A corporation may have issued more shares of stock than it has outstanding. This statement is

This statement is generally incorrect. In corporate finance, outstanding shares refer to the total shares that have been issued by a corporation and are currently held by shareholders, excluding shares that have been repurchased by the corporation itself.

To clarify:

1. Issued Shares: This includes all shares that have been sold to shareholders, which may include those currently owned by investors and those that the company has bought back (treasury shares).

2. Outstanding Shares: This is the subset of issued shares that are currently held by shareholders, meaning the shares that have not been repurchased by the company.

Therefore, it's not possible for a corporation to have more outstanding shares than it has issued. In fact, the number of outstanding shares should always be equal to or less than the number of issued shares after accounting for any treasury stock. If a corporation has repurchased shares, those shares are considered "treasury shares" and are not included in the outstanding share count. Thus, the statement is misleading and usually false.