THE NEXUS BETWEEN COMPANY REGISTRARS AND UNCLAIMED DIVIDENDS IN NIGERIA

Eriki, Emoarehi (2022) THE NEXUS BETWEEN COMPANY REGISTRARS AND UNCLAIMED DIVIDENDS IN NIGERIA. ["eprint_fieldopt_thesis_type_phd" not defined] thesis, Covenant University Ota.

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Abstract

The issue of rising trend in unclaimed dividends in Nigeria has attracted the concerns of different stakeholders in the corporate world.in the last one decade. The issue is still an ongoing debate, even with the enactment of the, Finance Act 2020 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The empirical literature is replete with attempts to address the incidence of rising unclaimed dividends. The phenomenon is attributed to several factors, including changes in the circumstances of investors such as locational changes, death, loss of dividend warrants, and postal errors. The present study sought to address by focusing on the operations of the Registrars who are responsible for the payment administration of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. The study examined the operational mechanism of company registrars with respect to unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. The study used panel data analysis to examine the span of control (the number of companies each registrar serviced), the spatial distribution (the industrial spread of the companies serviced) and their impact on the number of unclaimed dividends respectively. The study also used the panel data to examine the significant difference in the number of unclaimed dividends between the in-house Registrars and external or independent registrars. Additionally, stochastic dominance model analysis, the paired sample t-test, and cumulative percentage were used to assess the significant differences in the number of unclaimed dividends between in house and external registrars. The results from these additional models were consistent with the panel analysis result. The study found that the span of control has a significant impact on unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. The study also showed that spatial distribution has; significant impact on unclaimed dividends in Nigeria, but found no significant difference between in-house registrars and external registrars with respect to their impact on unclaimed dividends. The study concludes that the increasing rate of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria was due to (i) the registrar’s span of control (that is, the number of companies serviced or controlled by each registrar), and (ii) the registrar’s spatial distribution (that is, industrial spread of the quoted companies serviced by each registrar). Thus, the broader the span of control and spatial distribution of companies under the registrar’s remit or purview, the greater the number of unclaimed dividends. However, the study did not find any significant difference between in-house and external registrars in the number of unclaimed dividends warehoused by each. The implication is that the phenomenon of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria is coexistent with both in-house and external registrars. The study, therefore, recommends that the supervisory an /regulatory authorities should address the rising trend of unclaimed dividends vis--a-vis the disproportionate number of companies serviced by company registrars in the Nigerian Stock Market so as to reduce the incidence of unclaimed dividends in Nigeria. The study further recommends capping the number of firms under the service control of a company registrar

Item Type:	Thesis (["eprint_fieldopt_thesis_type_phd" not defined])
Uncontrolled Keywords:	unclaimed dividends, company registrars, Nigerian Stock Exchange, operational mechanism, Securities and Exchange Commission
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5601 Accounting
Divisions:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Mrs Patricia Nwokealisi
Date Deposited:	31 May 2022 12:25
Last Modified:	31 May 2022 12:25
URI:	http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/15912

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