The shareholders’ equity of mls enterprises includes $270 million of no par common stock and $540 million of 5% cumulative preferred stock. the board of directors of mls declared cash dividends of $64 million in 2018 after paying $22 million cash dividends in both 2017 and 2016. what is the amount of dividends common shareholders will receive in 2018?

availalbe for CS          27 millions

Explanation:

First, we calculate the preferred dividend

preferred stock dividends

540 million x 5% = 27 per year

This should be paid first each year, and left-over accumulated

Therefore, the second step is, compare dividends for each year with the preferrred stock:

2016 dividends 22 million 5 millions are accumulated on preferred stock

2017 dividends 22 million 5 millions are accumulated on preferred stock

2018 dividends           64 millions

less 2018 preferred    27 millions

accumulated                10 millions (5 from 2016 + 5 from 2017)

availalbe for CS          27 millions