Dividend Policy report. Please use your own company (whether or not it pays dividend), or any company you would like, or a company that has a history of dividend payments with growth. In your Excel modeling or calculations you must determine and forecast (a) the payout rate, (b) the expected growth rate in dividend, and (c) the likely dividend in the following year. It is to be noted that there is a sustained rate of growth rate (in the absences of any new investments by the firm) that is equal to the payout ratio multiplied by ROE (return on equity). You may like to set this formula in your Excel model in addition to any other rate of growth you may come up with and perhaps explain the difference between the two. The information needed to do your Excel work includes the stream of dividends, earnings, and cash flows. In this manner you can find the ratio of dividends to both earnings and cash flows. Companies typically provide such data in their annual reports. However, websites such as Google Finance and Yahoo Finance provide such data. Good sources of organized historical data are also The Value Line Investment Survey and Morningstar Stock Research. You will also benefit by including the growth in sales, assets, and book value of the company. For the Excel model, use the historical quarterly or annual data for the past several years, and calculate the quarterly or annual growth rate in dividend, and forecast its growth rate in dividends for the next few quarters or years. There is no specific model to use for Excel calculations, and you are free to structure it as you like.