f u r t h e r f e at u r e s o f c o m pa n y a c c o u n t s For example, some companies issue shares which are identical to ordi- nary shares except that they have no rights to vote at meetings of ordinary shareholders. Such shares are typically used by family companies which want to issue shares to new investors so that they can raise some addi- tional funds, but where the family does not want to lose control of the company. Using these shares, the family can retain more than 50 per cent of the voting rights, while not necessarily keeping more than 50 per cent of the financial benefits of the share capital. These shares are usually called A shares but they can be called anything. Equally, shares with com- pletely different terms and conditions could be called `A Shares'. Options Employees of companies are often given options over ordinary shares. These options give the employee the right, within certain time periods, to make the company issue them with shares at a predetermined price (known as the exercise price). If the share price of a company goes above the exer-