In finance a share is a unit of account for various financial instruments including stocks, mutual funds, limited partnerships, and REIT's. In British English, the usage of the word share alone to refer solely to stocks is so common that it almost replaces the word stock itself.

A share is one of a finite number of equal portions in the capital of a company, entitling the owner to a proportion of distributed, non-reinvested profits known as dividends and to a portion of the value of the company in case of liquidation. Shares can be voting or non-voting, meaning they either do or do not carry the right to vote on the board of directors and corporate policy. Whether this right exists often affects the value of the share.

In 1791 Abraham Schaaffhausen founded his private bank, one of the first and most important financial resources for the growing Rhineland-Westphalia area and its involvement in heavy industry. In 1848, the bank found itself facing solvency issues, and on March 29th, 1848 they were forced to cease payment. Under national guarantees, and acting upon the advice of the Prussian Finance Minister (and later founder of the Disconto-Association), David Hansemann, the bank was allowed to be salvaged by other bankers under the leadership of Gustav Mevissen. To this end, the Prussian government first sanctioned a bank in the form of a joint stock company - the A. Schaaffhausen'schen Bank Association. As soon as 1852 the bank was able to pay back the aid it had received from the state.

In competition with both of the other big banks in the Rhineland, the Essener Credit-Insitute and the Bergisch-Märkischen Bank, the Bank Association was able to augment itself with branches in western Germany. In 1904 it was able to take over the Westdeutsche Bank (located in Bonn). Between 1904 and 1909 the Bank Association was involved in a joint venture with the Dresdner Bank. In 1913 the A. Schaaffhausen'sche Bank Association was the largest German regional bank and was involved in numerous industial interests.

In 1914 the Bank Association was taken over by the Disconto-Association, although it remained a stand-alone credit institute until 1929. Not until the fusion of the Disconto-Association with the Deutsche Bank in 1929 was the Bank Association completely merged with the Disconto-Association and then became a part of the Deutsche-Bank-Concern.

You must express the amounts you report on your U.S. tax return in U.S. dollars. If you receive all or part of your income or pay some or all of your expenses in foreign currency, you must translate the foreign currency into U.S. dollars. How you do this depends on your functional currency. Your functional currency generally is the U.S. dollar unless you are required to use the currency of a foreign country.

You must make all federal income tax determinations in your functional currency. The U.S. dollar is the functional currency for all taxpayers except some qualified business units (QBUs). A QBU is a separate and clearly identified unit of a trade or business that maintains separate books and records.

Even if you have a QBU, your functional currency is the dollar if any of the following apply.

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You conduct the business in dollars.
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The principal place of business is located in the United States.
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You choose to or are required to use the dollar as your functional currency.
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The business books and records are not kept in the currency of the economic environment in which a significant part of the business activities is conducted.

Make all income tax determinations in your functional currency. If your functional currency is the U.S. dollar, you must immediately translate into dollars all items of income, expense, etc. (including taxes), that you receive, pay, or accrue in a foreign currency and that will affect computation of your income tax. Use the exchange rate prevailing when you receive, pay, or accrue the item. If there is more than one exchange rate, use the one that most properly reflects your income. You can generally get exchange rates from banks and U.S. Embassies.

If your functional currency is not the U.S. dollar, make all income tax determinations in your functional currency. At the end of the year, translate the results, such as income or loss, into U.S. dollars to report on your income tax return.