Two Sources of owner’s fund that can be used for raising finance by business:

a) Equity shares: Equity shares is the most important source of raising long term capital by a company. Equity shares represent the ownership of a company and thus the capital raised by issue of such shares is known as ownership capital or owner’s funds. Equity shareholders do not get a fixed dividend but are paid on the basis of earnings by the company. They are referred to as ‘residual owners’ since they receive what is left after all other claims on the company’s income and assets have been settled. They enjoy the reward as well as bear the risk of ownership. Their liability, however, is limited to the extent of capital contributed by them in the company. Further, through their right to vote, these shareholders have a right to participate in the management of the company. 

b) Retained earnings: A company generally does not distribute all its earnings amongst the shareholders as dividends. A portion of the net earnings may be retained in the business for use in the future. This is known as retained earnings. It is a source of internal financing or self financing or ‘ploughing back of profits’. The profit available for ploughing back in an organisation depends on many factors like net profits, dividend policy and age of the organisation.