Business Entities: Corporations Vs. Partnerships. The Business

There are a number of different reporting requirements that are needed to comply with the SEC. These include the provision of financial statements on a quarterly basis (10-Q) along with an annual report (10-K). These statements must adhere to a specific format that governs how financial statements are prepared, and how the information is presented. There are many sections to these forms that must be included. Moreover, the information must be accurate, and prepared to guidelines laid out in the Generally Accepted

Many believe that liability is a biggest issue in a general partnership than in a sole proprietorship. The owners of the company are still fully liable for any debts the company may accrue as well as the liability for any lawsuits that may be brought against the company. However, the bigger issue in a partnership is that now each partner can be liable for the other partner’s actions. If one partner is sued for malpractice, the other partner may suffer because of it.

When it comes to partnerships Alex, Bill, Carl, and Devon will have two options- a general partnership or a limited partnership. Partnerships are beginning to be a business form of the past. Once upon a time, partnerships were “the default form of business and provided the benefit of pass-through taxation, but lacked the important feature of limited liability” (Chrisman, 2010, p. 465). In a general partnership, each partner associated with the entity will be held liable for their own business decisions as well as

Forming a business entity requires a great deal of knowledge before any decision is made. There are advantages and disadvantages to each entity and without proper understanding of what they are, individuals could make costly errors and forfeit crucial perks that would be in the businesses best interest. In the situation in New State, Alex, Bill, Carl, and Devon have inherited their father’s operating organic farm and seek advice, in regards to which form of business organization would best fit their particular criteria. They have emphasized their immediate concerns, wants and needs from a business standpoint, but also stress their strong faith to uphold and operate in accordance with the Christian worldview. Their criteria is as follows, (1) create an entity which averts formalities or complexities, (2) develop a structure allowing cousin Xavier to handle the day-to-day, (3) minimize taxes on the entity, (4) avoid any personal liability, (4) keep business in the family only, (5) remain in accordance with the Christian worldview, (which will be the final topic in this discussion). After reviewing all criteria, it will be advised that forming a limited liability company (LLC) and electing for an S corporation status would be of best interest for the family. Discussed below, is the strengths and weaknesses of each form of business organization as it applies to their unique situation, to help better understand why an LLC/S corporation, is the best form of

Suppose that Katherine, Brianna, and Paige have formed a limited partnership to operate a video arcade. Katherine is the general partner. She has contributed $2,000 and her time to get the operation running. Brianna and Paige, the limited partners, have each contributed $3,000. After one year of operation, the arcade has debts of $10,000, and the three partners decide to discontinue their business and the limited partnership. Brianna and Paige want their investment returned to them. Who should Katherine, who is winding up the business, pay first, Brianna and Paige, or the creditors? How much will Brianna and Paige receive? How about Katherine?

For this reason, among others, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Section 480 contains extensive guidance on distinguishing liabilities from equity. However, it is first necessary to determine if this Code section is applicable. ASC 480-10-15-3 states:

The requirements of the applicable financial reporting framework relevant to accounting estimates, including related disclosures

Salta Company installs a manufacturing machine in its factory at the beginning of the year at a cost of $87,000. The machine’s useful life is estimated to be 5 years, or 400,000 units of product, with a $7,000 salvage value. During its second year, the machine produces 84,500 units of product. Determine the machines’ second year depreciation under the units of production method:

Waller, J. (2012). Business Formation Benefits and Risks: LLC most flexible, corporation most protective. Alaska Business Monthly, 28(6), 20.

Entity-wide disclosures are required under Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 280-10-50-40 through 280-10-50-42. The disclosures are required because every corporation does not report information in a similar fashion, and the disclosures would provide comparability of the financial statements among entities. For example, if a corporation uses a geographic approach in its financial statements, disclosing certain information about the products or services sold will make comparability to other companies much easier. The disclosures will also help with comparability within an entity if they decide to choose another method of reporting operating segments in the future. There are three types of entity-wide disclosures; products and services, geographic areas, and/or major customers. Every public company has to comply with the disclosures, even if the company has one reportable segment. The only exception to the entity-wide disclosures is if it is impractical to provide the information, such as it would be extremely costly to the corporation, or if the “internal reporting systems are not capable of gathering financial information by product or service by geographic area.” A disclosure should be made when entity-wide disclosures are impractical.

Partnership liability tort can take place when a partner or all partners acting on partnership business causes injury to a third person. Cause of this tort could be a negligent act, a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, fraud, or another intentional tort (Cheeseman, 2010, p. 538). Under the Uniform Partnership Act, partners are jointly and severally liable for torts and breaches of trust (UPA, 2010). This is true even if the co-partner(s) did not participate in the act. The joint and severally liable tort permits a third party to sue one or more of the partners

The running and operation of businesses poses the risks of loss and liability in the case of tort negligence or breach of contract. However, the business legal structure of a given organization greatly determines the risk of exposure to personal liability (Bevans, 2006). The paper investigates and compares the risk of exposure to personal liability in five business entities and explores how the risk can be mitigated. Business personal liability risk is classified as limited and unlimited. In unlimited liability, the personal assets in addition to business assets can be seized (Hillman & Loewenstein, 2015). Limited liability as seen in limited partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies significantly reduce the risk of exposure to personal liability. Opening a limited partnership in addition to taking insurance to protect the business offers the best chance of averting the risk for personal liability risk (Schich, 2009).

Based on this information, only an immaterial amount of companies actually accrue a liability in their financial statement. Therefore, M Corporation will simply provide disclosure of the contingency and an estimate of the possible loss or range of loss for the future pending litigation in its 2007 financial statement under Note: Contingencies and Commitments. If M Corporation accrued a liability on its 2007 financial statements, then the company becomes too transparent to opposing counsel and it could have serious adverse effects on M’s operations.

“In Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) minor changes do not have any impact and the original contract does not get canceled. The quantity is the main focus of the term in UCC. Offers made by a firm are irrevocable if the deal is made in writing in UCC” (UCC vs Common Law, 2014). “Uniform Commercial Code is a statutory law for certain types of commercial transactions, including sales of goods, which has been adopted by all 50 states. Many of its rules are similar to Common Law, but it

In any business operations, full financial disclosure refers to the provision of the necessary information about a company for better decision making by the people accustomed. It is the financial revelation of a given company. There are some financial disclosures in any business that ensure proper understanding of financial statements to the financial readers, or potential auditors. Examples are the annual financial reports and the financial declarations of the company. The annual financial reports of the enterprise are very useful since they discloses the revenues recognized in the business, and the accountability of the inventories plus the income taxes accounted for during that period of operation. Second, is the disclosure of this financial statements which gives the actual revelation of the company 's stock options, liabilities and the effects of foreign currencies?! This disclosure includes the company 's balance sheet of the year, income statements and also the cash statements flows of that year. This information gives a proper understanding of the financial status users about the effects of inflation and price change on property and inventories (Berger, 2011).