what is the difference between common stock and paid in capital 
common stock is a component of paid in capital which is the total amount received from investors for stock on the balance sheet the par value of outstanding shares is recorded to common stock and the excess that is the amount the market price adds to par value is recorded to additional paid in capital the sum of common stock and additional paid in capital represents the paid in capital the bottom linepaid in capital may not be a headline number for a company but it s worth taking note of it as an investor this number indicates the total amount of money that individual investors and institutional investors have staked on a company s success 