The term “authorized, issued and outstanding” refers to shares in a company that have been sold publicly. They are “authorized” because they fall within the maximum number of shares a company can sell ing to its corporate charter. They are “issued” because they have been sold.
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 shares, or authorized stock, are simply a legally allowed maximum number of shares that a company can issue to investors. The number of authorized shares is specified in the company's articles of incorporation. You can also see the number in the capital accounts section on the balance sheet.