Editing Retained earnings (section)

==Stockholders' equity ==
When total assets are greater than total liabilities, stockholders have a positive equity (positive [[book value]]). Conversely, when total liabilities are greater than total assets, stockholders have a negative stockholders' equity (negative book value) — also sometimes called stockholders' deficit. A stockholders' deficit does not mean that stockholders owe money to the corporation as they own only its net assets and are not accountable for its [[liability (financial accounting)|liabilities]], though it is one of the definitions of [[insolvency]]. This means that the value of the assets of the company must rise above its liabilities before the stockholders hold positive equity value in the company.

:Retained earnings = opening retained earnings + current year net profit from p&l a/c – dividends paid in the current year