Dividends and splits are the two corporate events a backtest records against a position it holds: a dividend is a cash payment per share held, and a split changes the number of shares outstanding, rescaling the share count and the price per share. Each is recorded with its date, so a position's history shows everything the instrument did while held.
Also seen as: corporate actions; distributions; stock splits.
How does Fincanva handle it?
- Dividends and splits are shown as one merged event stream per position, newest first, under the heading "Dividends & splits", with an "Event" badge marking each row as a "Dividend" or a "Split".
- One "Value" column carries both meanings: on a dividend row it is the dividend per share; on a split row it is the split ratio.
- A split row leaves the money columns empty — a dash — because a split settles no cash: there is no gross gain, no withholding, and no realized gain to show.
- The "Side" column on a dividend or split row shows the position's side, not a side belonging to the event itself.
- Dividend per share and the price are in the instrument's own currency; gross gain and realized gain are in the account's base currency, so one row can legitimately mix two currencies.
- Dividends are counted separately from trading results: a position's dividend income has its own column and its own band on the P&L breakdown, rather than being folded into its trading profit.
What does a dividend event record?
A dividend event records how much cash the company paid per share and what that came to for the position. The event carries the dividend per share in the instrument's own currency, the number of shares held at the time, the price at that date, the gross gain the payment produced in the account's base currency, the withholding tax rate applied, and the realized gain left after that withholding tax. Gross gain is the dividend per share multiplied by the shares held; realized gain is what the position actually kept.
- what the position actually kept from the payment
- the cash the company paid per share
- the shares the position held on the date
- the withholding tax rate applied to the payment
On a short position the same event runs the other way — the position owes the dividend instead of receiving it — which is why it can appear as a negative dividend.
What does a split do to a position?
A split rescales the position without changing what it is worth. The split ratio says by how much: a 2:1 split (ratio 2) turns every share into two and halves the price per share, so a position that held 100 shares at 80 holds 200 shares at 40 afterwards. The position's value is unchanged — that is the whole point of a split. It moves no cash, produces no gain or loss, and is recorded purely so the share count and price before and after the event make sense together. A reverse split works the same way in the other direction: fewer shares, a higher price per share, the same value.
What does it look like in practice?
A position holds 100 shares of a stock trading at 80 — a value of 8,000. The stock splits 2:1, so the split row records a ratio of 2: the position now holds 200 shares at 40, and its value is still 8,000. Nothing was gained or lost; only the units changed. A month later the company pays a dividend of 0.50 per share. With 200 shares held, the gross gain is 200 × 0.50 = 100. Take an illustrative 15% withholding tax: the realized gain is 100 − 15 = 85, the cash the position actually kept from the payment. The rate that actually applies depends on your tax residency and on where the dividend was paid from, so read it off the event's own "Withholding tax rate" rather than assuming one.