Explore commonly used personal finance terms.
Authorized shares are the total shares a company can legally issue, as defined in its corporate charter. The company may issue only a portion of these shares to the public while reserving the rest for future needs like employee stock options or mergers. Authorized shares set the upper limit on the amount of equity that can be issued, giving the company flexibility to raise capital in the future without requiring a shareholder vote to increase the authorized share limit.
