Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings), or it can be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a dividend. For a joint stock company, a dividend is allocated as a fixed amount per share. Therefore, a shareholder receives a dividend in p… (More on Dividend)