The difference between authorised and issued share capital is useful for investors to understand. Authorised share capital is the maximum number of shares a company is permitted to issue at any given time, while issued share capital is the actual number of shares that a company has issued.
If it does occur, a company has breached any agreement with those investors, employees or other parties that have been “issued” the excess shares. In addition to any conflict with these potential recipients, such over-issuances are often complex (but not impossible) to correct under state law.
Authorized shares are the total number of shares a company can legally issue, while issued shares are the number the company has issued to date. The number of authorized and issued shares may be the same or different, in which case there would be more authorized than issued shares.
Authorized stock is the max amount of shares that a company can issue. Generally, a company will not issue 100% of the authorized stock, so issued stock will be less than the authorized amount. Issued stock can be held by the company, held by employees, or held by the general public.