COMPANIES Flashcards
COMPANY
large-scale business organizations and smaller companies
MAIN FEATURES OF A COMPANY
- legal personality
- limited liability
- transferable shares
- delegated management over a board structure
- investor ownership
ADVANTAGES OF A COMPANY
- lower costs
- creation of a well-structured org
- more people0more money & funds&ideas
- opportunism because of company law
- unlimited life
TYPES OF LEGAL RULES THAT REGULATE COMPANIES
mandatory vs. default rules
each jurisdiction decides which are mandatory (basic principles and laws which are default) and what aspects are not regulated
DIFFERENT LEGAL SYSTEMS: COMPANIES
EU: each member state has its own principles but a lot of similar ones stemming from EU directives
US: each state has its own corporate law but is very similar because of the Modern business corporation act. listed co have also laws regulated by fed gov: same for all us
ELEMENTS THAT MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN LAW
- dispersed ownership us
- control shareholding blocks (g,i,,f)
- presence of state as shareholders (f, I)
- characteristics of non controlling shareholders: private investors/professional investors
PROBLEM OF COMPANIES
agency problem: the agent is expected to act in the interests of principal (principal depends on the agent)
- -> conflict of interests
- ->opportunistic behaviour
AIM OF COMPANY LAW
regulate behaviours to reduce opportunistic behaviour among constituencies
AGENTS IN COMPANIES
a–>p
directors –> shareholders
majority shareholders–> minority shareholders
shareholders–> creditors and employees
LEGAL PERSONALITY OF COMPANIES
• company set out by contracts: carries out business activity by entering into other contracts
• company is a single contracting entity
• provided with personal assets (=contributions of sh)
–> entity shielding: creditors are granted a claim on co assets prior to claims of sh & sh can not withdraw form co at will, creditors can not attack sh asstes
• representation& decision of actions= director
LIMITED LIABILITY IN COMPANIES
• owner shielding: complete asset segregation
•sh liable for debt of co only to the amount of their contribution, not mandatory to pay debts with additional contrib
risk: from sh to cred
TRANSFERABLE SHARES OF COMPANIES
- fully transferable form one sh to other unless charter says differently
- companys whose shares are in financial market are freely transferable
DELEGATED MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
- BOARD OF DIRECTORS: one tier board(all top mngmnt in one board) two tier vertical board and board of supervisors, two tier horizonatal board( board of directors, board of statuatory auditors) bot appointed by sh
- executive directors(day2day) vs non executive directors(must participate in more important business decisions)
INVESTOR OWNERSHIP IN COMPANIES
Sh rights: pie sstructure: 10% tot contrib=10% peso in voting=10% profits
DISADVANTAGES OF A COMPANY
- double taxation:profits and earnings
- gov reg
- more difficult to form
- operations controled by sh and bod