The information content of cash flows in dividend policy

This paper aims to investigate the information content of cash flows in the context of dividend smoothing. Unlike previous studies, we propose a novel partial adjustment model based on cash flows, and compare it to Lintner's (1956) model. The results show that UK firms smooth their cash flows and that cash flows are the key determinant of dividend policy. Moreover, our proposed dividend partial adjustment model has a lower adjustment coefficient than Lintner's model, suggesting that our estimates are much closer to reality. The results are consistent across different measures of cash flows.