Legal Forms of Business

A franchise is a legal agreement between franchisers and franchisees that consents use of the franchise’s trademark and trade name or marketing plan

1. Franchisees gain numerous advantage when they purchase a franchise. First, while a franchisee may be opening a new store, it is part of an already established business and system. This means a franchisee has access to turnkey operations, allowing an increased speed to establishing and growing the business. Franchisees also get support for management and training activities, as well as financial assistance. Going hand in hand with this, a franchise already has an established brand name, quality of goods and service which have been standardized across the franchisor’s larger company, and national advertising programs from franchisors. Franchises also have large-volume, centralized buying power. A franchise has proven products, and

The organizational forms a company might have as it evolves from a start-up to a major corporation are: sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations. The advantages of a sole proprietorship are that is is easily and inexpensively formed; is subject to few government regulations and it’s income is not

In a general partnership there is also the issue of control. Whereas in a sole proprietorship the sole owner has full control in the business, in a general partnership the control is split equally between the partners. This can lead to issues when the partners do not agree on the direction they want to take the company in regards to growth or other

While doing some research I found that a franchise agreement is a binding legal contract that is signed between a franchisor and franchisee. A franchisor is the company owning the rights to grant franchises to franchisees, while a franchisee is a person or entity who is given the right to conduct business by a franchisor or licensor. The most important definition however is that of a franchise which is an authorization granted by the government or company to an individual or group allowing them to carry out certain commercial activities.

1. Describe the basic features that distinguish the four basic forms of business ownership: sole proprietorships, general partnerships, C corporations, and limited liability companies.

The last business option that will be discussed is the Corporation. A Corporation is “a fictitious legal entity that is created according to statutory requirements” (Cheeseman 478). The biggest advantage of a corporation is the protection of personal assets. Shareholders, directors and officers are typically not liable for the company’s debts and obligations. This is limited to the amount of money they have invested into the corporation. Since the corporation is separate from the owners, transfer of ownership is an easy task. Also corporations are generally taxed at a lower rate than individuals in the United States. A corporation is not as simple to form or maintain as other business formations. Articles of incorporation must be filed with the secretary of state and an organizational meeting must be held to elect a board of directors. A corporation also requires, at the least, an annual report so that creditors that do business with the corporation can determine the creditworthiness of the corporation. Also the corporation is taxed on its profits

John, when starting a business one has several options in the type of business structure to use. The different types of business structures are the sole proprietorship structure, the partnership structure, the corporation structure, the S corporation structure, and the limited liability company structure. Each structure has advantages and disadvantages and possible tax consequences.

Proprietorships have three advantages: they are easy and inexpensive to form, subject to few regulations, and no corporate income taxes. The disadvantages are difficult to raise capital, unlimited liability and limited life. Partnership are similar to proprietorships in that they can be stablished relatively easily and inexpensively. The partners are generally subject to unlimited personal liability, this makes it difficult for partnerships to raise large amount of capital. Corporation also have unlimited lives, and easy transfer of ownership, limited liability and ease of raising capital to operate larger businesses. The disadvantages are double taxation, the corporation’s earnings are taxed; and then when its after-tax earnings are paid out as dividends, those earnings are taxed again as personal income to the stockholders. Limited liability reduces the risks endure by investors; and other things held constant, the lower the firm’s risk, the higher its

2. The major advantage of a regular partnership or a corporation as a form of business organization is the fact that both offer their owners limited liability, whereas proprietorships do not. B. False

There are four primary forms of entities available to Penelope, Mark, and John. Notably, they include a limited liability company option, partnership, or a corporation (especially S-Corporation). The sole proprietorship option is not ideal in this case as it is run by an individual. In most cases, it is limited to sole benefits (Schwidetzky & Brown, 2015). However, the three are highly specialized and knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. Besides, the liabilities associated with sole proprietorship are personal. The

A corporation is a standalone entity. There are two types of corporations, general or S Corp. Advantages of corporations consist of limited liability, capital through stock sales, attractive to employees, and receiving corporate

Liability – A corporation is a separate legal entity which means all of the liability is responsible to the corporation. Shareholders are very much so somewhat the same as limited partners they can only lose the amount of what they invested into the corporation.

Corporations are a different type of business. They are more complex to start because more paperwork is involved and the corporation generally has to be registered at the state level. An ordinary corporation is formed through the articles of incorporation. These corporations are legal entities, and therefore bear legal responsibility. The shareholders of the corporation do not bear legal liability. In addition, corporate income is taxed differently it does not flow through to the owner's personal income tax statements. The

Firstly, even though there are different types of partnership such as general, limited and limited liability partnership. This three different type has its advantages and disadvantages however we will be mainly focused on general partnership. One advantage of the general partnership is raising capital due to the nature of the business the partners will raise capital to start-up the business. Therefore more partners mean more capital can be put to the business, this allows the business to have more potential for growth and profitability. Another advantage is that a partnership is less complicated to form and run than a company they don’t have legal filing requirements, this means they don’t have to file accounts and documents with Companies House.