shootingstar

Assuming we are talking about firm's own dividends and paying cash, not accumulated dividend in case of preferred dividend.

Common dividend: at the bottom of income statement, after net income to common stockholders to arrive at retained earnings.
In balance sheet:
Debit retained earnings and credit dividend payables.


Preferred: depend on how you categorize the stock. Per IFRS, some should be booked as liabilities. For your plain vanilla preferred,

income statement: AFTER net income to arrive at net income to common stockholders (ignoring tax here).

Balance sheet
Debit retained earnings, credit preferred dividend payable.