In the recent past Saving and Credit Cooperatives Societies (SACCOs) have gained popularity in Kenya due to high interest rates charged by commercial banks and this has made borrowers to shift their focus to SACCOs due to their fixed interest rates on loans. In regard to dividend payment SACCOs tends to pay high dividends in comparison to commercial banks, however the level of dividend payout keeps on fluctuating and thus shareholders are not aware of what they expect in the next financial year. This paper was set to explore the influence of size on firm on dividend payout. The study focused on deposit taking SACCOs since they play a major role of capital formation in Kenya. The study used descriptive and correlational research design. The target population was the 176 the deposit taking SACCOs in Kenya, out of which a sample of 108 respondents were randomly selected from each SACCO. Data was gathered using questionnaire and document analysis and analyzed using SPSS (23). The study findings revealed that the size of the firm had a negative insignificant influence on dividend payout among SACCOs. The study recommended SACCOs should not focus so much on expanding their operations to different locations, instead should focus on products development. The study recommended further analysis on the influence of cash reserve ratio on dividend payout.
Keywords: Dividend payout, SACCOS, deposit-taking, size of the firm