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mair1022
Feb 23, 2008, 04:37 PM
When calculating stock dividend... I don't understand if I need to use the distribution date amount of the distribution amt it climbs to at the end of the month. :confused:

morgaine300
Feb 23, 2008, 05:52 PM
I don't know what you mean about climbing to something at the end of the month.

There's three dates regarding dividends. The first is the date of declaration. That is the date you actually record the dividend into the books. The second is the date of record. That is the date they are using for knowing how many shares there are. When you calculate the amount of the dividend (cash or stock), it would be the amount of outstanding shares on that date. The third is the date of payment or distribution. (Distribution in this case.) That's the day when either a cash dividend is actually paid, or when stock dividends are distributed. But it would have already been calculated prior to that.

For the sake of homework, a lot of problems don't give all these different things. They'll just give you the % of the stock dividend and how many outstanding shares. Just go with it. If they're getting complicated and giving you all this info, you calculate based on outstanding shares on the date of record.