单项选择题

A. If liability exceeds assets, negative equity exists. In an accounting context, shareholders’ equity (or stockholders’ equity, shareholders’ funds, shareholders’ capital or similar terms) re presents the remaining interest in assets of a company, spread among individual shareholders of common or preferred stock.
B. Therefore, a shareholder receives a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. For the joint stock company, paying dividends is not an expense; rather, it is the division of after tax profits among shareholders. Retained earnings (profits that have not been distributed as dividends) are shown in the shareholder equity section in the company’s balance sheet-the same as its issued share capital.
C. At first, all the secured creditors are paid against proceeds from assets. Afterward, a series of creditors, ranked in priority sequence, have the next claim/right on the residual proceeds. Ownership equity is the last or residual claim against assets, paid only after all other creditors are paid. In such cases where even creditors could not get enough money to pay their bills, nothing is left over to reimburse owners’ equity.
D. Preferred stock usually carries no voting rights, but may carry a dividend and may have priority over common stock in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Preferred stock may have a convertibility feature into common stock. Terms of the preferred stock are stated in a "Certificate of Designation".
E. At the start of a business, owners put some funding into the business to finance operations. This creates a liability on the business in the shape of capital as the business is a separate entity from its owners. Businesses can be considered, for accounting purposes, sums of liabilities and assets; this is the accounting equation.
The rating for prefer reds is generally lower since preferred dividends do not carry the same guarantees as interest payments from bonds and they are junior to all creditors.