What are the 3 dates and their entries that are associated with dividends.?

Answer 1

In the United States, the three dates that are significant for both paying and accounting for any given cash dividend are: 1) Declaration date: Dividends are not payable unless and until the corporation's Board of Directors declares that a dividend will be paid. The date on which they promise to pay a dividend is called the declaration date, and that is the date on which the company incurs an obligation to pay the dividend. Generally on that date the Board will specify the two other important dates: the ex-dividend date, and the payment date. On the day a dividend is declared, the accounting entries are Debit the Retained Earnings account and credit the Dividends Payable liability account for the total amount of the dividend. 2) Ex-dividend date (or "date of record"): The ex-dividend date is the cutoff date used to identify the particular persons to whom an upcoming dividend will be paid. The shareholders listed on the corporation's records as the owners of shares at the ex-dividend date are the ones who will receive payment of the upcoming dividend, whether or not they still own the shares on the date the dividend is paid. There is no accounting entry related to the ex-dividend date. 3) Payment date: This is the date on which the cash dividend is actually paid out to the shareholders. When the dividend is paid, the accounting entries are: Debit the Dividends Payable account and credit the Cash account for the total amount of the dividend. This eliminates the liablility that was recorded when the dividend was first declared, and reflects the funds going out of the corporation's cash when the dividend is paid.

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