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Essay Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnerships

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Accounting for partnerships Accounting for partnerships – Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of partnerships. Identify and discuss the Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) that govern accounting for partnerships including both creation, operation, and liquidation. What are the tax consequences of partnerships. The legal definition of a partnership is pretty simple. It is an association of two or more persons who have not incorporated; and carry on a business for profit as co-owners. A partnership exists if these conditions are met, even though the people involved may not know it or even intend that the business be a partnership--and even if they don't actually make a profit. Partnerships can be flexible; the partners …show more content…

Then the partners include the income and deductions in their individual tax returns. Not as widely as they once were. As a way of organizing a business, they appear to be giving way to the limited liability form of business organization. This form of organization has many of the advantages of partnerships and few of the disadvantages. There are two main types of partnerships recognized in the United States: general partnerships and limited partnerships. In a general partnership, each partner has unlimited liability for the debts and obligations of the partnership. Moreover, any partner can bind the partnership contractually to third parties. For these reasons, it is important to define in a written agreement what decisions partners can make individually and which ones require a vote of the partners. In addition, most states require that the partnership file a certificate in the county in which it will do business. Unlimited liability means that if you're a general partner, not only can you lose whatever money or other property you have put into the partnership, but also your house, boat, and stock portfolio might go to pay the claims of the partnership's creditors. In terms of management responsibility, general partners carry the load--they actively run the business on a day-to-day basis. In a limited partnership, there must be at least one limited partner and one general partner. The advantage of being a limited partner is

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