Stock Ledger

A stock ledger is a book or table kept by a corporation in which are entered the names of the stockholders, the amounts of their respective holdings, contributions made by them for such stock, and a record of transfer of ownership. The ledger is kept in the format of a table, much like a simple spreadsheet. There is no legal requirement in corporate codes for the maintenance of a stock ledger in order to validate the issuance of stock on behalf of a corporation to a shareholder. However, to maintain an accurate accounting of the issuance of stock, the ledger serves that purpose. The ledger is typically keep in the corporate records by the secretary of the corporation, and updated periodically upon each new issuance or transfer of stock. Shareholders can then reference the ledger if and when they ever need to examine the corporate records of the company to validate who are the shareholders. Or, when investors are invited to invest in a company, the ledger serves the purpose of validating to those potential investors the capitalization of the company. In fact, sometimes stock ledgers are referred to as capitalization tables, particularly when the stock ledger contain specific information as to the type and class of stock issued, and the valuation of that stock at issuance.