Prose Coursework Essay Example for Free

Prose Coursework Essay One of my favourite short stories is The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. This story is set on a farm on the Cornish coast. The story is based on the main character, Nat Hocken and his wife, and their two children, Johnny and Jill. This is all set in the mid 1900s, at the start of December. It all starts on the 3rd of December. The birds were behaving in a strange manner. Their formations were abnormal, and they looked as if they were planning a liberation or attack. Nat notices all of these activities but does not pay any attention. Later that night the birds started to attack the windows. Nat opened the window and lots of birds flew in and started to assault and harm him. Nat thought that it would be the end of the aggression attacks but he was wrong. Day after day the birds begin to attack more and more aggressively very often. Nat starts concluding that the weather definitely has a lot to do with the birds actions. He now realises that all the common children that he had formerly told to run home are probably0 dead. From now on Nats duty was to protect his family only. When the birds finally broke into the childrens bedroom, Nat then began to pitch and hurl punches towards the birds. He then grabs one of the bed sheets and chucks it over the birds. Then he started to hurl a bed sheet around the room bouncing and hitting it off and into the walls until the birds were either severely injured or dead. Nat is very protective because he takes the risk of attack by boarding up the house and getting the supplies from the now deceased neighbours up the road. At the end they have realised that these sequences of events are happening all over the world. Nat theorized on the millions of years of repressed feeling that the birds had towards the human race and other species on planet earth. After realising that the wireless has no unique or any predicament transmissions to the public or even the world about these attacks, the silence was tensile. Nat had now given up any hope of survival from these anarchists who which represented a race in the animal kingdom that we believed was harmless. My next story is A message from the Pig-Man by John Wain. This story is set in early 1900s in what seems to be the city of London. This story is about a young boy called Eric of around the age of six. His parents are separated and he lives with his Mum and her boyfriend, Donald. Eric always imagines that the Pig-Man is almost like a character from a horror story. When he first heard about the Pig-Man, he started to ponder what the Pig-Man would look like. He concentrates various prospectives about the image of the Pig-Man, The Pig-Mans bucket had a handle; so he must carry it in the ordinary way, in his hand-unless, of course, and he walked on all fours and carried it in his mouth. But that wasnt very likely, because if he walked on all fours what difference would there be between him and an ordinary pig? Eric is very imaginative in his quest to find out what the Pig-Man really is. He realises it is better to confront your problems he asks his mum why dad cant live at home. When she cant answer he gets angry and claims that he hates all adults. The main characters are Eric, Donald, Mum, Dad and the Pig Man. In this story Eric is the pushy character. He keeps considering his theories about the Pig Man and is anxious to find out which one is correct. Donald has a small part in this story, but does get caught in the middle of one of Erics interferences where he asks his Mum why cant his Dad and Donald live together in the house. I believe that Donald must have felt very uncomfortable at that moment in time. The Pig Man is the one at the centre of attention in this story. He causes Eric to behave in a ridiculous way but not for a child. At the start the Pig Mans character is almost mysterious, as the adults do not tell us what his image is like; we only hear Erics knowledge of the Pig Man that is at the minimum. Erics dad is the one who confuses Eric about buying the train set and then leaving which leads to Eric questioning why him and Donald cant stay with Eric and his mum. The vernacular in this short story is evocative towards what perceptions you can have about someone or something when at a young age or unaware of the purpose or the appearance of an individual. What is interesting about these two stories is that they deal with problems that the characters must face for themselves and overcome; one the boy doesnt understand why the dad and the mums boyfriend (Donald) cant live together and he doesnt understand the term Pig Man. And the other is that Nat doesnt understand why the birds are attacking the Village and the world. He finds out when they time their attacks when he realises it had something to do with the tides.

Cash Flow and Profitability of Dividend Payout

Cash Flow and Profitability of Dividend Payout CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Overview The issue of dividend has been studied comprehensively in last few decades. Still it remained as one of the most debatable issue in the field of Finance. The contradictory nature and massive importance 0f dividend in finance had made it one of the most discussable topics for researchers. Researchers in the past enclosed many aspects of dividend; few among them are views about dividend, dividend payment effects on firm value, dynamics and determinants of dividend policy, and dividend movement of different markets. Lintner (1956) study the allocation of income of corporations among dividends, retained earnings and taxes by taking data from the years 1918 to 1941 as a training period and data from the years 1942 to 1951 as the testing period. Researchconcluded that the basic origin of dividend changes werenet earning and preceding year dividends. In addition, firms attempt to continue a constant stream of dividend and influence to make a regularly partial adjustment to a target payout ratio relatively hysterically changing their payout when a change in income occurs. In the short run, dividends are consistent to avoid frequent changes. This dispute is rooted back to the significant effort of Miller and Modigliani (1961), in which it was challenged in a perfect market condition dividend policy did not affect the value of firm. In contrast, Lintner (1962) and Gordon (1963) based à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Bird-in-handà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? theory and argued that in the world of ambiguity and imperfect information, hig h dividend payment is linked with high firm value. In addition, Black (1976) called dividend as great puzzle which need extensive researched. Furthermore, the Brealey and Myers (2005) listed dividend as one of the top ten significantvague topic in advance corporate finance. According to Anil and Sujjata(2008) emerging consensus was that no individual factor alone can describe dividend behavior. The existing corporate theories supported that cash flow and profitability have significant impact on dividend. The aim of this study was to know the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout of non financial firms in Pakistan market. This study considered free cash flow and profitability was most important for non financial firm in Pakistan market. Talat and Mirza(2010) conducted research related to ownership structure and cash flow as predictor of dividend payout policy. According to that personal ownership, cash flow delicacy, size, and leverage were negatively associated with dividend payout policy. In contrast, profitability and operating cash flow was found as determinants of cash dividend. In addition, Researcher concluded that executive ownership, personal ownership, operating cash flow, and size were important determinants of dividend while, leverage and cash flow delicacy did not contribute considerably in determining the level of corporate dividend payment. DeAngelo and DeAngelo (1990) found significant relation between cash flow and dividend changes. Problem Statement In the field of corporate finance, the dividend was considered as one of the most noteworthy issues. The main purpose to study the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout of non financial firm in Pakistani market was to analyze the cash dividend behavior of developing countries firm. In addition, study was conducted to find out how strongly these two variables free cash flow and profitability have impact on the dividend payout because, profitability was most likely used as determinants of dividend payout in most of the previous researches but free cash flow was not taken too much in previous research. Furthermore, how these two variables serve as an indicator for dividend payout. Hypothesis This research study has tested the following hypothesis to fulfill the objective of the research. H1: There is significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. H2: There is significant impact of return on assets on dividend payout. H3: There is significant impact of return on equity on dividend payout. H4: There is significant impact of earning per share on dividend payout. H5: There is significant impact of net profit margin on dividend payout. Outline of the Study The research structured follows. Chapter one was consist on the introduction of the thesis, it is essential to review the views and theoretical background of dividend, the statement o problem, scope and objective, hypothesis. Chapter two consisted of literature review given by various authors, theories on dividend and impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout. Chapter three explained methodology, it consisted of explanation of the selection of the variables, the sampling and research design, the data technique and hypothesis. Chapter four represents the analysis of results after processing the data. Chapter five composed of final result, conclusion and recommendation. Chapter six consisted of references. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Since 1956, dividend has always considered one of the most interested and investigated topic in world of finance.Lintner (1956) analyzed the allocation of earning of corporation among dividends, retained earnings, and taxes by taken data into consideration for years 1918 to 1941. It was found the basic determinants of dividend change are net earning and preceding year dividends. In addition, firms tried to continue a stable flow of dividend and likely made a regularly limited adjustment to a target payout ratio instead radically changing payout when earning changed. Jensen and Meckling (1976) paid attention toward agency cost hypothesis and described that dividend restricted the funds under management control, as a result putting them under strict capital market examination. Owner responsibility was reduced to deal with the quality of investment and to handle the expenditure on manager prerequisites. Marke, Langrehr, and Hexter(1998) conducted research on dividend policy determinants. Researchers had taken focus of firm, natural log of sales of firm, inside ownership for firm, no of common shareholder for firm, free cash flow for firm, sales growth of firm, and standard deviation of returns o f firm as determinants of dividend policy. Authors concluded that corporate focus has negative impact on dividend payout. While inside ownership had also negative impact, according to researcher the firms have greater inside ownership have small dividend payout. In addition, the firms with higher free cash flow have higher dividend payout and lower payout ratio of firms with higher standard deviation of returns. William and Nanda (1994) conducted research on free cash flow, shareholder value, and the unallocated profits after tax of 1936 and 1937. In this study researcher tried to explore the investor reaction toward the anticipated decrease in free cash flow presented to corporate managers. In addition, researchers suggested agency costs as partial determinants of dividend policy. To avoid the agency problem corporate have to pay higher dividend and imposed higher tax on undistributed profit so the problem of agency cost handled efficiently. The study conducted on determinants of dividend payout ratio in GhannabyAmidu and Abor (2006). In this study 20 listed firms of Ghana Stock Exchange were used as a sample which shows 76% of the total listed firm in Ghana Stock Exchange. Researchers have taken the Payout Ratio as controlled variable and explanatory variables includes risk, profitability, cash flow, corporate tax, institutional holding, sales growth, and market to book value. It was foundthat more profitable firms paid more dividends and profitability is positively related to dividend payout. In addition, cash flow and taxes are also positively related to dividend payout. Further, they also concluded there is a positive relationship between increase in liquidity and dividend payout. Results suggested negative relationship of dividend payout with growth, market to book value, risk, and institutional holding. The firms with the earning instability found hard to pay low and no dividends. Al-Malkawi (2007) worked on determinants of corporate dividend payout policy in Jordan. Researcher used a firm level panel data of all publicly traded firms on the Amman Stock Exchange for the year 1989-2000. Researcher used dividend payout as a depended variable and agency cost, Ownership, annual share turnover, market to book ratio, market capitalization of common equity, financial leverage ratio, profitability ratio, and taxes as independent variables. By using Tobit specification researcher concluded that positive relationship between size, age, and profitability with dividend payout and negative relationship between signaling device, ownership, and taxes in Jordan. Fairchild (2010) worked on Dividend policy, signaling and free cash flow: an integrated approach. Researcher has tried to examine the dividend policy by taking only two hypothesis signaling and free cash flow. In order to understand the composite environment of dividend policy, signaling game is developed in which most of the information possesses by managers than investors about the quality of the firms. The signaling hypothesis shows that asymmetric information between managers and investor, dividend work as signal regarding current performance and future prospect. The study found that high dividend has positive effect on the firm performance, in term of providing a positive signal for current performance and as will as future scenario. In addition, dividend payout reduces the free cash flow problem, which may attract the manager to invest in negative NPV project for personal interest. But if the project shows positive NPV so investment opportunities are available which lead toward the higher dividend in future. Gill, Nahum, and Rajendra (2010) worked on determinants of dividend payout ratio in United States. In this study researcher extend the Amidu and Joshua, and Anil and Kapoor finding for the American service and manufacturing firms. Researcher took same variables into account such as profitability, tax, market to book value, cash flow, and sale growth. The sample size was 266 out of 500 financial reports. According to the researcher dividend payout ratio of manufacturing firms is the function of profit margin, tax, and market to book value ratio. It was also found that result differ when the dividend payout ratio was defined as the ratio between after tax cash flow and cash dividend, not considering after tax earning of the companies. Reddy (2006), studied the dividend behavior of Indian companies, movement, and determinants and struggled to decide the behavior of the companies listed at Bombay Stock Exchange with theassist of trade off theory and signaling theory hypothesis. According to researcher analysis of dividend trend depicted that stock traded on New York Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange indicated that percentage of companies paying dividend has declined from 60.5% in 1990 to 32.1% in 2001 and there is only few companies paying dividend constantly. Beside that firms paying dividend are more profitable, large in size, and having enough growth. Indian context did not represent corporate tax and ax preference theory. Lastly the dividend change indicated signal to current and lagged earning performance rather than future earning performance. Baker, Farrelly and Edelman (1986) studied New York Stock Exchange 318 firms. According to the researchers main determinants of dividend payments were expected future earning and picture of past dividend. Gitman and Pruitt (1991) asked 1000 largest US firms financial managers and concluded present and precedent year earning were significant determinants effect dividend payment. According to Baker and Powell (2000) survey companies listed on New York Stock Exchange were industry explicit and predicted level of future income was the main factor of dividend payout Anil and Kapoor (2008) studies Indian information technology sector for determinants of dividend payout ratio. The phase for study 2000-2006 encompass both recessionary and booming phase of Indian information technology sector. Researcher concluded that beta and liquidity was discovered a notable determinant of dividend payout ratio. In addition, authors concluded that due to recession from 2003 onwards IT sector observed exponential growth, and it was anticipated linear growth in IT sector after 2006. Recently in Pakistani perspective, Ahmed and Attiya (2009) investigated sample of 320 non-financial firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange from 2001 to2006.Researchers concluded Pakistani companies dependent more on current earning than past dividend. In addition, authors highlighted few predictors that may affect payout policies. Firstly, the finding demonstrated companies containing high profit with consistent earning can manage larger amount of free cash flow as a result to payout larger dividend. The firms having larger investment chance can easily affect and have a significant role in determinants of dividend payout policy in Pakistan. The companies paid more dividends to shareholders where inside ownership exist. Ownership structure has considered major factor in determining dividend policy in Pakistan. Beside that dividend payout was not affected pay growth of the firms and market liquidity has a significant impact on dividend payout. Furthermore, size was significant determin ants for dividend payout that means companies invest in assets relatively paying dividends to its stockholders. 2.1 Dividend irrelevance theory: Miller and Modigliani (1961) proposed that dividend policy is irrelevant to the shareholder and stockholder wealth was constant in the world of perfect market condition and any growth in the current payout is financed by literally priced stock sales. The basic assumption was that management paid 100 percent payout in every period. Other assumptions were as follow. First, market is perfect capital market that means there were no taxes on transaction cost, single buyer and seller not influenced price and everyone have free access to information. Second, investors are rational and value of securities was based on the discounted future cash flow to investor. Third, manager act as a agent of shareholders, and there was no uncertainty about the investment policy of the firm. 2.2 Bird-in-hand theory: Al-Malkawi (2007) emphasized that dividend valued differently from retained earnings (capital gains) in world of ambiguity and irregularity information. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A bird in hand (dividend) is valued more than two in the bush (capital gain)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Investors always preferred dividends to retained earnings due to uncertainty of future cash flow. Although, this controversy has been extensively condemned and has not get strong empirical base, but, it was supported by Gordon and Shapiro (1956), Lintner (1962), and Walter (1963). The basic assumptions were as followed Firstly, investors have inadequate information regarding the profitability of a firm. Secondly, cash dividend was taxed at a higher rate when capital gain was realized on the sale of share. Thirdly, dividend serves as a signal of expected cash flow. 2.3 Agency cost and free cash flow theory: Ross (2008) define agency cost is the cost of the conflict of interest that exists among shareholders and management. It was happened when management act for own interest rather than shareholders interest who own the firm. This could be direct and indirect. It was in contrast to assumption of Millar and Modigliani (1961) that mangers act as an agent of shareholders. This is somewhat dubious, as the owners of the firm are different from the management. Managers are bound to carry out some activities, which could be costly to shareholders, such as undertaking unprofitable investments that would yield excessive returns to them, and unnecessarily high management compensation (Al-Malkawi, 2007). These costs are borne by shareholders; therefore, shareholders of firms with excess free cash flow would require high dividend payments instead. Agency cost may also arise between shareholders and bondholders: while shareholders require more dividends, bondholders require fewer dividends than shar eholders by putting in place a debt covenant to ensure availability of cash for their debt repayment. Easterbrook (1984) also identified two agency costs: the cost of monitoring managers and the cost of risk reluctance on the part of managers. Jensens free cash flow/overinvestment hypothesis (1988) provides a surrogate description for the positive association between the direction of the dividend change and the stock price reaction. Jensen argues that managers tend to hold cash to invest in negative NPV projects for their own utility maximization. The agency costs that result from this overinvestment decrease the value of the firm. Like the signaling hypothesis, the FCF argument suggests there should be a positive relationship is the direction of the dividend policy change and the stock price reaction. However, the FCF argument differentiates itself with respect to the level of growth opportunities faced by the firm. If a firm initiated a cash dividend, FCF arguments postulate there are fewer funds available for costly overinvestment. Likewise, if company didnt pay dividend, the strongest form of a decrease would reduce the value of the firm because there are more funds available to invest in less present value projects. The FCF hypothesis assumes larger stock price volatility for the firms who have few growth opportunities as compared to the firms with many growth opportunities. There is disagreement between different researchers on dividend policy. Allen and Rachim (1996) in Australia found no significant association between stock price volatility and divided policy. According to Gordon (1963) the stock price volatility is influenced by dividend payout. The firms who pay large dividend have minimum risks in terms of stock price value. Some of hypothetical mechanism also suggests the universal relationship of dividend yield and dividend payout ratio with stock price volatility. Jensens and Meckling (1976) developed Agency cost argument which proposed that dividend payout lower the cost of funds and increase the cash flows for the company. The company after paying cash dividends to stock holders would have less cash in hands of the managers to invest at below the cost of capital. According to Asquith and Mullin (1983), Born, Moser, and Officer (1984) and Miller and Rock (1985) dividend declaration provide information to the share holders to forecast the financial position of the company and the present firms earnings. This also depends on the source of information that either it is doubtful or not to respond on announcement of dividend. Hence, there remains disagreement till yet, the relation of dividend yield and stock price volatility and it is still unexplained and is considered as debatable in corporate CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Method of Data Collection Required data was collected from Karachi Stock Exchange as given by State Bank of Pakistan in publication of Balance Sheet Analysis of Joint Stock Companies Listed on the KSE (2005-2009). The period of study covered five years, 2005-09. The sample size of 100 non-financial firms was taken from all non financial firm listed at KSE. The required sample was chosen on the basis of cash dividend paid by firms at-least for two years. The sample represents major industry. 3.2 Sample Size Sample of 100 non-financial firms was collected from KSE. Sample consisted of firms which paid cash dividend for at least two years. Firms that was selected for study represented all major industries functioning in Pakistan and listed at KSE from 2005-2009. The impact of the cash flow and profitability on dividend payout was examined on selected sample of 100 non-financial firms. 3.3 Research Model Developed There were various financial factors of the non-financial firms which affected the Dividend payout of the firms. This research study investigated the impact of free cash flow and profitability on the dividend payout. 3.3.1 Dividend payout Dividend payout and dividend amount are taken as the dependent variables. Since dividend payout is the generally used alternative for dividend policy, almost every financial researcher has used payout as a proxy for corporate dividend policy (See for example Gugler, 2003; Reddy and Rath, 2005; Papadopoulos, 2007; Al-Malkawi, 2007; Ahmed Attiya, 2009). In order to calculate dividend payout was calculated as cash dividend per share divided by earning per share. 3.3.2 Earning per share According to Hafeez and Attiya (2009) high profitability with constant earnings can manage to pay for larger free cash flows as a result to pay out larger dividends. The earnings per share after tax were used as independent variable. Earning per share after tax was used because dividend has been paid after interest, taxes and after depreciation and calculated as net earnings divided by number of shares. H1: There is significant impact of earning per share on dividend payout 3.3.3 Return on Equity This variable is used in different previous studies such as: Abor (2005), Miller (2007), Al-Ajmi et al. (2009), and Ebaid (2009) etc. Some authors measured profitability or performance by three measurements such Gross profit margin (GPM), Return on Equity (ROE), and Return on Assets (ROA) and same predictors Ebaid (2009). Likely results with this variable are same as revealed by Abor (2005) and Ebaid (2009) such as: Significance and positive relationship with dividend payout. Return on Equity is considered best measure of firm profitability. Return on Equity (ROE) is one measure of how efficiently a company uses its assets to produce earnings. ROE was calculated by dividing Net Income minus preferred dividend by Share holder equity H2: There is significant impact of Return on Equity on dividend payout. 3.3.4 Free Cash flow According to Jensens (1986) free cash flow hypothesis, companies choose to use their cash resources to invest in profitable projects first; dividend is paid out of residual. From a companys point of view, cash generated from operations plays an important role in deciding the level of payout, among all three sources of cash flows i.e. operating; investing and financing, cash generated from operations is considered as most desirable source of funds for the company for distribution of dividends. Anil and Sujjata (2008) also found cash flow from operations as the most significant determinant of dividend policy in Indian IT industry. A  measure of financial performance calculated as Net income minus depreciation minus change in working capital minus change in capital expenditure. Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after  placing out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base.  Free  cash flow is important be cause it  allows a company to  pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. H3: There is a significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. The model developed was a linear model and its specifications are provided below: Div payout = a0 a1EPS + a2ROE + a3FCF + ц Dividend payout = Dividend per share divided by earning per share EPS = Net income divided by number of share outstanding ROE =Net income minus preferred dividend divided by common shareholder equity FCF =Net income minus Depreciation minus change in working capital minus change in Capital expenditure à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = error term 3.4 Statistical Technique Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (MLR) technique was used for this research study to examine the impact of the distinctive financial characteristics of the non-financial firms on their dividend payout of the selected firms; Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the examination of the secondary data. CHAPTER 4: RESULT The sample of 100 non-financial firms from Karachi Stock Exchange was taken into consideration. This research study used multiple regression analysis (MLR). Researcher examined the behavior of non-financial firms of KSE about dividend payout. The selected technique was used to study the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout. 4.1 Finding and Interpretation of the results In the beginning, the regression technique was applied on collected data by using SPSS, and there was no single variable was significant. It was clear from the result that there was the high co-linearity among the independent variables of the dividend payout and this means there was strong interrelationship present among the predictors. Return on assets and net profit margin was omitted from the data, thus, the issue of co-linearity was resolved. Now, proceeding with the analysis of the results because issue of co-linearity was addressed. The interpretation and analysis is presented in the next sections of this research study. Table 4.1: Model Summary Mod R R Sq. Adj. R Sq. 1 .289 .084 .078 Tables 4.1 depict the summary about the regression model. The R square of 8.4% showed that all the predictors of dividend payout together explained 8.4% variation in the dependent variable and the remaining variation was unexplained or hidden predictor were not included in the model. TABLE 4.2:ANOVA Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 31503.936 3 10501.312 15.236 .000a Residual 345316.428 501 689.254 Total 376820.364 504 The table 4.2 checked the significance of the linear regression model in such a way that the reliability of the data file regarding the applicability of the regression technique can be understood from the above table; however, ANOVA table was reliable test of checking the linear regression models ability to explain any variation in the dependent variable of liquidity. This was perfectly obvious from the sig value of .000 that meant that the linear regression model was highly significant for the data collected for the research study conducted. In addition, ANOVA explained that all means are not equal. In table4.3 the final model of regression included only three independent variable that were free cash flow, earning per share, and return on equity These variables were included in the model due to highly significantly describing the relation with dependent variable dividend payout. Returns on equity and free cash flow have positive impact on dividend, while earning per share has negative impact on dividend payout. 4.2 Hypothesis Assessment Summary The hypothesis of research was unique financial factors had significant impact on the non-financial firms dividend payout decision. These financial characteristics were cash flow taken as free cash flow of firms and profitability taken as earning per share and return on Equity of firms. This research tasted individual financial characteristics and concluded the result as follow. TABLE 4.4: Hypothesis Assessment Summary S.No. Hypothesis ÃŽÂ ² SIG. RESULT H1 There is significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. .001 .005 Accepted H2 There is significant impact of Return on equity on dividend payout. .216 000 Accepted H3 There is significant impact of Earning per Share on dividend payout. -.123 .016 Accepted H4 There is significant impact of Return on Assets on dividend payout. .340 .170 Rejected H5 There is significant impact of Net profit margin on dividend payout. -.034 .530 Rejected CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS, IMLICATION, FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION 5.1Conclusion It was concluded with support of results of this research study return on equity, earning per share, and free cash flow were significant independent variables in Pakistani market. These result were matching with the study under taken by Hafeez and Attiya (2009) in Pakistani context, Researchers concluded firms with high profitability and with stable earning can afford larger free cash flow therefore pay out larger dividends to its shareholder. In addition, Talat and Hammad (2010) examined the ownership structure and cash flow as determinants of dividend policy. Researchers concluded that companies in which high proportion of share were occupied by managers and individual were more reluctant of pay high dividends. In contrast, companies in which managerial and individual ownership is low paid less dividends. It was also concluded that companies having high operating cash flow increase companies potential to pay high dividend and it was considered cash flow sensitivity reduce the compa nies payout but still it was not determined as potential determinants of corporate payout in Pakistan. 5.2 Discussions Profitability and free cash flow could lay significant impact on dividend payout in Pakistani context. Hafeez and Attiya(2009) was also considered profitability as significant determinant of dividend payout, But study conducted by Talat and Hammad (2010) concluded operating cash flow cannot consider significant determinant of dividend payout in Pakistani market.This research considered that free cash flow and profitability measured through earning per share and returns on equity have significant impact on dividend payout of the companies. 5.3 Implication and Recommendations This research was encompasses non-financial companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange Pakistan. The required data collected from 100 non-financial firms listed at KES for the period of 2005 t0 2009. Only firms were included in samples which were paid cash dividend for atleast two years. It is recommended that such type of study should be carried out in other countries of Asia. Further, it also recommended that other determinants except one analyzed in this study should be researched in more extensive manner so the dividend payout policy and its dynamics became clearer. 5.4 Future Research This research addressed the problems of investor, management and other researcher conductor in examining and observing the behavior of firm regarding their payout decisions. Research students who want to work further on dividend payout could be benefited by this study. In addition, all non financial firms will get benefit from this study because this research study taken all major sectors into the consideration and study clarified the impact of free cash flow and profitability on dividend payout. Cash Flow and Profitability of Dividend Payout Cash Flow and Profitability of Dividend Payout CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Overview The issue of dividend has been studied comprehensively in last few decades. Still it remained as one of the most debatable issue in the field of Finance. The contradictory nature and massive importance 0f dividend in finance had made it one of the most discussable topics for researchers. Researchers in the past enclosed many aspects of dividend; few among them are views about dividend, dividend payment effects on firm value, dynamics and determinants of dividend policy, and dividend movement of different markets. Lintner (1956) study the allocation of income of corporations among dividends, retained earnings and taxes by taking data from the years 1918 to 1941 as a training period and data from the years 1942 to 1951 as the testing period. Researchconcluded that the basic origin of dividend changes werenet earning and preceding year dividends. In addition, firms attempt to continue a constant stream of dividend and influence to make a regularly partial adjustment to a target payout ratio relatively hysterically changing their payout when a change in income occurs. In the short run, dividends are consistent to avoid frequent changes. This dispute is rooted back to the significant effort of Miller and Modigliani (1961), in which it was challenged in a perfect market condition dividend policy did not affect the value of firm. In contrast, Lintner (1962) and Gordon (1963) based à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Bird-in-handà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? theory and argued that in the world of ambiguity and imperfect information, hig h dividend payment is linked with high firm value. In addition, Black (1976) called dividend as great puzzle which need extensive researched. Furthermore, the Brealey and Myers (2005) listed dividend as one of the top ten significantvague topic in advance corporate finance. According to Anil and Sujjata(2008) emerging consensus was that no individual factor alone can describe dividend behavior. The existing corporate theories supported that cash flow and profitability have significant impact on dividend. The aim of this study was to know the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout of non financial firms in Pakistan market. This study considered free cash flow and profitability was most important for non financial firm in Pakistan market. Talat and Mirza(2010) conducted research related to ownership structure and cash flow as predictor of dividend payout policy. According to that personal ownership, cash flow delicacy, size, and leverage were negatively associated with dividend payout policy. In contrast, profitability and operating cash flow was found as determinants of cash dividend. In addition, Researcher concluded that executive ownership, personal ownership, operating cash flow, and size were important determinants of dividend while, leverage and cash flow delicacy did not contribute considerably in determining the level of corporate dividend payment. DeAngelo and DeAngelo (1990) found significant relation between cash flow and dividend changes. Problem Statement In the field of corporate finance, the dividend was considered as one of the most noteworthy issues. The main purpose to study the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout of non financial firm in Pakistani market was to analyze the cash dividend behavior of developing countries firm. In addition, study was conducted to find out how strongly these two variables free cash flow and profitability have impact on the dividend payout because, profitability was most likely used as determinants of dividend payout in most of the previous researches but free cash flow was not taken too much in previous research. Furthermore, how these two variables serve as an indicator for dividend payout. Hypothesis This research study has tested the following hypothesis to fulfill the objective of the research. H1: There is significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. H2: There is significant impact of return on assets on dividend payout. H3: There is significant impact of return on equity on dividend payout. H4: There is significant impact of earning per share on dividend payout. H5: There is significant impact of net profit margin on dividend payout. Outline of the Study The research structured follows. Chapter one was consist on the introduction of the thesis, it is essential to review the views and theoretical background of dividend, the statement o problem, scope and objective, hypothesis. Chapter two consisted of literature review given by various authors, theories on dividend and impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout. Chapter three explained methodology, it consisted of explanation of the selection of the variables, the sampling and research design, the data technique and hypothesis. Chapter four represents the analysis of results after processing the data. Chapter five composed of final result, conclusion and recommendation. Chapter six consisted of references. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Since 1956, dividend has always considered one of the most interested and investigated topic in world of finance.Lintner (1956) analyzed the allocation of earning of corporation among dividends, retained earnings, and taxes by taken data into consideration for years 1918 to 1941. It was found the basic determinants of dividend change are net earning and preceding year dividends. In addition, firms tried to continue a stable flow of dividend and likely made a regularly limited adjustment to a target payout ratio instead radically changing payout when earning changed. Jensen and Meckling (1976) paid attention toward agency cost hypothesis and described that dividend restricted the funds under management control, as a result putting them under strict capital market examination. Owner responsibility was reduced to deal with the quality of investment and to handle the expenditure on manager prerequisites. Marke, Langrehr, and Hexter(1998) conducted research on dividend policy determinants. Researchers had taken focus of firm, natural log of sales of firm, inside ownership for firm, no of common shareholder for firm, free cash flow for firm, sales growth of firm, and standard deviation of returns o f firm as determinants of dividend policy. Authors concluded that corporate focus has negative impact on dividend payout. While inside ownership had also negative impact, according to researcher the firms have greater inside ownership have small dividend payout. In addition, the firms with higher free cash flow have higher dividend payout and lower payout ratio of firms with higher standard deviation of returns. William and Nanda (1994) conducted research on free cash flow, shareholder value, and the unallocated profits after tax of 1936 and 1937. In this study researcher tried to explore the investor reaction toward the anticipated decrease in free cash flow presented to corporate managers. In addition, researchers suggested agency costs as partial determinants of dividend policy. To avoid the agency problem corporate have to pay higher dividend and imposed higher tax on undistributed profit so the problem of agency cost handled efficiently. The study conducted on determinants of dividend payout ratio in GhannabyAmidu and Abor (2006). In this study 20 listed firms of Ghana Stock Exchange were used as a sample which shows 76% of the total listed firm in Ghana Stock Exchange. Researchers have taken the Payout Ratio as controlled variable and explanatory variables includes risk, profitability, cash flow, corporate tax, institutional holding, sales growth, and market to book value. It was foundthat more profitable firms paid more dividends and profitability is positively related to dividend payout. In addition, cash flow and taxes are also positively related to dividend payout. Further, they also concluded there is a positive relationship between increase in liquidity and dividend payout. Results suggested negative relationship of dividend payout with growth, market to book value, risk, and institutional holding. The firms with the earning instability found hard to pay low and no dividends. Al-Malkawi (2007) worked on determinants of corporate dividend payout policy in Jordan. Researcher used a firm level panel data of all publicly traded firms on the Amman Stock Exchange for the year 1989-2000. Researcher used dividend payout as a depended variable and agency cost, Ownership, annual share turnover, market to book ratio, market capitalization of common equity, financial leverage ratio, profitability ratio, and taxes as independent variables. By using Tobit specification researcher concluded that positive relationship between size, age, and profitability with dividend payout and negative relationship between signaling device, ownership, and taxes in Jordan. Fairchild (2010) worked on Dividend policy, signaling and free cash flow: an integrated approach. Researcher has tried to examine the dividend policy by taking only two hypothesis signaling and free cash flow. In order to understand the composite environment of dividend policy, signaling game is developed in which most of the information possesses by managers than investors about the quality of the firms. The signaling hypothesis shows that asymmetric information between managers and investor, dividend work as signal regarding current performance and future prospect. The study found that high dividend has positive effect on the firm performance, in term of providing a positive signal for current performance and as will as future scenario. In addition, dividend payout reduces the free cash flow problem, which may attract the manager to invest in negative NPV project for personal interest. But if the project shows positive NPV so investment opportunities are available which lead toward the higher dividend in future. Gill, Nahum, and Rajendra (2010) worked on determinants of dividend payout ratio in United States. In this study researcher extend the Amidu and Joshua, and Anil and Kapoor finding for the American service and manufacturing firms. Researcher took same variables into account such as profitability, tax, market to book value, cash flow, and sale growth. The sample size was 266 out of 500 financial reports. According to the researcher dividend payout ratio of manufacturing firms is the function of profit margin, tax, and market to book value ratio. It was also found that result differ when the dividend payout ratio was defined as the ratio between after tax cash flow and cash dividend, not considering after tax earning of the companies. Reddy (2006), studied the dividend behavior of Indian companies, movement, and determinants and struggled to decide the behavior of the companies listed at Bombay Stock Exchange with theassist of trade off theory and signaling theory hypothesis. According to researcher analysis of dividend trend depicted that stock traded on New York Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange indicated that percentage of companies paying dividend has declined from 60.5% in 1990 to 32.1% in 2001 and there is only few companies paying dividend constantly. Beside that firms paying dividend are more profitable, large in size, and having enough growth. Indian context did not represent corporate tax and ax preference theory. Lastly the dividend change indicated signal to current and lagged earning performance rather than future earning performance. Baker, Farrelly and Edelman (1986) studied New York Stock Exchange 318 firms. According to the researchers main determinants of dividend payments were expected future earning and picture of past dividend. Gitman and Pruitt (1991) asked 1000 largest US firms financial managers and concluded present and precedent year earning were significant determinants effect dividend payment. According to Baker and Powell (2000) survey companies listed on New York Stock Exchange were industry explicit and predicted level of future income was the main factor of dividend payout Anil and Kapoor (2008) studies Indian information technology sector for determinants of dividend payout ratio. The phase for study 2000-2006 encompass both recessionary and booming phase of Indian information technology sector. Researcher concluded that beta and liquidity was discovered a notable determinant of dividend payout ratio. In addition, authors concluded that due to recession from 2003 onwards IT sector observed exponential growth, and it was anticipated linear growth in IT sector after 2006. Recently in Pakistani perspective, Ahmed and Attiya (2009) investigated sample of 320 non-financial firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange from 2001 to2006.Researchers concluded Pakistani companies dependent more on current earning than past dividend. In addition, authors highlighted few predictors that may affect payout policies. Firstly, the finding demonstrated companies containing high profit with consistent earning can manage larger amount of free cash flow as a result to payout larger dividend. The firms having larger investment chance can easily affect and have a significant role in determinants of dividend payout policy in Pakistan. The companies paid more dividends to shareholders where inside ownership exist. Ownership structure has considered major factor in determining dividend policy in Pakistan. Beside that dividend payout was not affected pay growth of the firms and market liquidity has a significant impact on dividend payout. Furthermore, size was significant determin ants for dividend payout that means companies invest in assets relatively paying dividends to its stockholders. 2.1 Dividend irrelevance theory: Miller and Modigliani (1961) proposed that dividend policy is irrelevant to the shareholder and stockholder wealth was constant in the world of perfect market condition and any growth in the current payout is financed by literally priced stock sales. The basic assumption was that management paid 100 percent payout in every period. Other assumptions were as follow. First, market is perfect capital market that means there were no taxes on transaction cost, single buyer and seller not influenced price and everyone have free access to information. Second, investors are rational and value of securities was based on the discounted future cash flow to investor. Third, manager act as a agent of shareholders, and there was no uncertainty about the investment policy of the firm. 2.2 Bird-in-hand theory: Al-Malkawi (2007) emphasized that dividend valued differently from retained earnings (capital gains) in world of ambiguity and irregularity information. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A bird in hand (dividend) is valued more than two in the bush (capital gain)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Investors always preferred dividends to retained earnings due to uncertainty of future cash flow. Although, this controversy has been extensively condemned and has not get strong empirical base, but, it was supported by Gordon and Shapiro (1956), Lintner (1962), and Walter (1963). The basic assumptions were as followed Firstly, investors have inadequate information regarding the profitability of a firm. Secondly, cash dividend was taxed at a higher rate when capital gain was realized on the sale of share. Thirdly, dividend serves as a signal of expected cash flow. 2.3 Agency cost and free cash flow theory: Ross (2008) define agency cost is the cost of the conflict of interest that exists among shareholders and management. It was happened when management act for own interest rather than shareholders interest who own the firm. This could be direct and indirect. It was in contrast to assumption of Millar and Modigliani (1961) that mangers act as an agent of shareholders. This is somewhat dubious, as the owners of the firm are different from the management. Managers are bound to carry out some activities, which could be costly to shareholders, such as undertaking unprofitable investments that would yield excessive returns to them, and unnecessarily high management compensation (Al-Malkawi, 2007). These costs are borne by shareholders; therefore, shareholders of firms with excess free cash flow would require high dividend payments instead. Agency cost may also arise between shareholders and bondholders: while shareholders require more dividends, bondholders require fewer dividends than shar eholders by putting in place a debt covenant to ensure availability of cash for their debt repayment. Easterbrook (1984) also identified two agency costs: the cost of monitoring managers and the cost of risk reluctance on the part of managers. Jensens free cash flow/overinvestment hypothesis (1988) provides a surrogate description for the positive association between the direction of the dividend change and the stock price reaction. Jensen argues that managers tend to hold cash to invest in negative NPV projects for their own utility maximization. The agency costs that result from this overinvestment decrease the value of the firm. Like the signaling hypothesis, the FCF argument suggests there should be a positive relationship is the direction of the dividend policy change and the stock price reaction. However, the FCF argument differentiates itself with respect to the level of growth opportunities faced by the firm. If a firm initiated a cash dividend, FCF arguments postulate there are fewer funds available for costly overinvestment. Likewise, if company didnt pay dividend, the strongest form of a decrease would reduce the value of the firm because there are more funds available to invest in less present value projects. The FCF hypothesis assumes larger stock price volatility for the firms who have few growth opportunities as compared to the firms with many growth opportunities. There is disagreement between different researchers on dividend policy. Allen and Rachim (1996) in Australia found no significant association between stock price volatility and divided policy. According to Gordon (1963) the stock price volatility is influenced by dividend payout. The firms who pay large dividend have minimum risks in terms of stock price value. Some of hypothetical mechanism also suggests the universal relationship of dividend yield and dividend payout ratio with stock price volatility. Jensens and Meckling (1976) developed Agency cost argument which proposed that dividend payout lower the cost of funds and increase the cash flows for the company. The company after paying cash dividends to stock holders would have less cash in hands of the managers to invest at below the cost of capital. According to Asquith and Mullin (1983), Born, Moser, and Officer (1984) and Miller and Rock (1985) dividend declaration provide information to the share holders to forecast the financial position of the company and the present firms earnings. This also depends on the source of information that either it is doubtful or not to respond on announcement of dividend. Hence, there remains disagreement till yet, the relation of dividend yield and stock price volatility and it is still unexplained and is considered as debatable in corporate CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Method of Data Collection Required data was collected from Karachi Stock Exchange as given by State Bank of Pakistan in publication of Balance Sheet Analysis of Joint Stock Companies Listed on the KSE (2005-2009). The period of study covered five years, 2005-09. The sample size of 100 non-financial firms was taken from all non financial firm listed at KSE. The required sample was chosen on the basis of cash dividend paid by firms at-least for two years. The sample represents major industry. 3.2 Sample Size Sample of 100 non-financial firms was collected from KSE. Sample consisted of firms which paid cash dividend for at least two years. Firms that was selected for study represented all major industries functioning in Pakistan and listed at KSE from 2005-2009. The impact of the cash flow and profitability on dividend payout was examined on selected sample of 100 non-financial firms. 3.3 Research Model Developed There were various financial factors of the non-financial firms which affected the Dividend payout of the firms. This research study investigated the impact of free cash flow and profitability on the dividend payout. 3.3.1 Dividend payout Dividend payout and dividend amount are taken as the dependent variables. Since dividend payout is the generally used alternative for dividend policy, almost every financial researcher has used payout as a proxy for corporate dividend policy (See for example Gugler, 2003; Reddy and Rath, 2005; Papadopoulos, 2007; Al-Malkawi, 2007; Ahmed Attiya, 2009). In order to calculate dividend payout was calculated as cash dividend per share divided by earning per share. 3.3.2 Earning per share According to Hafeez and Attiya (2009) high profitability with constant earnings can manage to pay for larger free cash flows as a result to pay out larger dividends. The earnings per share after tax were used as independent variable. Earning per share after tax was used because dividend has been paid after interest, taxes and after depreciation and calculated as net earnings divided by number of shares. H1: There is significant impact of earning per share on dividend payout 3.3.3 Return on Equity This variable is used in different previous studies such as: Abor (2005), Miller (2007), Al-Ajmi et al. (2009), and Ebaid (2009) etc. Some authors measured profitability or performance by three measurements such Gross profit margin (GPM), Return on Equity (ROE), and Return on Assets (ROA) and same predictors Ebaid (2009). Likely results with this variable are same as revealed by Abor (2005) and Ebaid (2009) such as: Significance and positive relationship with dividend payout. Return on Equity is considered best measure of firm profitability. Return on Equity (ROE) is one measure of how efficiently a company uses its assets to produce earnings. ROE was calculated by dividing Net Income minus preferred dividend by Share holder equity H2: There is significant impact of Return on Equity on dividend payout. 3.3.4 Free Cash flow According to Jensens (1986) free cash flow hypothesis, companies choose to use their cash resources to invest in profitable projects first; dividend is paid out of residual. From a companys point of view, cash generated from operations plays an important role in deciding the level of payout, among all three sources of cash flows i.e. operating; investing and financing, cash generated from operations is considered as most desirable source of funds for the company for distribution of dividends. Anil and Sujjata (2008) also found cash flow from operations as the most significant determinant of dividend policy in Indian IT industry. A  measure of financial performance calculated as Net income minus depreciation minus change in working capital minus change in capital expenditure. Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after  placing out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base.  Free  cash flow is important be cause it  allows a company to  pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. H3: There is a significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. The model developed was a linear model and its specifications are provided below: Div payout = a0 a1EPS + a2ROE + a3FCF + ц Dividend payout = Dividend per share divided by earning per share EPS = Net income divided by number of share outstanding ROE =Net income minus preferred dividend divided by common shareholder equity FCF =Net income minus Depreciation minus change in working capital minus change in Capital expenditure à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = error term 3.4 Statistical Technique Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (MLR) technique was used for this research study to examine the impact of the distinctive financial characteristics of the non-financial firms on their dividend payout of the selected firms; Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the examination of the secondary data. CHAPTER 4: RESULT The sample of 100 non-financial firms from Karachi Stock Exchange was taken into consideration. This research study used multiple regression analysis (MLR). Researcher examined the behavior of non-financial firms of KSE about dividend payout. The selected technique was used to study the impact of cash flow and profitability on dividend payout. 4.1 Finding and Interpretation of the results In the beginning, the regression technique was applied on collected data by using SPSS, and there was no single variable was significant. It was clear from the result that there was the high co-linearity among the independent variables of the dividend payout and this means there was strong interrelationship present among the predictors. Return on assets and net profit margin was omitted from the data, thus, the issue of co-linearity was resolved. Now, proceeding with the analysis of the results because issue of co-linearity was addressed. The interpretation and analysis is presented in the next sections of this research study. Table 4.1: Model Summary Mod R R Sq. Adj. R Sq. 1 .289 .084 .078 Tables 4.1 depict the summary about the regression model. The R square of 8.4% showed that all the predictors of dividend payout together explained 8.4% variation in the dependent variable and the remaining variation was unexplained or hidden predictor were not included in the model. TABLE 4.2:ANOVA Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 31503.936 3 10501.312 15.236 .000a Residual 345316.428 501 689.254 Total 376820.364 504 The table 4.2 checked the significance of the linear regression model in such a way that the reliability of the data file regarding the applicability of the regression technique can be understood from the above table; however, ANOVA table was reliable test of checking the linear regression models ability to explain any variation in the dependent variable of liquidity. This was perfectly obvious from the sig value of .000 that meant that the linear regression model was highly significant for the data collected for the research study conducted. In addition, ANOVA explained that all means are not equal. In table4.3 the final model of regression included only three independent variable that were free cash flow, earning per share, and return on equity These variables were included in the model due to highly significantly describing the relation with dependent variable dividend payout. Returns on equity and free cash flow have positive impact on dividend, while earning per share has negative impact on dividend payout. 4.2 Hypothesis Assessment Summary The hypothesis of research was unique financial factors had significant impact on the non-financial firms dividend payout decision. These financial characteristics were cash flow taken as free cash flow of firms and profitability taken as earning per share and return on Equity of firms. This research tasted individual financial characteristics and concluded the result as follow. TABLE 4.4: Hypothesis Assessment Summary S.No. Hypothesis ÃŽÂ ² SIG. RESULT H1 There is significant impact of free cash flow on dividend payout. .001 .005 Accepted H2 There is significant impact of Return on equity on dividend payout. .216 000 Accepted H3 There is significant impact of Earning per Share on dividend payout. -.123 .016 Accepted H4 There is significant impact of Return on Assets on dividend payout. .340 .170 Rejected H5 There is significant impact of Net profit margin on dividend payout. -.034 .530 Rejected CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS, IMLICATION, FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION 5.1Conclusion It was concluded with support of results of this research study return on equity, earning per share, and free cash flow were significant independent variables in Pakistani market. These result were matching with the study under taken by Hafeez and Attiya (2009) in Pakistani context, Researchers concluded firms with high profitability and with stable earning can afford larger free cash flow therefore pay out larger dividends to its shareholder. In addition, Talat and Hammad (2010) examined the ownership structure and cash flow as determinants of dividend policy. Researchers concluded that companies in which high proportion of share were occupied by managers and individual were more reluctant of pay high dividends. In contrast, companies in which managerial and individual ownership is low paid less dividends. It was also concluded that companies having high operating cash flow increase companies potential to pay high dividend and it was considered cash flow sensitivity reduce the compa nies payout but still it was not determined as potential determinants of corporate payout in Pakistan. 5.2 Discussions Profitability and free cash flow could lay significant impact on dividend payout in Pakistani context. Hafeez and Attiya(2009) was also considered profitability as significant determinant of dividend payout, But study conducted by Talat and Hammad (2010) concluded operating cash flow cannot consider significant determinant of dividend payout in Pakistani market.This research considered that free cash flow and profitability measured through earning per share and returns on equity have significant impact on dividend payout of the companies. 5.3 Implication and Recommendations This research was encompasses non-financial companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange Pakistan. The required data collected from 100 non-financial firms listed at KES for the period of 2005 t0 2009. Only firms were included in samples which were paid cash dividend for atleast two years. It is recommended that such type of study should be carried out in other countries of Asia. Further, it also recommended that other determinants except one analyzed in this study should be researched in more extensive manner so the dividend payout policy and its dynamics became clearer. 5.4 Future Research This research addressed the problems of investor, management and other researcher conductor in examining and observing the behavior of firm regarding their payout decisions. Research students who want to work further on dividend payout could be benefited by this study. In addition, all non financial firms will get benefit from this study because this research study taken all major sectors into the consideration and study clarified the impact of free cash flow and profitability on dividend payout.

The State Of Male Privilege In Contemporary Society Sociology Essay

The State Of Male Privilege In Contemporary Society Sociology Essay The state of male privilege within society is greatly debated. Both past and present day academics, have considered the extent of its presence and effects within society in relation to spatial and geographical dimensions. Over time, a vast selection of literature claiming that male privilege heavily affects womens power and opportunity for equality between the sexes has accumulated. This literature is a reaction to issues such as women consistently taking lower wages in the workforce and being repressed by the family unit, cultures, religion, politics and society as a whole. This has resulted in limitations for women due to stereotypical gender roles reinforced in both work and home spaces. However, the increased empowerment of women must be noted through the last century, for example, when women won the right to vote. The last decade witnessed Farrells (1993) works on The Myth of Male Power which has cast a rather different light on the alleged privileges of man. Leaving one to ques tion whether, in fact, it is to women that freedom and privilege belongs; Goldin and Katz (2006) discuss this phenomenon in The reversal of the college gender gap. Are men perhaps, as Farrell (1993) suggests, perhaps the subordinated sex? For the purposes of this essay, male privilege will be defined as the notion that the male population of society is granted rights and statuses based strictly on the grounds of their gender, thus women are denied equal liberties. Patriarchy, as a concept strongly associated with male privilege is defined as a system of social structures and practices, through which men dominate, oppress and exploit women, according to The Dictionary of Human Geography (Gregory et al. 2009). Cosslett et al (1996) highlight the theme of patriarchy is evident within theological structures. They also refer to a verse from the book of Timothy in the New Testament which clearly suggests that women are subordinate to men. Let a women learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, bit the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. (1 Timothy 2.11-15) 1 Timothy 2.11-15 suggests that women are the cause of sin and deception. Eve, as the representation of the female form was deliberately disobedient when provided with the opportunity to exercise her own authority. Christianity interprets this foundational allegory in order to offer an explanation for the sexual hierarchy existing within society. According to Therborn (2004), the world of patriarchy remained part of society throughout the 1900s. The law of the father remained a substantial part of understanding society during the 1900s. The role of the father was to rule over the children continuing into adult life, until they were married. It was generally perceived that men were super-ordinate to their wives, thus men had generational authority. So much so, that despite a general expectation that men should keep a mistress in Latin Europe and America, divorce was incredibly difficult and a uniquely male privilege in China and Muslim countries (Therborn, 2004). Female freedom was incredibly restricted, entirely controlled by their male authority, whether it be by their father or husband. Movement in public spaces for women was physically restrained almost everywhere, however, restrictions varied to a great extent. In North-America and North-western Europe, sexually ambiguous spaces including the streets after dark, restauran ts, theatres and other places of entertainment were usually off-limits to women unless being escorted (Therborn, 2004). However, Therborn (2004) noted that more extreme measures were taken to restrain womens movement elsewhere, for example, in an area of land between the Gangetic plains of the redundant Mughal Empire to the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Women of the upper conservative classes rarely left their female quarters, let alone their home; it was expected that they should only set foot outside their home for events such as their marriage, their fathers death and at their own burial. On the few occasions when they did leave their home, they were wrapped up and veiled. Therborn (2004) discusses not only the restrictions that were placed on womens movement through space but physical restraints places on their body by men. Women in China endured great suffering; forced to conform to the male concept of beauty their feet were broken and bound up as a tribute to their male authority. Jackson (1990) suggests that some homosexual men may have suffered oppression under patriarchy (such as compulsory heterosexuality), as well as the inherent exploitation of women. Brittan (1989, p.4) considers that masculinity or patriarchy assumes that heterosexuality is normal, it accepts without question the sexual division of labour, and sanctions the political and dominant role of men in the public and private spheres. Essentially certain forms of masculinity are privileged, subordinating other forms. Thus, homosexuality is treated as secondary to heterosexuality, just as women are to men. The continued oppression and abuse of women through time and place inspired the sentiments of Mary Wollstonecraft two centuries ago, who wrote, I [only] wish women to have powerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦over themselves, as highlighted by Finch (1996). As the second wave of feminism began to gain strength in Britain in the 1960s, views of the family changed, as feminists argued the family was a fundamental cause of womens oppression (Finch, 1996). Finch (1996) questions whether or not the family represents restriction of opportunities, thus positioning women as subordinates to men within the family unit. He suggests that the gender relations characteristic of the dominant family form are key to understanding a womans place within society. However, Finch (1996) argues that in recent years the family form has altered. Therborn (2004) suggests that the early twentieth century saw de-patriarchalization occurring at an incredible rate. No other social institution through time has been forced to retre at and loosen its hold as much. The retreat of patriarchy from society has been aided by legal enforcement; for example, when women (all over the age of 21) won the right to vote in 1928 as well as the UN declaration of human rights 1948, which stated: Men and Women of full age, without any limitations due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage, and its dissolution Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses So the family form has changed and continues to change; as the first wave of feminism spurred on de-patriarchalization in the early twentieth century followed by the second wave come the 1960s, womens rights within marriage and the family were increasing. A womans ability to succeed in the eyes of Mary Wollstonecraft has to go against the grain of social life (Finch, 1996, p.20), in combination with favourable circumstances allowing a woman to gain financial independence. However, Finch (1996) recognises that this remains a difficult task even at the end of the twentieth century. Callen and Wren (1994) report a sharp rise on the hourly wages that Irish women received relative to their male counterparts during the 1970s, after the introduction of the equal pay legislation and anti-discrimination legislation. Over the past few decades the male-female wage gap has seemingly shrunk by about half. This narrowing was particularly dramatic in the 1980s but since has levelled out and remained more stable (Doms and Lewis, 2007). However, it remains that women only earn approximately 70% of the amount their male colleagues earn for the same jobs. This is evidence that men seem to have privileges which women lack. Simon and Landis (1989) suggest that the wage gap between men and women cannot narrow to equality until both genders have equal employment. Conversely, most of the figures quoted for the male-female wage gap are for production workers in the manufacturing industry, but this group of workers amounts to just 1 in 3 of all employees and less than 1 in 5 of all fe male employees (Callen and Wren, 1994). Thus, it is debateable as to whether this sub-group of the economy can provide an accurate representation of the male-female wage gap. It is also important to note that women are more highly concentrated in the younger age groups within the workforce; 70% women: 52% men were aged 35 or below. This is usually attributed to many women, especially married women, tending to leave the labour market during the years of child-bearing and child-rearing (Callen and Wren, 1994). This can affect the wage gap because generally wage gaps for groups of a similar age, or possessing similar labour market experience are smaller. The wage gap is often around just 7% for those under the age of 35. Despite increasing numbers of women returning to work after having children, many still feel that child-care and other family responsibilities are the main reason that they did not seek out paid work. The presence of a pre-school child (age 0-4) makes it much less likely that a woman will return to work (Callen and Wren, 1994). This effect is not at all mirrored in the case of men. McDowell (1997) suggests that this is due to the binaries that exist in society; the workplace is a male dominated space while the home is a female dominated space. However, Hochschild (2003) notes a staggering increase in mothers returning to work in America with children aged 3 and under, from 34% in 1975, to 61% in 2000. 90% of women that do return to the workforce have found that they still are expected to be responsible for finding and organising childcare. Whilst this increase in the number of mothers that are working outside the home may suggest that women are gaining power over themselves, it may a lso be attributed to a change from Fordist notions of a family wage. Rather, womens work has absorbed the deindustrialisation of America and the decline in mens wages (Hochschild, 2003). In fact, Pratt (2002) predicts that by 2025 women in the UK will possess 60% of the nations wealth, and by 2020 just 47% of the UKs millionaires will be men. Garai and Scheinfield (1968) suggest that the majority of studies report that men advance further in the workforce, whilst women are left behind with the expectation to get married and have children because boys have a clearer concept of their future occupational roles, are more realistic in their vocational planning, and less frequently engaged in unrealistic fantasies and pipedreams about future happiness than girls. Is the privilege and success of men within the workforce due to a lack of aspiration and focus on employment from women? Or is it as Spencer and Podmore (1987) have suggested, that womens careers are unplanned due to an indecisive nature as well as suffering from breaks for child-rearing? This began to change as in the 1960s and 1970s, young womens expectations for their futures were changing, and no longer did they expect to follow in their mothers footsteps. By 1980, levels of male and female graduates had reached parity, but womens greater increase rate did not slow; in 2003, there were 1.35 for every one male 4-year college graduates, and 1.30 for every one male undergraduate (Goldin and Katz, 2006). Thus the 21st century witnessed a reversal in the college gender gap. This effect is not purely a phenomenon of the USA; it is now occurring in nearly all OECD countries. In the three surveys conducted to assess the college gender gap, Goldin and Katz (2006) reported that girls achieved consistently higher grades than boys did throughout high school. In the Wisconsin data of high school seniors graduating in 1957, the high school rank of the median girls was 21 percentile points above the median boy. This difference whilst less extreme still remained with a 16 percent ile point difference in 1992 graduated in the NELS data (Goldin and Katz, 2006). Therefore, demonstrating that girls have an academic privilege over boys. Evidence that the college gender gap and the male-female wage gap is narrowing perhaps lead to Farrell (1993) to question whether male power is a myth, further exploring the idea that men are not the privileged gender. Farrell (1993) considers the many ways in which women are argued to be subordinate to their male counterparts; feeling of powerless through fears of pregnancy, ageing, rape, date rape, and being physically overpowered, less exposure to team sports and its blend of competitiveness and cooperation that is so helpful to career preparation, greater parental pressure to marry and interrupt career for children without regard for her wishes, to name but a few. The conclusion to these experiences of women across the globe is that women have the problem, men are the problem (Farrell, 1993, p.27-28). However, Farrell (1993) then puts a different spin on the concept of gender privilege, claiming that men have a different experience. When a man tries to keep up with payments by working overtime and is told he is insensitive, or tries to handle the stress by drinking and is told he is a drunkard, he does not feel powerful, but powerless. When he fears a cry for help will be met with stop whiningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he skips past attempting suicide as a cry for help and just commits suicide. Thus menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦increasingly become the suicide sex. (Farrell, 1993, p27-28) Farrell (1993) suggests that when we look at life expectancy, we acknowledge that blacks dying six years sooner than whites reflects the powerlessness of blacks in American society. Yet a man dying on average seven years sooner than a woman is rarely considered a reflection of powerlessness. If the seven year gap is biological, why was it just a one year gap in 1920? If life expectancy is one of the best indictors of power, then suicide is one of the best indicators of powerlessness, Power is the ability to control ones life. Death tends to reduce control (Farrell, 1993, p27-28). Until boys and girls reach the age of 9 rates of suicide are equal, but from the age of 10, as a boy grows older he is far more likely to commit suicide than a girl of the same age. Between the ages of 20-24, a male is 6 times more inclined to commit suicide than a female. By the age of 85, the suicide rate for men has increased to 1350% higher than for women of the same age. This suggests perhaps that men h ave a less privileged life, for feeling more stressed with work may cause an inclination toward suicide. It is easy to ignore the influence and power that a woman possesses, which a mother can have over her children including both sons and daughters. But it is the mother who is able to make their childs everyday life heaven or hell through discipline, whether that be making their bedtime earlier, taking away desserts, or grounding the child if they do not obey (Farrell, 1993). Few men are able to say they hold this kind of influence or power. Despite the old saying that man is master of the house, many men feel they were visitors in their wives castle. A wife may feel that a mans home is his castle, but from a husbands perspective, his wifes home is his mortgage. In the past, the prohibition against divorce gave a woman security in her workplace (the home), knowing they would be supported. However, no man could say he had a similar security in his workplace; his source of income could fire him, whilst her source of income could not fire her. Even today, now that divorce is a legal option, if a man quits his job, he does not receive unemployment pay. Yet, if she initiates divorce, she is able to take a half share of their possessions. Perhaps then, women possess greater privileges than men? It has been a long held assumption that women spend a greater amount of time on housework and childcare than men spend working, concluding that women work two jobs, men work one (Farrell, 1993, p.37). However, a study by the University of Michigan (1991) found the average man worked 61 hours per week, while the average woman works 56 hours a week. A nationwide study in 1975 found similarly that husbands did 53% of the total work, including childcare, housework, work outside the home, commuting and gardening, while wives did only 47%. A mans freedom or lack of it has been compared to that of a slave; a slave is expected to give up their seat for a woman, or to help her put on her coat like a slave would for their master (Farrell, 1993). Men as opposed to women are expected to do societys most hazardous jobs, like ones slave would have been given (Farrell, 1993).The difference simply being societys rules and expectations of men, such as that of politeness, whilst slaves act out of subservience. A man may feel through expectation that in a sense he is being discriminated against, but there is evidence that women also experience this. Black congressman Shirley Chisholms statement that she faced far more discrimination as a woman than as a black was widely quoted (Farrell, 1993). Although, perhaps the greatest discrimination that American men experience of all, purely because of their gender, is the expectation that men and only men should be conscribed into combat in the case of war. Farrell (1993) explores the idea of the pro-choice woman and the no-choice man, arguing that registering all our 18-year old sons for the draft in the event of war is as sexist as registering all our 18-year old daughters for child-rearing in the event that the country requires more children. Is it fair that an 18-year boy can be barred from all federal employment from the US Post Office to the FBI, as well as facing a $250,000 fine and five years in prison if he refuses to register for the draft? Farrell (1993) suggests that in essence he is subject to being killed purely for not killing; for whilst in prison he will be subject to homosexual rape and thus AIDS because of his reputation for not wanting to fight. Is this fair, while a female who does not register is able to atte nd a state school or a private school with federal aid, get married, have children, or be single and work. In other words, a woman who does not sign up for the draft is free to live life as she pleases, while a man has an obligation to die (Farrell, 1993, p.130). To conclude, the understanding of male privilege has changed greatly over the last century. There are a great many examples over time and place which suggest that women have suffered under the dominance of man, but, it is by no means a universally accepted concept. Farrell (1993) has persistently argued that men find they are subordinates to women and children. Many of the issues around gender discrimination in the workplace in terms of employment and wages, have found improvements in favour of women, to the extent that Pratt (2002) suggests that in the UK women will possess more wealth than men by 2025. However, male privilege remains prominent in other aspects of society, only time will tell whether this will remain or will gradually fade. It is difficult to say how near or far society is from gender equality due to the vast disputes as to the state of male privilege that exists today.

Life & Debt Essay -- Economics Film Poverty Jamaica Essays

Life & Debt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The documentary Life and Debt portrays a true example of the impact economic globalization can have on a developing country. When most Americans think about Jamaica, we think about the beautiful beaches, warm weather, and friendly people that make it a fabulous vacation spot. This movie shows the place in a different light, by showing a pressuring problem of debt. The everyday survival of many Jamaicans is based on the economic decisions of the United States and other powerful foreign countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The film opens with camera shots portraying Jamaica as the beautiful and carefree place that most Americans view it as. The vast majority are oblivious to the fact that the delicious food they indulge in on their voyage probably came off a ship from Miami.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the 1970s, the country’s former prime minister signed a loan agreement which ultimately led Jamaica to over four billion dollars in debt to the World Bank and IMF. This ultimately caused a sinking economy of low valued imports and sweatshops are destroying local businesses and agriculture. In the video, we see workers who are working gruesome six-day-a-week work schedules to receive the legal minimum wage of only $30 in US money for the entire week. Many women have protested against the poor compensation, and have been fired from their jobs; being placed on a blacklist preventing them from ever getting work again. The country’s ports are lined with the factories of high profile companies, ...

Understanding Disabilities :: Personal Narrative Writing

You don't have to work too hard to find places where your awareness of disabilities helps you see things clearly and understand more about your own world. I'm interested in art and I'm working at the Museum in town this summer. I'm helping develop an education program that will interest younger kids in the museum's collection. I have been looking everywhere to find out how to get kids to look at paintings that otherwise might not interest them at all. I saw something on the Internet which I thought would give me some ideas. It is a Web site created by Tom March called "2 Views 4 U." He uses questions to get the viewer to compare sets of interestingly matched paintings. I especially liked his combination of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch and VanGogh's "Corridor in the Asylum." March tries to get the viewer to define mental illness by comparing the two painters' interpretations of it. He starts out by asking us to think about the two titles of the paintings and he draws us into examining how each of the painters uses repetitions, shapes, lines, color, and patterns to represent his view of mental illness. I think he does something positive for art and disability by insisting that we look for "cool things" that attract us to each painting. March asks us if it is more disturbing for us to see a person who is mentally ill or to see through the eyes of someone who is disabled. What he is really asking is whether Munch or Van Gogh communicates the feelings of mental illness best. My experience with the Disabilities Awareness Newsletter has given me a good perspective on this question. Getting to know kids with disabilities through my connection with this Newsletter has increased my respect for letting people with disabilities tell their own story. I have understood more about disabilities by just listening than I could ever have imagined. It has been like looking at a piece of art work painted by a person with a disability.

Decision making software Essay

The term ambivalence refers to the concept of uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by the simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things. This state of ambivalence manifests itself throughout people’s everyday lives. The choices and decisions one makes, whether it be small or large, causes a sense of uncertainty within him/her. Through this uncertainty, a feeling of tension forms with one’s sense of self. The tension is derived from the imminent choice one must conclude with. People may expect to make an ideal choice when one doesn’t actually exist. †¦the problem with making a choice for one option is that you have to give up every other possibility — that is, you have to limit yourself to the one thing you’ve chosen and renounce all the others. (Burgo) There seems to be two things at the root of ambivalence—the choice and the fear of the choice. The quote stated above by Dr. Joseph Burgo elucidates that the challenge of ambivalence is a matter of choice (people don’t want to actually have to choose). Humans, by nature, are selfish beings who crave and desire all the values they are able to attain. In the event that one must choose between two ve’ry appealing options, that person is flooding with ambivalence. The person is so torn because he/she desires both options but sees that it is impossible to do so. Both choices are appealing but a decision must be made. Within the aspect of choice, there is always the case of fear within one making the decision. We may be afraid of loss or regret if we choose â€Å"badly†, and/or we may fear the savagery of our own conscience if we make a â€Å"mistake†. (Burgo) A person becomes afraid of making a choice, especially if making a decision can negatively impact them. He/she also becomes fearful of losing the other option when choosing the other due to the fact that in most cases, once a decision is made it is finally—there is no going back. There is also the aspect that one’s choices can affect another person or the opinion of that person making the choice. If one choices something, he/she may very well lose someone who does not agree with that choice. Ambivalence reflects an intense fear of the consequences involved in choosing. One example that can demonstrate these aspects of ambivalence is pregnancy—trying to choose between life and abortion. On one end, a woman has the option of keeping the baby, raising it, caring for and loving it, watching it grow old while ruining her reputation or have a living reminder of the father (if the father is not in the picture or is a rapist). At the other end, she can kill the unborn fetus and kill any chance of that fetus having a life, but the woman can retain her life not have to take on the responsibility of caring for a child. The two choices she has both contain â€Å"pros† and â€Å"cons. † The woman might become afraid of the choice she must make because if she chooses life, she will have to have the responsibility of taking care of a living being and people will judge her; she also might fear she does not possess the resources to help maintain the life of the baby (money for food, diapers, bottles, etc. ). If the woman were to choose abortion, she might be fearful because she will being killing something human, something that is a part of her, something that is alive. She could be consumed in guilt because she might consider herself selfish and a murderer. The woman would also become afraid that she might lose some people who are important to her because of the people’s opinions; she will lose people either way. The woman has become ambivalent on this subject and does not want to choose; not because she wants both, but because she doesn’t want the consequence of the choices she makes. Meyer 3 Another example that could elucidate this notion of ambivalence is the common subject of love. Often times, women and men become ambivalent when the event of loving two people arises. For instance, a woman desires two men that are both appealing to her. It can be seen here that the woman does not wish to really choose between them, she wants them both. However, she realizes that this desire to possess both is unattainable. Further analyzing this situation, one could argue that the woman cannot truly love the first man because if she did, why did she fall for the second? Taking this concept into mind, one might say that the ambivalence does not lie with the woman not being able to choose between the men but with the woman not being able to choose what she likes most in the men’s characteristics. Bringing in the fear of losing one of the men she loves, her ambivalence has escalated. Also, the fact of the matter is, the woman always want perfect relationships â€Å"She couldn’t tolerate an authentic (and therefore imperfect) relationship with an actual man but wanted a perfect bond without frustration, conflict or disappointment† (Burgo). Ambivalence is a result of Human’s desire for a plethora of things. The choice one must make when faced with two options creates in them a state of tension. People do not want to have to choose— they want all the choices or none of the choice. However, they realize that a choice must be made. When subject to a choice that might negatively impact he/she, a sense of fear is apparent. The person becomes afraid of losing the option once making his or her decision as most decisions are permanent. Also, one might become fearful of losing someone who does not approve of the choice the person has made.

Nitrogen is a part of chlorophyll Essay

Experiment- Using the fertilizer is important for many gardeners as it helps their plants to grow strong and healthy plus fertilizers can be fairly expensive and not all work as predicted, also Gardeners only get one chance at either growing their crop or plants so it is essential for them to get the fertilizer right. This experiment will focus on 6 major fertilizer brands to find out which is the best- Research- Nitrogen (N) Nitrogen is a part of all living cells and is a necessary part of all proteins, enzymes and metabolic processes involved in the synthesis and transfer of energy. Nitrogen is a part of chlorophyll, the green pigment of the plant that is responsible for photosynthesis. Helps plants with rapid growth, increasing seed and fruit production and improving the quality of leaf and forage crops. Nitrogen often comes from fertilizer application and from the air (legumes get their N from the atmosphere, water or rainfall contributes very little nitrogen) Phosphorus (P) Like nitrogen, phosphorus (P) is an essential part of the process of photosynthesis. Involved in the formation of all oils, sugars, starches, etc. Helps with the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy; proper plant maturation; withstanding stress. Effects rapid growth. Encourages blooming and root growth. Phosphorus often comes from fertilizer, bone meal, and superphosphate. Potassium (K) Potassium is absorbed by plants in larger amounts than any other mineral element except nitrogen and, in some cases, calcium. Helps in the building of protein, photosynthesis, fruit quality and reduction of diseases. Potassium is supplied to plants by soil minerals, organic materials, and fertilizer. Calcium (Ca) Calcium, an essential part of plant cell wall structure, provides for normal transport and retention of other elements as well as strength in the plant. It is also thought to counteract the effect of alkali salts and organic acids within a plant. Sources of calcium are dolomitic lime, gypsum, and superphosphate. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium are all the essential nutrients usually added to help aide in the plants growth as when the plant grows it absorbs large proportions of each nutrient meaning that there will be near to none left, ending in a stunted growth, Gardeners and farmers add these nutrients to the ground to ensure there will always be enough for when the plant grows, the acidity of the soil is another reason why nutrients are added because the higher the acidic level of the soil the more nutrients will be lost. All fertilizers have a controlled release which ensures that they will last longer. Information on Fertilizers used- Urea- Urea has the highest concentration of nitrogen that a fertilizer can offer, it is composed of 50% Nitrogen, as it is usually Nitrogen that is absorbed the most by plants during growth. It is one of the basic fertilizers as it only offers one nutrient to the plants. Osmocote- Osmocote offers the most diverse and wide range of nutrients to plants, Osmocote is composed of Nitrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium and also contains organic seed growing mix to help with faster seed growth. It also contains a wetting agent which ensures that it will stay moisturized for longer. Nitrophoska- Nitrophoska is the most environmentally friendly of all the fertilizers as the components wear off over a certain time into the soil leaving no traces or harm to the environment, it also is one of the few fertilizers that can be used on any plant. Nitrophoska contains Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. NPK Fertilizer- NPK fertilizer is the most commonly used and manufactured fertilizer as it contains the three essential nutrients for plant growth Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus. Due to its high domestic demand many plants are also able to have NPK Fertilizer used on them. Blood and Bone- Blood & Bone Based Fertilizer contains 65% blood and Bone meal with added animal manure (Nitogen-5. 4: Phosphorus4. 0: Potassium-0. 4). Blood and Bone contains the most organic matter of all the fertilizers, which gives the plant a larger leaf growth and can be used on a wide range of plants and trees. Control- A controlled test with only garden soil and no fertilizer to test and compare to the other fertilizers. Why choose Granular? Another important thing that needs to be discussed is why use Granular fertilizer out of a whole range of other fertilizer types. Reasons- Granular fertilizer can be weighted or measured more easily to ensure that one test doesn’t receive more fertilizer then the one next to it. Granular fertilizer is the cheapest form of fertilizer and it is ideal for indoor and pot plants. Granular fertilizer contains the most nutrients that a fertilizer can offer giving it the advantage over other fertilizers and saving on buying extras, Granular fertilizers also come wetting agents which ensures that it has water for longer. Granular fertilizers are much less harmful as they don’t contain micro bacteria or other harmful substances. And Granular fertilizers offer the widest variety to choose from giving the buyer of an option of what type of fertilizers to buy and which ones will suit their plants. Granular fertilizers are also time released, meaning that it allows nutrients to flow out of the granules and into the soil over time, meaning that the plant will have a constant supply of food and nutrients. Granular fertilizer were chosen to be used for this experiment as they offered a wider variety of advantage for plant growth, to wetting agents and that it was easiest to measure/ weight to give a fairer test. Bibliography http://feeco. com/2011/12/07/npk-fertilizer-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/- Information given on NPK fertilizer and its components, benefits and other facts. http://www. grahamturf. com/main/reference/images/liquid_vs_granular. pdf- Information about Granular Fertilizers, what they are good for, which plants they are good for and what they are made of. Http://www. incitecpivot. com. au/entec_nitrophoska_blue. cfm- Information given about Nitrophoska fertilizer and its components, benefits and other facts. http://www. incitecpivot. com. au/zone_files/PDFs/Urea_Factsheet.pdf- Information given about Urea fertilizer and its components, benefits and other facts. http://www. ncagr. gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/nutrient. htm- Information given on the essential nutrients needed by plants and how the plants benefit from those nutrients. Http://www. scottsaustralia. com. au/media/MSDS/Osmocote-Plus-Organics-Plant-Starter-(120840)-1010. pdf- Information given on Osmocote fertilizer and its components, benefits and other facts. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Fertilizer- Information on common fertilizers, their purpose and what they contain and why they contain it, basically a fact sheet on fertilizers http://www. yates. com. au/commercial/products/plant-food/organic-based/blood-bone-based-fertiliser/- Information given on Blood and Bone fertilizer and its components, benefits and other facts. Aim- To find out which common household granular fertilizer, and state which fertilizer those with phosphorus, nitrogen or other, promotes the fastest and healthiest growth in plants/grass in a controlled amount of time consisting of six weeks, by measuring and recording the growth of each plant over an allocated time period, and to record nutrients and water levels left in the plants every Week, to determine which fertilizer is the best.