate governance to explain the inconsistence in the board structure of an organisation. Several literatures were reviewed to justify the reality of governance as critical factors that may influence dividend policy. The paper utilized panel data approach and stata software package was used to analyse the data collected from 8 deposit money banks spinning from 2010 to 2019. Findings from the result suggest that executive directors positively drive dividend policy but not significant while non executive director is negative but significantly influence dividend policy. The earnings per share is positive and also significant. The study also confirms that optimal board sizes represented by dummy variables are not significant in the Nigerian banking sector. The study recommends that commercial bank should fix their board size in line with their circumstances and policy should be directed to improve the independence and quality of non-executive directors present in the board.