Internal Control Quality and Dividend Policy in French Setting: Does Managerial Ownership Concentration Matter?

Abstract

Purpose: The paper examines the association between internal control quality (ICQ) and dividend policy in the French setting. It also investigates how managerial ownership concentration moderates this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: We measure ICQ by using the framework developed by Michelon, et al. (2015).

Findings: Based on a sample of 760 firm-year observations over the period of 2011-2014, we find that ICQ is positively and significantly associated with dividend policy indicating that better controls increase dividend payout ratio. In addition, managerial ownership concentration moderates the association between ICQ and dividend policy since this association becomes non-significant under high percentage of managerial ownership.

Originality/value: Our study adds to the internal control literature by focusing on a developed civil law market. With respect to investors, our results also provide substantive evidence that ICQ plays an important role in increasing dividend payout ratio.