Financial Policies and Practices of Companies Listed on the Irish Stock Exchange: Capital Structure, Dividends and Capital Budgeting

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a recent comprehensive survey of the chief financial officers of companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. The survey focused upon three major areas of financial policy and practice: capital structure, dividends and capital budgeting. In the area of capital budgeting, discounted cash flow methods are used by the listed companies in our sample to a much greater extent than reported for Irish companies in previous surveys. Responses in this survey on capital structure policy are generally consistent with the pecking order hypothesis, whilst Lintner’s lagged partial adjustment model continues to be generally consistent with the dividend policy and practices of listed Irish companies.