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Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition
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Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition

by D. R. CARMICHAEL, O. RAY WHITTINGTON, LYNFORD GRAHAM
April 2007
Intermediate to advanced
1056 pages
43h 54m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Accountants' Handbook Volume One: Financial Accounting and General Topics, Eleventh Edition

Chapter 27. SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Martin Benis, PhD, CPA

The Stan Ross Department of Accountancy Zicklin School of Business, Bernard M. Baruch Collgeg, CUNY

This chapter was updated form the Ninth Edition by the ditiors.

THE CORPORATION

(a) DEFINITION.

A corporation is a statutory form of organization created under rules promulgated by the legislature of the state in which it is incorporated. It is "an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law. Being the mere creature of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it."[383] Thus, a corporation is a distinct and unique entity, separate from the personal affairs and other interests of its owners.

(b) ADVANTAGES OF CORPORATE FORM.

The important advantages of doing business as a corporation are the following:

  • Continuity of life

  • Limited liability for owners

  • Ease of transferability of ownership

The combination of these three advantages provides the corporation with the ability to raise large sums of capital. It is the sources of this capital and the claims on it that are of concern to the accountant.

(c) OWNERS' INTERESTS.

Since the corporation is separate and distinct from its owners, owners merely have claims against its net assets. These claims and their nature and origin are presented in the shareholders' equity section of the corporate balance sheet. Shareholders' equity generally comprises three broad categories:

  1. Capital stock or legal capital

  2. Additional paid-in ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780471790389Purchase book