QuickBooks 2013 For Dummies

Owner’s Equity in a Corporation

Yikes! Accounting for the owner’s equity in a corporation can get mighty tricky mighty fast. In fact, I don’t mind telling you that college accounting textbooks often use several chapters to describe all the ins and outs of corporation owner’s equity accounting.

As long as you keep things simple, however, you can probably use three or four accounts for your owner’s equity:

A capital stock par value account, for which you get the par value amount by multiplying the par value per share by the number of shares issued. The par value of the stock is written on the face of the actual stock certificate, and it’s stated in the corporate Articles of Incorporation.

A paid-in capital in excess of par value account for the amount investors paid for shares of stock in excess of par value. You get this amount by multiplying the price paid per share less the par value per share by the number of shares issued.

A retained earnings account to track the business profits left invested in the business.

A dividends paid account to track the amounts distributed to shareholders ...