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What Is the Stock Ledger of a Corporation?

Starting a BusinessAccounting & BudgetingLegal

The stock ledger allows you to keep an accurate record of stock transactions for your corporation, and is an essential element of a corporate records book. A stock ledger is generally included as part of a corporate records kit, and should be maintained in the corporate records book.

Any transaction regarding shares of your corporation, whether initial issuance of shares or any subsequent transfer, must be entered in the stock ledger. It is also referred to as a stock transfer ledger or a corporate stock ledger.

Information recorded in a stock ledger

  • Stock certificate number
  • Shareholder name
  • Full address of shareholder
  • Number of shares
  • Class of shares
  • Date of purchase
  • Consideration (monetary value)

Whether the corporation redeems shares or a shareholder sells his or her shares to someone else, all transactions should be recorded to keep the ledger current. If stock options have been granted and are exercisable, they also need to be recorded.

Many startup companies neglect to maintain this important record book. In time, they may be faced with the laborious process of trying to research and record such information. Not having such records can impinge upon new offerings of securities, future rounds of funding, new investors, mergers, or acquisitions.

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