Nonetheless, we believe that the findings from this study will be of interest to policymakers,
investors and academics, some whom have claimed that dividends are indicative of earnings
quality e.g., Breeden 2003; Malkiel 2003; Glassman 2005. These parties care about earnings
quality because it affects the level of information asymmetry between managers and investors and,
consequently, affects firms’ activities and value e.g., Healy et al. 1999; Aboody et al. 2005. For
example, in the report by WorldCom’s court-appointed monitor Richard Breeden, he states that
“dividends are another method of gauging the reality of reported earnings. The ability to pay
dividends is dependent on the availability of cash, and significant differences between the levels of
reported earnings and cash available for dividends would eventually be a red flag of potential
problems.” He proposes that WorldCom pays 25 percent of its earnings in dividends under the
rationale that paying dividends will make it harder for the company to play accounting games
Breeden 2003. James Glassman founder of Investors Action suggests that abolishing the
double-taxation on dividends will encourage investors to demand and companies to pay cash
dividends. The payment of dividends will discourage companies from reporting artificial profits
that do not result in realization of actual cash flows to support cash dividends Glassman 2005.
Burton Malkiel, professor of economics at Princeton, states that “in an environment whose reported
earnings are viewed with some degree of skepticism, cash dividends will provide a very
strong signal to investors of true financial strength and of the credibility of earnings reports”
Malkiel 2003. These examples suggest that some policymakers, investors, and academics believe
dividends are indicative about the quality of earning. The findings in this study that dividend
paying firms on average have better earnings quality than non-dividend paying firms lend some
credence to this belief.