If you are a small business owner, and you are considering issuing shares in your company in order to raise capital, then it may pay to do some research first. There are many stock market terms with which to become acquainted, and also some legal aspects which must be thought through.

Firstly, you need to decide what is the aim of issuing shares? Is it to reward staff, so that they have a stake in the company that they have helped to create, or is it a way of getting some outside funding into the company.

You may also need to consider how issuing shares will affect the way that the company is managed. If an investor is willing to buy a stake in the form of shares, then it is likely that they will also want a say in how the company is run.

Another issue is control, and how much of that you want to give away. For many people who have built a company up themselves, the fact that they have to listen and perhaps follow instructions from other people who now have an equal stake in the business is quite a hard one to face.

In any event, make sure that you do plenty of research, and of course, consult your accountants before going ahead with any issue.