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Basic Forms Of Business Organization

Decent Essays

Three basic forms of business organization are sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. Sole proprietorship is the simplest form of business organization in which there is only one owner (Cheeseman, 2015, p. 570). Single person is responsible for all debts, liabilities, and obligations, as well as unlimited liability for business operations. If the owner is unsuccessful and acquires debt, creditors can pursue legal action and acquire access to personal bank accounts, real estate, and other assets by the court order to repay person’s debt obligations. Owners of sole proprietorships cannot raise capital by selling shares that represent stakeholder interest in the business. The owner reports all income and expenses in personal tax return. The business terminates upon withdrawal or an owner’s death. The owner can sell the business and by doing so, will lose the ownership. Advantages of sole proprietorship include freedom of decisions, tax breaks, ease to start, ownership of all profits, being taxed once as a personal income of the owner, and lack of government compliance. Disadvantages of sole proprietorship include unlimited liability, very limited sources of production, and difficulty to raise capital. According to Cheeseman (2015), general partnership is an association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners of a business for profit (p. 572). The rights and duties of partners are established in the partnership agreement and by law such as Uniform

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