A Company (also called corporation) may be understood as an association of persons in which money is contributed by them, to carry on some business or undertaking. Persons who contribute the money are called the shareholders or the members of the company. A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law. Being the mere creature of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it.
A Company (also called corporation) may be understood as an association of persons in which money is contributed by them, to carry on some business or undertaking. Persons who contribute the money are called the shareholders or the members of the company. A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law. Being the mere creature of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it, either expressly or an incidental to its very existence. It is an association of many persons, who contribute money or money's worth to a common stock and employ it for a common purpose. The common stock so contributed is denoted in money and is the capital of the company. The persons who contribute it or to whom it belongs are members. The proportion of capital to which each member is entitled is his share.
To summarize shareholders are the real owners of the company, Their liability is limited. They can also transfer their shares to others. Since the shareholders are very large in number, the company cannot be managed by all. They elect a board of directors to manage the company. The destiny of the company is guided and directed by the directors. These directors employ some people to carry on the day-to-day business of the company.
Statutory Company: A company established by a special Act of the Parliament or State Legislature is called 'Statutory Company'. Such companies are established in special cases when it is necessary to regulate the working of the company for some specific purposes. Examples of such corporations are Central Banks etc.
Chartered Company: A company which is incorporated under a special Royal Charter granted by the Monarch is called a 'Chartered Company'. It is regulated by the provisions of that charter. Examples are: British East India Company, Bank of England, Hudson's Bay Company, etc.
Unlimited Company: A company in which the liability of the members is unlimited, is called 'Unlimited Company'. At the time of winding up of the company shareholders have to pay, if necessary, from their personal assets to clear the company's debts. Such companies are very rare.
Companies Limited by Guarantee: In the case of some companies, members give guarantee for the debts of the company up to a certain limit in addition to the amount of shares held by them. The additional amount guaranteed by the members is, generally, laid down in the Memorandum of Association. Such companies are not formed for the purpose of profit. They are formed to promote art, culture, religion. trade, sports, etc. Clubs, Charitable organizations, trade association, etc. come under this category.
Companies Limited by Shares: In this case the liability of the members is limited to the amount of the shares held by them. A shareholder can be called upon to pay only the unpaid amount of shares held by him and nothing more. Most of the companies come under this category.
Private Limited Company: A private limited company means a company which by its article restricts the right to transfer its shares; limits the number of its members; and prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company.
Public Limited Company: A public limited company is one which is not a private limited company. The right of the shareholder to transfer his shares is not restricted and it can invite public to subscribe for its shares and debentures.
Government Company: A company in which not less than 5 1 per cent of the paid up share capital is held by the Central Government, or by any State Government or jointly by Central and/or State Governments.
National Company: When the operations of a company are confined within the boundaries of the country in which it is registered, such a company is called a national company.
Multinational Company: When the operations of a company are extended beyond the boundaries of the country in which it is registered, such a company is called a multinational company. It is also called 'transnational company'.
Foreign Company: Foreign Company refers to a company that operates in the foreign country outside the country of its registration.
Holding and Subsidiary Company: A subsidiary is a company that is completely or partly owned by another company known as holding company.
Shared Services is the centralization of service offering at one part of an organization or group sharing funding and resourcing. The providing department effectively becomes an internal service provider. The key is the idea of 'sharing' within an organization or group.
Prepayments and Prepaid Expenses
Prepayments are the payment of a bill, operating expense, or non-operating expense that settle an account before it becomes due. Learn the concept of prepaid expenses. Understand the accounting treatment for prepaid expenses. Understand the concept by looking at some practical examples and finally learn the adjusting entry for these expenses.
For any company that has a large number of transactions, putting all the details in the general ledger is not feasible. Hence it needs to be supported by one or more subsidiary ledgers that provide details for accounts in the general ledger. Understand the concept of the subsidiary ledgers and control accounts.
Defining Organizational Hierarchies
A hierarchy is an ordered series of related objects. You can relate hierarchy with “pyramid” - where each step of the pyramid is subordinate to the one above it. One can use drill up or down to perform multi-dimensional analysis with a hierarchy. Multi-dimensional analysis uses dimension objects organized in a meaningful order and allows users to observe data from various viewpoints.
Legal Structures in Businesses
Businesses not only vary in size and industry but also in their ownership. Most businesses evolve from being owned by just one person to a small group of people and eventually being managed by a large numbers of shareholders. Different ownership structures overlap with different legal forms that a business can take. A business’s legal and ownership structure determines many of its legal responsibilities.
In this article we will help you understand the double-entry accounting system and state the accounting equation and define each element of the equation. Then we will describe and illustrate how business transactions can be recorded in terms of the resulting change in the elements of the accounting equation.
Five Core General Ledger Accounts
Typically, the accounts of the general ledger are sorted into five categories within a chart of accounts. Double-entry accounting uses five and only five account types to record all the transactions that can possibly be recorded in any accounting system. These five accounts are the basis for any accounting system, whether it is a manual or an automated accounting system. These five categories are assets, liabilities, owner's equity, revenue, and expenses.
Period End Accruals, Receipt Accruals, Paid Time-Off Accruals, AP Accruals, Revenue Based Cost Accruals, Perpetual Accruals, Inventory Accruals, Accruals Write Off, PO Receipt Accrual, Cost Accrual, etc. are some of the most complex and generally misconstrued terms in the context of general ledger accounting. In this article, we will explore what is the concept of accrual and how it impacts general ledger accounting.
The purpose of the general ledger is to sort transaction information into meaningful categories and charts of accounts. The general ledger sorts information from the general journal and converts them into account balances and this process converts data into information, necessary to prepare financial statements. This article explains what a general ledger is and some of its major functionalities.
There are two commonly used methods of accounting - Cash Basis and the Accruals Basis. Understand the difference between accruals and reversals. Recap the earlier discussion we had on accruals and reversals and see the comparison between these two different but related accounting concepts. Understand how the action of accruing results in reversals subsequently in the accounting cycle.
© 2023 TechnoFunc, All Rights Reserved