Public Debts, the first form of Stock Exchange investment that we considered, were to this extent simple, that they all implied a contract by which the investor became a creditor entitled to a fixed rate of interest and usually a capital sum to be some day repaid by the debtor.
Company securities, as a preliminary to the consideration of which we have been looking for a meaning in company accounts, are complicated in that they give the investor the choice of creditorship or ownership.
For those who like to be creditors, companies provide debts, in the form of bonds, debentures and debenture stocks, similar to the bonds and stocks issued by Governments and public bodies and, occasionally, interest bearing notes, usually with an early date of maturity, similar to the Treasury bills and Exchequer bonds with which Governments cater for the appetite that likes to see its money back soon.
