In its most recent financial statements, Del-Castillo Inc. reported $30 million of net income and $970 million of retained earnings. The previous retained earnings were $961 million. How much in dividends did the firm pay to shareholders during the year?

the firm pay 39 millions dividends to his shareholders during the year.

Explanation:

The retained earnings identity is as follow:

beginning RE + net income - dividends = ending RE

we plug our values into the formula:

970 + 30 - dividends = 961

we clear dividends:

970 + 30 - 961 = dividends

And solve:

dividends = 39

Notes:

For every account, we always have this similar identity:

a beginning balance

a type of transaction that increase their balance

another kind of transaction which decreased

and a final balance which is the net of the previous.

beginning + increase - decrease = ending

Always try to identify how each transaction impact the account and from there, setup the equation.