What are Issued Shares?

Issued shares are those shares that have been distributed to shareholders by a corporation. These shares are issued either as compensation paid to employees or suppliers, or to investors in exchange for cash.

Presentation of Issued Shares

The number of issued shares is reported in the financial statements of the issuing entity, usually on the balance sheet.

Disclosure of Issued Shares

A corporation may disclose the total number of its issued shares in the footnotes that accompany its financial statements. A sample disclosure follows:

As of December 31, 2024, the Company had issued a total of 50,000,000 common shares. 49,000,000 shares are outstanding, with 1,000,000 shares held as treasury stock. As of that date, the Company had also issued 1,000,000 preferred shares, all of which were outstanding.

The following changes occurred in the Company’s share capital during the year ended December 31, 2024:

Common Stock:

January 15, 2024: Issued 20,000,000 common shares at $25.00 per share through a secondary offering, raising gross proceeds of $500 million.
March 31, 2024: Repurchased 1,000,000 common shares under the company’s authorized share buyback program at an average price of $28.00 per share.

Preferred Stock: There were no changes in the issued and outstanding preferred shares during the year.

is Treasury Stock Included in Issued Shares?

Any shares that have been repurchased by a corporation (known as treasury stock) are not included in the issued shares total.

The Difference Between Issued Shares and Authorized Shares

Issued shares vary from authorized shares, in that authorized stock has only been approved for issuance by the board of directors, while issued shares have actually been distributed. The amount of issued shares can be equal to or less than the total number of authorized shares. Depending on the situation, there may be far more authorized shares that issued shares.