Choosing The Appropriate Structure Of The Business Practice

Having the appropriate structure is vital for an organisation or business to meet its aims and objectives. A business may be structured by:

This essay will explain the concepts of separate personality and limited liability and their significance in company law. The principle of separate personality is defined in the Companies Act 2006(CA) ; “subscribers to the memorandum, together with such other persons as may from time to time become members of the company are a body corporate by the name contained in memorandum.” This essentially means that a company is a separate legal personality to its members and therefore can itself be sued and enter into contracts. This theory was birthed into company law through the case of Salomon v Salomon and Co LTD 1872. This case involved a company entering liquidation and the unsecured creditors not being able to claim assets to compensate them. The issue in this case was whether Mr Salomon owed the money or the company did. In the end, the House of Lords held that the company was not an agent of Mr Salomon and so the debts were that of the company thus creating the “corporate Veil” .

* Limited Liability - Unlike partnerships and sole proprietorships, corporate shareholders are not liable for any of the corporation's debts.

Imagine that you are in the process of creating a new business structure and have to

A shareholder in a limited company is not personally responsible for any of the debts of Tesco, other than for the value of his investment in Tesco. Although a shareholder's liability for Tesco's actions is limited, the shareholder may still be liable for its own acts. For example, the directors of small companies, who are frequently also shareholders, are often required to give personal guarantees of the company's debts to those lending to the company. They will then be liable for those debts in the event that the company cannot pay, although the other shareholders will not be so liable.

Owners are not personally responsible for debts the business may accumulate. The ownership of a limited company is divided up into equal parts called shares (Bbc.co.uk, 2014).

Choosing a Corporation/Company Structure - the business structure of a company/ corporation is highly recommended, it has the flexibility to gain more capital, or credit capability and assets used as security. Based on the Corporation Act 2001 (Cth) AC 22, a corporation is another legal entity with their own legal rights, duties and responsibilities separate to the individual or owner of the company (Harris, Hargovan & Adams, 2013, pp 229). The risk and consequences are one of the principal considerations of choosing a company structure (Harris, Hargovan & Adams, pp 50). Based on the “Corporate Veil” Liability is owned by a separate legal entity and not to the extent of the owner, for instance, the debt of the company is not a personal liability, but the company. This is further explained in the case below.

Due to limited liability, company creditors’ interests are not protected . Creditors need to bear the risks inherent when dealing with limited company. Shareholders are discouraged from monitoring and controlling the business due to the benefits of limited liability.

Limited liability partnership (LLP): Owners are not liable for debts, obligations or other liabilities of the partnership which are a direct result of negligence, wrong acts or malpractice of an agent, employee or partner of this partnership (Bhattacharyya. A.K., 2011, p.5). However, a partner will still be liable for negligence, wrong acts or malpractice conducted by an agent, employee or partner who is under his / her direct supervision.

The next crucial step in the business planning process is determining which business structure the

Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) is the relevant governing entity in this step. It regulates corporate, markets and financial services in Australia and it is responsible for

When a company is incorporated it is treated as a separate legal entity distinct from its promoters, directors, members, and employees, which confers the benefit of not being responsible for the companies debt on the members on the company. However even though a company is a separate legal entity and it attains the advantage of not laying the responsibility of company’s debt on the

The legal principle on company law established by the case “Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd” is that a company upon incorporation is a body corporate which is recognized by law to have a separate legal entity from its members and officers. The company and members are two separate bodies. This is known as the veil of incorporation. Thus, the debts of the company cannot be recovered from its members. For example, the debts of the company cannot be recovered from its member. Rather than the director or its member, a company is normally liable for any breach by itself. A company is an artificial legal person that exists independently of the individuals who at any given time are the members of the corporate body. In the case of Salomon V Salomon & Co Ltd, even though Salomon managed the business solely by himself, yet in law Salomon and the company is separate body as the company has incorporated.

Anyone who is intended to enter the business world,should know that there are 5 types of business organisations that he or she needs to take under consideration.

Corporation origin from the Latin word Corpus which means body. It is formed by a group of people and has separate rights and liability from those individual. In any means, corporation exists independently from its owner and this principle is called the doctrine of separate personality. Doctrine of separate personality is the basic and fundamental principle in a Company Law. This principle outline the legal relationship between company and its members. Company’s assets belong to the company not the shareholders as assets are the equity for creditors. Company must use up all its assets to pay off the creditors if it became insolvent. The same applies to the corporation’s debts. For limited liabilities company, the shareholder liability is limited which means that the shareholder is restricted to the number of shares they paid and not personally liable for the corporation’s debts. If the company does not have enough equity to pay off debts, the creditors cannot come after the shareholders. However, limited liability company can be very powerful when in hands who do fraud and on defeating creditors’ claims. Courts then can ignore the doctrine for exception cases and lifting the corporate veil. Lifting the corporate veil is a situation where courts put aside limited liability and hold a corporation’s shareholders or directors personally liable for the corporation’s debts.