Evaluation of the Influence of the Board of Directors on the Dividend Policy of Companies with State Participation

This paper investigates the dividend payment patterns of the Russian firms with state participation. It also examines the factors that determine the dividend policy of these companies. Corporate dividend decisions are primarily influenced by a Board of Directors, a key corporate governance body and an intermediary between shareholders and managers. The dominant part of the Russian GDP is generated by state-owned companies. This notion determines the exigence of revealing trends in the Russian state-owned companies’ activity and dividend policy. In this research the author conducts an empirical analysis of the influence of the structural characteristics of the boards of directors on the dividend payout ratio on the ordinary stocks of the Russian companies. The sample contains data on 120 Russian open joint-stock companies with state participation for the 2015-2017 period. The sample was created using the Federal Property Agency registry. The period analyzed is characterized by several legislative changes that affected the dividend policy of the Russian companies. The results of the research partially confirmed the main hypothesis of the influence of the structural characteristics of the boards of directors of the Russian state-owned companies on the dividend payout ratio. The statistically significant relationship between some board characteristics (the board size, the proportion of women and the percentage of independent directors on board) and the dividend payout ratio was revealed. However, it is challenging to conclude on the causal relationship between the parameters mentioned.