Question

On December 31, 2020, the company reported the following:

Cumulative Preferred shares, 36,000 convertible shares outstanding             $     960,000

Common shares, 112,500 shares issued and outstanding                                    2,880,000

Retained earnings, beginning, as at 1/1/20                                                         1,032,000

Further, the company also reported earnings from operations of $1,847,790 for 2020.  The cumulative preferred shares, as stated above, could participate in dividends declared after the common shares received a minimum dividend of $3.00 per share.  Participation in the excess dividends is based on the relative total capital contributed by each group. The company management wishes to declare dividends for 2020 such that each common share would be entitled to a dividend of $4 per share.  Dividends were last declared in 2017.

Required:

1.  Use the schedule below to answer the following:

      a]   The total dividends which the management would declare; and

      b]   The total amounts payable to each group of shareholders.

Distribution Of Dividends

Item	Preferred	Common	Total Available
Preferred Arrears
Current Dividend Preferred
Minimum Dividend Common
Excess Dividend Common
Excess Dividend Preferred
Total Dividends Distributed

Answer 1