what impacts retained earnings
Common stock and retained earnings. When a company issues common stock to raise capital, the proceeds from the sale of that stock become part of its total shareholders' equity but do not affect retained earnings. However, common stock can impact a company's retained earnings any time dividends are issued to stockholders. When a company pays dividends, it must debit that payment to retained earnings, which means its retained earnings balance will drop by the value of the dividends it has issued.
Anything that affects net income, also affects the statement of retained earnings. Some transactions that affect net income include those that increase or decrease in revenue, cost of goods sold and expenses.