Profitability, Leverage, and Firm Size in Bank Dividend Decisions: The Moderating Role of Audit Quality

Andrew Patrick Marunduh; Intan Aprilianiswah Bunduwula; Amiruddin Amiruddin; Asri Usman

doi:10.55927/fjmr.v5i10.232

Authors

Andrew Patrick Marunduh Universitas Negeri Manado
Intan Aprilianiswah Bunduwula Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi Enam Enam Kendari
Amiruddin Amiruddin Universitas Hasanuddin
Asri Usman Universitas Hasanuddin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55927/fjmr.v5i10.232

Keywords:

Dividend Decision, Profitability, Leverage, Firm Size, Audit Quality

Abstract

This study examines how profitability, leverage, and firm size shape the decision of Indonesian banks to pay dividends and tests whether audit quality changes these relationships. The analysis uses annual data of listed banks from 2020 to 2025 organized as a balanced panel. Profitability raises the likelihood of paying dividends among banks audited by non Big 4 firms, whereas leverage shows no meaningful influence. Audit quality weakens the profitability effect, strengthens the size effect, and leaves the leverage effect unchanged. Differences between banks account for most of the variation in dividend status, which indicates that dividend decisions are highly persistent. The study models the payment decision as a binary outcome in a panel setting, interprets moderation as conditional effects by auditor group, and offers recent evidence that covers the pandemic and the recovery.

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