Chapter 1: The Corporation & Financial Markets Flashcards
what kind of business organizations are the most important
corporations
why are corporations the most important business organizations
because of the amount of:
- products they produce
- revenues and profits they generate
- people they employ
what is a key factor in the success of corporations
the ability to easily trade ownership shares
what is a sole proprietorship
- A business owned and run by one person
- Usually small and has few employees
- Most common type of business
- They usually have relatively small revenues, profits, and employees
what are key characteristics of a sole proprietorship
- Easy to set up
- No separation between the firm and the owner
- Unlimited personal liability for the firm’s debts
- Limited life
what is a point about how it is easy to set up for sole proprietorship
Many new businesses start off as a sole proprietorship
what are some points about how there is no separation between the firm and owner for sole proprietorship
- There can only be one owner
- Business income is taxed at a personal level
- Other investors can’t also own the firm
- The ability to raise money is limited
what are some points about unlimited liability for sole proprietorship
- The firm defaulting on any debt payment = lender will make owner repay the loan with their personal assets
- If they can’t afford, they declare personal bankruptcy
what are some points about the limited life for sole proprietorship
- Life is limited to the life of the owner
- Difficult to transfer ownership
what is the “ratio” of disadvantages and advantages for sole proprietorship
- disadvantages > advantages
- The second they can, the owner usually changes the type of firm so they are not personally liable for the business
what are partnerships
Like a sole proprietorship but has more than one owner
what are key features about partnerships
- Income taxed at a personal level
- All partners have unlimited personal liability
- Partnership ends with the death or withdrawal of any single partner
what is a point about how income is taxed for partnership
Income is split among partners based on their ownership in the partnership
what are some points about unlimited liability for partnerships
- The lender can make ANY partner repay ALL the firm’s debts
- Each partner is fully liable
- Partners have to be chosen carefully, since the action of 1 can affect all
what is a point about when partnerships end
They can avoid liquidation if their agreement has alternatives like buyout of a deceased or withdrawn partner
why wouldn’t some companies not want to switch from a sole proprietor/partnership to something like a corporation
- They are the ones where the owner’s personal reputations are the basis for the business
- Ex. law and accounting firms are usually partnerships
- Because they are partnerships, the partner is then personally liable (they want the business to do well)
- Clients are then more confident in the firm if the partners are trying to keep the business up and running (so they don’t go bankrupt)
what are examples of types of companies that are mostly limited partnerships
- Private equity
- venture capital
- hedge funds
what is a limited partnership
- A partnership with general and limited partners
- Needs to have at least one general partner
what are general partners
- They have the same rights and privileges as partners in a (general) partnership; personally liable
- control how the capital is invested, actively participating in running the business
what are limited partners like
- Limited partners have limited liability; liability limited to their investment and not any other personal assets
- The death/withdrawal of a limited partner doesn’t end the partnership
- Their interest is transferable
- But they have no management authority and can’t legally be involved in making decisions for the company
- Outside investors don’t do anything, they just care about how their investment (the company) is performing
in the common type of companies that are usually limited, how does the partnership work? (between general and limited partner)
only a few general partners give their own capital, and the rest is raised from outside investors who are limited partners
what is a limited liability partnership (LLP)
- A special type of partnership in Canada that can be used in law and accounting firms
- Its like a general partnership since partners can manage the firm and have unlimited liability
- But the liability can be limited if other partners are or supervised negligent
- If the partner themselves performed negligence, they are liable unlimitedly
- Even if a partner’s personal assets safe, based on actions of any partner, the business assets can also be taken
what is a corporation
- Legally defined entity, separate from its owners
- Has many legal powers people have
- Can enter into contracts, acquire assets, incur obligations
- Also has similar protection against the seizure of its property like a person
- Its solely responsible for its own obligations
- The owners have limited liability
- The corporation isn’t liable for any personal obligations the owners
how is a corporation formed
- In most provinces, corporations are defined under the provincial Business Corporations Act or the Canada Business Corporations Act
- They must be legally formed
- Need to file the articles of incorporation (corporate charter), which sets out the terms of the corporation’s ownership and existence
- So its much more expensive to set up
- Most firms have lawyers to create the formal articles of incorporation and a set of bylaws
how many people can own a corporation
- No limit on the number of owners of a corporation
- So each owner only owns a fraction; stocks/shares
what are the total shares sold called/considered
- outstanding shares
- equity of the corporations
what are owners of the shares called
shareholder/stockholder/equity holder
what can shareholders get
They can get dividends, which are payments made at the discretion of the corporation’s BOD
what is voting and dividends like
- The voting and dividend rights are usually proportional to the amount of stocks owned
- In Canada, many corporations have a dominant shareholder who control 25% of total shares
- More people hold US companies, so the largest shareholder holds less than 5% of the total
- About 19% of Canadian companies on the TSX have multiple classes of stock
- Some classes have more voting rights than others with the same rights to dividends
what is an advantage of corporations
- You don’t need to be an expert or have a qualification to own a stock
- Because of this, there is a free flow in the trade of stocks
- Its an advantage of being a corporation since they can get a lot of capital this way
- This availability of funding makes corporations dominate the economy compared to other enterprises
how does shareholders need to pay taxes twice (double taxation)
- The corporation pays tax on its profits
- When remaining profits are distributed to shareholders, they pay their own personal income tax on that income
how do you calculate taxation on corporate earnings
- you take the earnings per share before taxes
- calculate how much of it is taxed with the corporate tax rate
- EPS (before tax) - corporate tax
- then from that, calculate how much taxes u need to pay
- EPS (before tax) - corporate tax - personal income tax
- that is how much earnings you have left after tax
how do you calculate the total effective tax rate on your actual earnings from being a shareholder
how much you paid in taxes (total) / how much the earnings was b4 taxes
what do most countries do to reduce double taxation
- they reduce some of the taxes
- ex. Canada reduces the tax rate on dividend income
- In most provinces in the 2023 tax year, it was about 30% less tax than regular income tax
- Ex. in Ontario, if you were in the top tax bracket, your income tax rate is 53.53%, but your dividends tax was only 39.34% (instead of being the same as your income tax rate)
what entities does the CRA not allow double taxation for
income trusts
what are income trusts
- Where all income produced by the business flowed to the investors and pretty much no earnings stayed in the business
- there are 3 forms
what are the 3 forms of income trust
- business income trust
- energy trust
- real estate investment trust (REIT)
what is a business income trust
- Holds all debt and equity securities of a corporation (the underlying business) in trust for the trust owners
- The trust owners = unit holders
what is an energy trust
Holds resource properties directly OR holds all the debt and equity securities of a resource corporation within the trust
what is a real estate investment trust
Holds real estate properties directly OR holds all the debt and equity securities of a corporation that owns real estate properties
which income trusts are taxed at the business level and which don’t get taxed
Taxed: business income & energy
not taxed: REITs
who are board of directors (BOD)
A group of people that have the ultimate decision-making authority in the corporation
how are BOD elected
- Shareholders elect the BOD
- 1 share = 1 vote for each position on the BOD
- More shares = more voting influence
- If 1-2 shareholders have a lot of the stock, they might be on the BOD, or they can have the right to appoint a number of directors
what do BOD do
- The BOD determines how the business should be run, how top managers are paid, sets policy, and monitors performance of the company
- The BOD hires the CEO
what does management & CEO do
- Most decisions that involve day-to-day operations
- The CEO institutes the rules and policies the BOD sets
how large is the management team for each company
depends on the corporation (can vary)
what are CEOs sometimes
chairman of the board (COB)