This paper intends to explore the relationship between dividend policy and financial gearing of listed non-financial companies in Tanzania. A case study of seven (7) non-financial companies listed at Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) was used to assess this phenomenon. Unbalanced panel data from these companies’ annual reports were used, covering 2002 to 2018. Generalized linear regression analysis was used to examine the phenomenon mentioned above with Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Beysian Information Criterion (BIC) to select the most appropriate models. The results from generalized linear regression analysis indicated that companies with higher dividend payouts have lower gearing. Further results show that higher dividend payouts are associated with a lower cost of debts as debt providers deem these companies to be stable and less risky. So this study urges profitable firms to pay out dividends as a sign of financial strength which eventually reduces the cost of debt. But caution must be taken by financial managers to ensure that a sufficient amount of internal funds are retained after paying dividends for future endeavours.

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Marobhe, M. & Hembe, L. (2019). The nexus between dividend policy and financial gearing of listed non financial companies in Tanzania. International Journal of Business and Administrative Studies, 5(5), 294-302. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.20469/ijbas.5.10004-5