The Impact of Earnings Management on Dividend Policy: Evidence From Kuwait

This study has two main objectives. The first is to examine the impact of Earnings Management (EM) on dividend policy for the Kuwait’s industrial and service sectors. The second is to sieve out the possible explanations for the conflicting results regarding this topic. Using Modified Jones Model, a sample of 46 companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange with a total of (184) firm-year observations form the period 2011-2016 reveals an absence of a significant relation between EM and dividend policy. In addition, this paper posits a possible relationship between EM, dividend policy and market maturity.