How will The Cheesecake Factory’s dividend announcement and payment impact its balance sheet?

Source: Depositphotos_112035004_s-2015

On October 26, 2016, the Board of Directors of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ: CAKE) declared …”a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on November 22, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 9, 2016” (source: News Release, 10/26/2016, “The Cheesecake Factory Reports Results for Third Quarter of Fiscal 2016.”) The Cheesecake Factory has over 200 restaurant locations in the world and makes over 150 varieties of cheesecakes and other desserts. As of the end of fiscal year 2015, The Cheesecake Factory had 91,126, 667 shares outstanding.

Questions

1. When does this dividend become a liability for Cheesecake Factory?
2. What is the total amount of the dividend that Cheesecake Factory will pay out (assuming no change in the number of shareholders since fiscal year end 2015)?
3. How would Cheesecake Factory’s assets, liabilities, and equity be impacted on the date of declaration?
4. How would Cheesecake Factory’s assets, liabilities, and equity be impacted on the date of payment?

Instructor Resources

These resources are provided to give the instructor flexibility for use of Accounting in the Headlines articles in the classroom. The blog posting itself can be assigned via a link to this site OR by distributing the student handout below. Alternatively, the PowerPoint file below contains a bullet point overview of the article and the discussion questions.

• Student handout (pdf) (word) (contains entire blog posting + discussion questions)
• PowerPoint file (brief article overview + discussion questions)

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