Additional Paid-in Capital on Balance Sheet

What is Additional Paid-in Capital?

Additional Paid in capital also known as Capital surplus is the excess of amount the company receives over and above the par value of shares (equity or preferred) from the investors during the time of an IPO, it can be seen as the profit which a company receives when it issues the stock for the first time in open market.

Par value of a stock is the minimum amount that must be paid to own a share. It means that to acquire a share, this base amount has to be paid.

For example, if a share is issued at $50 per share and its par value is $5 per share; we will conclude that $5 per share is the minimum amount that must be paid to acquire the share. This base amount is also called the legal capital of the company.
Here the APIC comes in. Since each investor of the company pays the whole amount (i.e. the issue price) to acquire one share, anything above par value is APIC.
Therefore, Additional Paid-in Capital Formula = (Issue Price – Par Value) x number of shares issued
If 100 shares are issued, then, APIC = ($50 – $5) x 100 = $4,500

There’s another thing you need to consider while calculating additional paid-in capital. If the shares are purchased from the company (during IPO or FPO etc), directly, there would be APIC above par value. However, if the shares are purchased from the secondary market, it would not affect the APIC of the company at all.

Also, have a look at this detailed guide on Share Capital

Additional Paid-in Capital Example

Let’s take an example to understand APIC on the balance sheet better.

Let’s say that Company Infinite Inc. has issued equity shares of 10,000 at $50 per share. The par value of each share is $1 per share. Find out the APIC.

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This is an easy to understand example that can illustrate how to approach additional paid-in capital on the balance sheet.

Infinite Inc. has issued 10,000 equity shares at $50. That means the total equity capital would be = (10,000 * $10) = $500,000.

The catch is par value per share is just $1. That means we need to attribute the respective amount to par value (stock). Here the par value would be = (10,000 * 1) = $10,000.
And the rest would be additional paid-in capital on the balance sheet as it is over and above the par value. That means the APIC formula = ($50 – $1)/share = $49 per share. Then, the total APIC would be = (10,000 * $49) = $490,000.

Additional paid-in capital Accounting Entries

How would we pass the accounting entry?

First of all, we need to think about the legal capital, i.e. par value (stock) amount. Since that’s the legal capital, we will attribute the amount to the common stock account. The rest of the amount (issue price – par value per share) would be attributed to APIC.

So, the entry would be –

Cash account would be debited since cash is an asset and by receiving the whole amount (total equity capital), the company’s asset cash is increasing.
We would credit the common stock account and the APIC account in their respective proportions.

Examples

Let’s say that Company Eight Nest Ltd. has the following information.

Eight Nest Ltd. has issued 10,000 shares at $50 per share. They’ve kept the par value (stock) as $5 per share. We need to pass the accounting entry for additional paid-in capital on the balance sheet.

Here, we know that the issued number of equity shares is 10,000 and the issue price per share is $50. That means the total equity capital is = (10,000 * $50) = $500,000.
The par value is also mentioned i.e. $5 per share. That means, the total amount of par value is = (10,000 * $5) = $50,000.
The rest amount would be attributed to APIC. The total APIC would be = [10,000 * ($50 – $5)] = [10,000 * $45] = $450,000.

Now, we will pass the accounting entry –

Reasons for Changes in Additional paid-in Capital on Balance Sheet

Please see below the snapshot. We note that APIC has been changing each year.

We note that the changes in the APIC of Colgate are due to three reasons.

Share-based compensation expense of $127 million
Shares issued for stock options of $197 million
Share issued for restricted stock awards

Share-based compensation expense is reported in the income statement. This results in lowering the net income, thereby reducing the shareholder’s equity through the retained earnings section. The contra entry for this is by increasing the additional paid-up capital.

Conclusion

Additional paid-in capital on the Balance Sheet has nothing to do with the market price per share. It is completely dependent on the issue price. If an investor purchases shares from the company and sells off to another investor at a higher price, it would not affect the capital of the company.