Roles of Corporate Accounting Professionals

By Mirco Jaramy


Do you want to set up a new business in Perth and you want it to be a corporation? Establishing a corporation will not be an easy task - there are forms to fill, concepts to think about, and positions to fill.

A corporation exists as a virtual or fictitious person, granting a limited protection to the actual people involved in the business of the corporation. It pays income taxes but it is not allowed to hold public office or vote. A corporation is a separate entity from its owners, who are called as stockholders, because a corporation is a legal entity.

Corporations may be established as either a profit-making or non-profit organisation, and can be held publicly or privately. The stock of a public company is traded on a stock exchange.

In contrast, a privately held company's stock is not traded on an exchange and there are usually only a small number of stockholders. There may be hundreds, thousands, even millions, of stockholders in a public company.

A corporation's shareholders elect a board of directors (generally receiving one vote per share) who appoint and supervise the management of the corporation.

What are the advantages of a corporation?

The following are the list of advantages:

* In case of liquidation of the company, nothing is required to be contributed by the owners if the company's assets are insufficient to meet the liability because a corporation's owners have limited liability towards the creditors. They are only liable up to their investment in the company and only the owners' contribution is at stake rather than their personal assets.

* With perpetual existence, the corporation is considered a legal entity. It will stand until it's liquidated. Death or change in ownership has no effect on the corporation.

* Additional capital can be raised easily through stock markets, etc.

* The number of share certificates held by a person represents the ownership. Therefore, this makes the transfer of ownership very easy.

Disadvantages of Corporation

Below are the downsides of establishing a corporation:

* To establish a corporation, you are required with the central regulatory authority and listing on a stock exchange which requires fulfilment of certain requirements related to the amount of capital, number of directors, etc.

* There can be double taxation with corporations - first, the corporate income is taxed at a flat rate and then the dividends paid to the shareholders are taxed.

After you have read this article, you probably understand all the important things you need to learn, as well as the advantages and disadvantages corporations have, you may realise how difficult getting into or establishing one. Therefore, you need some experts to help you; experts like corporate accountants.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment