Business Structures
Donna L. Fudge
FIN/571 Foundations of Corporate Finance
Helen Brown-Horton
July 15, 2013
Business Structures There are three types of business structures sole proprietorship, partnership, and general. Each business structure has its advantages as well as disadvantages; the key is determining which business structure will be most suitable for your business venture. Not everyone is looking to run a small business so a sole proprietorship may not be the answer, it could be that you are looking to start small and have your company grow into a corporation but not quite function exactly like a huge corporation. Whatever the case one must determine which business structure best suits their needs and this paper will
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A general partnership can be as simple as a written agreement between two or more people while a limited partnership limits personal liability of each partner to their capital investment”. It is important in this type of business structure to hire an outside party such as an attorney to draw up the legal documents that will dictate each partner’s role, responsibility, and liability. Again in everything there are pros and cons. The pros to a partnership is that obtaining a partner is easy, when there is more than one owner this increases financial stability allowing each partner to contribute funds and potentially increase their borrowing capacity. Depending on the business and its need for additional partners this could increase employee retention because employees will see an opportunity to one day be a partner. On the downside, each partner is liable for the faults or actions of other partners, profits must be shared and because decisions are shared as well this increases the chances of disagreements. You want to make sure that the person you are in business with sees the same future for the business that you see to avoid any problems down the line. Because you have to remember you have a partner and you can’t make decisions by yourself.
Corporation
Corporations are huge and more complex than sole proprietorships or partnerships. Corporations are made
| The partners are jointly and severally liable for business debts and obligations. The partners are held personally responsible for the business and may be sued personally for liability. Partners’ personal assets are subject to lawsuit(s) made against the business. Lack of continuity; death of a partner may end the partnership/business if a buy/sell agreement is not in place. Disagreements may be difficult to resolve.
Some of the benefits of a Limited Liability Company are that as a Limited Liability Company it limits the owner of personal liability for business actions. The members are liable, but normally just to the amount of their share in the business. Their individual assets are not considered for resolving business debts. The fact that your personal assets are protected is a great benefit. Whereas, operating under a partnership all members are individually accountable for the company’s debt. In comparing the differences between a
Violet’s case is similar to the case Re Megevand; Ex parte Delhasse (1878) 7 Ch D 511 in which the court considered the creditor a partner of the business concerned given that the creditor (Delhasse) had the right to control the property, had all the rights a dormant business partner would be expected to have, and rights to share profits and liability to share in losses.
In a general partnership there is also the issue of control. Whereas in a sole proprietorship the sole owner has full control in the business, in a general partnership the control is split equally between the partners. This can lead to issues when the partners do not agree on the direction they want to take the company in regards to growth or other
Liability All liabilities are the responsibility of each partner. In the event of litigation, any creditors can go after the personal assets of each partner to recover any debt owed. But since liability is spread out between the owners, one may feel less risk is being taken. 2. Income Taxes General partnership may also benefit from pass-through taxation, meaning the partners are taxed like sole proprietors. Business income is reported on the personal tax filing while business losses can be deducted to reduce personal tax liability. The partnership itself is not subject to federal income tax. However the partnership needs to file an information return utilizing the IRS Form 1065. 3. Longevity or continuity of the organization Once the partnership agreement is fulfilled, the general partnership may dissolve. A buy/sell agreement may be included in the articles of the partnership to allow the
responsible for business debt, and has one or more limited partnership who are only liable to
Limited Partnership: This partnership consists of a blend of both general and limited partners. This kind of agreement/partnership lets the general partner manage the entire operation, but they are still fully liable for debts. The limited partner only invests his/her money, and can only lose what they invested.
the partners to come up with somewhat of a middle ground. I see too many good business ruined
John, when starting a business one has several options in the type of business structure to use. The different types of business structures are the sole proprietorship structure, the partnership structure, the corporation structure, the S corporation structure, and the limited liability company structure. Each structure has advantages and disadvantages and possible tax consequences.
There are similar negative aspects in a partnership that were mentioned in the sole proprietorship. There is an issue of liability that may be greater depending on the circumstances. Under certain conditions a wealthier partner or higher contributing partner may have to bear a disproportionate share of the losses if the other partners do not have sufficient personal assets (Block, et al., 2015, p. 9). In my opinion the partnership is only as good as the weakest partner. Shania would have to entrust other
"What are the three basic forms of business ownership? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each?
The partnership would be owned in a ratio of 60:40, me owning 60%. This means we would share the cash input and profits and losses in this ratio, which is bad in the short-term for me, but hopefully good in the long-term. A partnership brings
Firstly, even though there are different types of partnership such as general, limited and limited liability partnership. This three different type has its advantages and disadvantages however we will be mainly focused on general partnership. One advantage of the general partnership is raising capital due to the nature of the business the partners will raise capital to start-up the business. Therefore more partners mean more capital can be put to the business, this allows the business to have more potential for growth and profitability. Another advantage is that a partnership is less complicated to form and run than a company they don’t have legal filing requirements, this means they don’t have to file accounts and documents with Companies House.
Sole traders have unlimited liabilities,meaning that in terms of law there is no separation between them,hence the sole trader is also liable for the debts incurred within the business, which makes it very risky to run for a long-term.
As any good businessman should do, all options were weighed, which included the idea of a partnership. This is a positive choice when it comes to the fact that your profits are only taxed once and a partnership certificate can be bought easily and locally.5 A partnership also brings in other ideas, as well as generates other people's money. This makes it easier to gather the startup costs and get the business going. A partnership also opens the doors for expansion of my business because of the possible connections my partners might have.