Introduction
Cash dividends allow companies to distribute profits to their shareholders. With Ledgy's dedicated Dividends workflow, you can configure a dividend event, let Ledgy automatically calculate gross, net, and tax amounts per stakeholder, review and edit line items, and generate a full Operational Report — all from one place.
This article explains how to set up and distribute cash dividends using the Dividends workflow under Equity Events.
Who can manage dividends: You need View Ownership permission to create, edit, and view dividend events.
Manage Reports and View Ownership are required to access the Operational Report.
Manage Documents and Signatures is required for document templates and signatures.
Note: The Dividends workflow is available to companies on the Enterprise and Public plans.
Key benefits
End-to-end workflow — Configure, calculate, review, and report on dividend events in a single guided flow
Automatic calculations — Ledgy snapshots stakeholder holdings at the record date and computes gross, net, and tax amounts per stakeholder
Tax withholding support — Configure tax rules and apply them per stakeholder
Document generation — Attach document templates and trigger signature workflows for dividend notices
Operational Report — Access a comprehensive report showing all dividend details, filterable by event
How to create a cash dividend event
Step 1: Navigate to Dividends
Go to Equity Events > Dividends in your Ledgy dashboard.
Alternatively, go to Ownership > Transactions > Dividends.
Click Add dividend event to start the guided workflow.
Step 2: Configure the dividend event
Enter the key details for your dividend event:
Share class
Select which share class the dividend applies to
Stakeholder filtering
Choose which stakeholders are included in the dividend distribution
Ledgy automatically filters out stakeholders with 0 units in the selected share class
Defaults to all stakeholders
Record date
The date used to snapshot stakeholder holdings, only shareholders on the record date are eligible
Payment date
The date when the dividend is paid out to stakeholders
Payout currency
The currency in which the dividend will be distributed
If the currency is different from your company currency, you will be asked to add an exchange rate
Amount per share
The gross dividend amount per share
Tax configuration
Configure tax withholding rules that apply to eligible stakeholders
Options are: no tax withholdings, fixed rate, or using our Ledgy tax rules.
Document templates (optional)
Attach document templates to automatically generate dividend notices for stakeholders
Step 3: Review calculations
Once you've configured the event, Ledgy calculates the dividend for each stakeholder based on their holdings at the record date. The system computes:
Gross amount — Total dividend before tax
Tax withholding — Tax amount based on configured rules
Net amount — The final payout after tax
These calculations stay fixed, even if you make changes to your cap table after calculating dividends, these will not be reflected. If you wish to change your stakeholders' positions, please start over from step 1.
After calculating, you'll see a Pending review screen with per-stakeholder line items. You can edit individual gross amounts and tax obligations before finalising.
Tip: Take time to review the per-stakeholder breakdown carefully, especially if different tax rates apply to different stakeholders.
Step 4: Confirm and complete the event
Once you're satisfied with the calculations, select create transactions. Ledgy will:
Create a Dividend payout transaction for each stakeholder
Generate documents from templates (if configured)
Make the Operational Report available for the completed event
Note: the dividend event is deleted from the equity events after this step. You can check previous events in the operational reports, Dividends section.
Operational Report
After completing a dividend event, you can access the Operational Report from the dividend event page. The report includes:
Share class and dividend event name
Record date and payment date
Per-stakeholder details — gross amount, tax withholding, and net payout
You can filter the report by dividend event to focus on a specific distribution.
Important: Access to the Operational Report requires Manage Reports and View Ownership permissions.
Dividend payout transaction fields
Each dividend payout creates a dedicated transaction type with the following fields:
Record date — The snapshot date for stakeholder holdings
Payment date — When the payout is made
Amount per share — Gross dividend per share
Total gross — Total gross dividend for the stakeholder
Tax obligations — Tax withheld
Total net — Net payout after tax
Dividend event name — Links the transaction to its parent event in the reports view
Document template variables
You can use the following variables in your dividend document templates:
Available on all dividend transactions:
{dividend.sharesAmount}— The total number of shares eligible for the dividend{dividend.recordDate}— The record date, the cutoff date that determines which shareholders are eligible{dividend.paymentDate}— The payment date, when the dividend is paid out (uses the transaction date)
Available on cash payout transactions only:
{dividend.totalPayout}— The total dividend amount paid to the stakeholder{dividend.amountPerShare}— The dividend amount per share{dividend.taxWithholdingAmount}— The tax withholding amount deducted from the payout. Shows0if no tax was withheld{dividend.netPayoutAmount}— The net amount after tax withholding (totalPayout − taxWithholdingAmount)
Tip: Use these variables in your document templates to automatically populate dividend notices with stakeholder-specific data. Learn more about document templating and workflow automation.
Access rights
The Dividends feature has the following permission requirements:
Create, edit, and view dividend events — Requires View Ownership permission
Operational Report — Requires Manage Reports + View Ownership
Document templates and signatures — Requires Manage Documents and Signatures
Frequently Asked Questions
Which plans have access to the Dividends workflow?
The Dividends workflow is available on the Enterprise and Public plans. Companies on other plans will see the Dividends tab with an upsell screen to upgrade.
What happens to stakeholders with 0 shares?
Ledgy automatically filters out stakeholders who hold 0 units in the selected share class at the record date. Only shareholders with holdings are included in the dividend calculations.
Can I edit individual stakeholder amounts after calculation?
Yes. During the Pending review step, you can edit per-stakeholder gross amounts and tax obligations before confirming the event.
Can I run multiple dividend events?
Yes. You can create multiple dividend events — for example, quarterly dividends for a public company or one-off special dividends for a private company. Each event is tracked separately and appears in the Operational Report.
How does Ledgy determine who gets the dividend?
Ledgy snapshots stakeholder holdings at the record date you set during event configuration. Only stakeholders who hold shares in the selected share class on that date are included.
Can I generate documents for dividend payouts?
Yes. You can attach document templates during event setup, and Ledgy will generate stakeholder-specific dividend notices using the available template variables. You can also trigger signature workflows.
Can I edit dividend transactions after generating them?
Yes, transactions can be edited afterwards. You can also delete the transaction and re-run the calculation filtering by a single stakeholder (see step 2).
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