what is proprietorship business? Proprietorship or sole proprietorship which is also known as sole trader, is a type of business entity owned and operated by one person. It is also like a individual giving business name for himself to perform business activities professionally.
Consider an example. Assume company Alpha has declared a dividend of $1 payable on May 1, 2015 to shareholders of record as of April 10, 2015. The record date is therefore April 10, 2015 and the ex-dividend date is two business days before the record date, or April 8, 2015.
In this case, dividend expenses are recorded because by declaring them the company is held liable to make good on the declaration and deliver the dividend. A declaration specifies when the declaration is made, when the date of record is, and when the dividend will be paid. The date of record specifies the date by which a shareholder must own stock in order to qualify for the dividend. For example, imagine your company declares a cash dividend on February 1 that will be paid to shareholders on March 1 and that the date of record is set at February 15. The liability would be recorded on February 1.