| A | B |
|---|
| closely held corporation | A corporation, often owned by a few people or by a family, that does not offer its stock for sale to the general public |
| publicly held corporation | A corporation whose stock is widely held, has a large market, and is usually traded on the stock exchange |
| board of directors | A group of people, elected by the stockholders, who govern and are responsible for the affairs of a corporation |
| authorized capital stock | The maximum number of shares of stock a corporation may issue |
| par value | The dollar amount assigned to each share of stock before it is sold to the public, used to determine the amount credited to the capital stock account |
| common stock | The stock issued by a corporation when it issues only one class of stock |
| proxy | A document that transfers a stockholder's voting rights to someone else. |
| preferred stock | Stock whose owners have certain privileges over common stockholders |
| paid-in capital in Excess of Par | The account that represents the amount of cash received by a corporation over the stock's par value |
| Statement of stockholder's equity | A financial statement that reports the changes that have taken place in all of the stockholders' equity accounts during the period. |
| dividend | A distribution of cash to stockholders of a corporation; reduces the corporation's retained earnings. |
