Chances are that that you won’t be able to find it from the balance sheet alone. The reason for that is that if the dividends have been fully paid, there is no liability and therefore nothing is recorded on the balance sheet.
That’s actually partially correct. Dividends are incorporated in the retained earnings since there are deducted from the retained earnings account. To be more specific, you can find the dividends by using the following formula:
Opening Retained Earnings= Closing Retained Earnings -Profit for the year (from the P&L) – Dividends
The above formula assumes no other adjustments in the retained earnings. The best way to find the dividends is from the notes and more specifically from the reconciliation of the reserves.