Negative Shareholder Equity

Definition of Negative Shareholder Equity

Negative shareholders equity arises in the company when the total liabilities of the company exceeds the value of total assets of the company due to certain factors like large dividend payment, large borrowings including short term debts and long term debts (along with leveraged loans), a large amount of accumulated losses, etc., as because of this, the balance in shareholders’ equity account at a particular point of time becomes negative.

Explanation

The basic accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity.

Alternatively, we can say that Shareholders equity = Assets-Liabilities, i.e., the portion of the difference between assets and liabilities refers to equity. This equity portion also includes the accumulated profit over the number of years in the form of reserves. When the company has incurred the losses over the past years on a continuous basis, it has to use the balance in its reserves account and equity capital account to offset such losses, and hence it results in the negative share capital in the balance sheet of the company.

Example of Negative Share Capital

Let us consider company XYZ ltd which is going to set up newly. The company XYZ ltd has the borrowings of $60,000 from the bank in the form of a loan, and his own contribution to the company is $90,000.Various assets were also purchased by the company in the form of building and godown, valuing $30,000, furniture worth $6,000, inventory for $70,000, and a balance figure of $45,000 is in the form of cash. The Company started the business. The opening balance sheet of XYZ ltd was good enough. After the end of the first year, XYZ ltd incurred a loss of $30,000as the value of its inventory fell to $40,000, which is sold in full. In order to increase the value of its stock, the company made the purchase of stock valuing $90,000 by taking the additional loan from the bank valuing $60,000.

In the next year also the company incurred losses of $75,000 as it sold stock worth $90,000 for $15,000. Calculate the value of equity of the company during the year.

Solution:

After making all the calculations during year end, reserves and surplus of the company went into a negative balance

Reserve and surplus at the end of year 1 = Loss during the year = $30,000

Value of equity at the end of year 1

Particulars	Value
Initial contribution	$90,000
Loss during the first year (Reserve and surplus balance)	($30,000)
Equity Balance at the end of Year 1	$60,000

2^nd Year-end calculations

The total loss and the balance in reserves and surplus in next year end will be: Loss of previous period + loss of the current year

• Reserve and surplus balance = $30,000 + $75,000
• Reserve and surplus balance = $105,000

Value of equity at the end of year 2

Particulars	Value
Equity Balance at the Year 2	$90,000
Total accumulated Loss at the end of year 2 (Reserve and surplus balance)	($105,000)
Equity Balance at the end of Year 2	($15,000)

Hence, there is a negative balance of equity at the end of year 2 amounting to $15,000

Causes of Negative Shareholder Equity

Following are the reason for the negative shareholder equity

• Over payment of Dividends: When the company has paid the dividend in the form of cash exceeding the profits it has earned during the year, it results in negative shareholder equity.
• Large provisions created: with the expectation of meeting large financial liabilities in the future, the company creates the provisions. If there are many provisions created in the current period, it results in negative shareholder equity.
• Repurchase of Treasury stock: Sometimes, the company purchase its common stock as per its stock repurchase plan. Equity gets reduced due to the repurchase of the company’s stock. If the number of the repurchased stock increased, it results in negative shareholders’ equity.
• OverleveragedCompany: When the company makes huge losses, it results in high cash outflow. Also, if it has taken a huge amount of debts, it also results in huge debts. In such a situation, borrowing helps the company in its survival. If this cycle continues for a long period of time, a huge amount of debts get piled up on the company. Also, the interest rate of borrowing keeps on increasing the cost to the company. Hence, eventually, the company goes to negative shareholder equity.
• Amortization of intangibles: In the process of acquisition, many a time, the company amortizes its intangible assets recorded as part of the acquisition. If the amount of amortization is large, it results in negative shareholder equity.

Benefits

Following are the benefits of negative shareholders equity

• With the help of negative shareholder equity, the shareholders or the investors get the ideas of the deterioration of the company’s financial health.
• Negative shareholder equity alerts the shareholder or investor to make any new investment in the company further or just run away at the present time, providing warning signals.
• Negative shareholder equity is far better than the insolvency of the company. It gives the opportunity to the investor or shareholder to make themselves safe because if the company is not able to improve its negative shareholder equity, it can go for insolvency, which is the last step, and the shareholder and investor can’t save himself from the losses of insolvency.

Important Points of Negative Shareholder Equity

The following are some of the important points about negative shareholder equity:

• If negative shareholder equity occurs for a long time, the company may come in a situation where it will be unable to pay the dividends to the shareholders, hence loosing the existing shareholders.
• Also, the company will have to face many difficulties in acquiring new loans and debts.
• As negative shareholder equity creates fear in shareholders or investors’ mind, the company loses many of its potential customers and investors in the future also.
• The stock price of the company’s share considerably falls, which eventually results in an even more worst situation for the company’s survival.
• However, there can be many other factors that affect the company’s financial health and negative shareholder equity, which should be taken into consideration while taking investment decisions by the shareholder or investor.

Conclusion

The company’s negative shareholder can be a warning signal for the shareholder or investor because it is the company’s net worth, which represents its financial health. However, the shareholder or investor should consider other numbers of factors also in consideration while making the decision to purchase shares or investment in the company.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Negative Shareholder Equity. Here we also discuss the definition and examples of negative shareholder equity along with benefits and importance. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. Equity Derivative
2. Debt to Equity Ratio
3. Interpretation of Debt to Equity Ratio
4. Investment Banking vs Private Equity