Hi
I'm not sure if EE is the right place to ask, but here we go:
we will be starting a company, in Florida, and there are 4 of us. We will all be owners, shareholders. We were told we need to appoint president, treasurer and secretary. But I have no idea what any of these roles include. The internet is full of suggestion of what they are supposed to do, but I'm more interested in legal responsibilities, who can/need to sign which papers and who can't do that. Who can and who can't sign bank papers, who can and who can't sign other company's legal papers...
OR all these roles can do everything, in terms of banks, lawyers, registrations (if any is needed), documentations, legal papers...
I don't know how to decide which one of us to appoint to which role. We do have different percentages of the company, 40,30,20,10, but we will all work and have our own duties regarding the project. We will not have any other employees.
Please, if someone can describe the most important differences between these roles.
Thank you
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Thank you for this explanation.
So, if we have:
CEO and President
CFO and Treasurer
Vice President and Secretary
CTO
Are there any limitation between us, who can open bank accounts, sign documents... can we all do this, in terms of: is it legal that CTO signs a documents, because he is the only available at that moment, or not?
Even though share percentages are not equal, we are all equal in terms of work and obligations.
You can write these rules up in the By-Laws of the organization stating that all of of you can sign on behalf of the company. So long as it is agreed to by the shareholders, then you are fine. This is where the help from a company to do your incorporation would come in handy. They have the expereince to help with the legal wording for some of these items. If you dont use help, at least write down the agreement and have everyone sign and get it notarized. That way, if it ever is questioned, you have documentation. Most people will not question an officer of a company sigining on behalf of the company, so it should not be an issue. As far as the bank, just get everyone on the signature card and you are fine there as well.
Cheers,
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: solutiontigerPosted on 2009-06-17 at 13:02:33ID: 24651976
Wow, a lot of questions in that paragraph. Let me see which ones I cna cover for you.
A. Incorporating with shares and so forth is pretty easy and can be done online through several services or you can even find out what the requirments are in your state and follow that process. I have done both and found that the nominal fees charged by groups like The Company Corporation are worth the effort. The positions that you mention are considered Officers of the Corporation and members of the board of directors.
B. On to the roles: President, generally considered the senior partner of a company and the person that can sign for and on behalf of the comapny for all transactions. in your case, the no brainer would be the largest shareholder. Bear in mind with all of you being shareholders in the numbers you presented, technically, the 3 remaining ones have sufficient shares to overrule any decision of the President. Another approach would be to assign this role to the baest "face" person. The member of your team that finds it easiest to negotiate, gain sales, agreement etc. Like it or not, the President is considered to be the face of the company.
C. On to the other roles: Treasurer should have primary responsibility for the funds of the company. In a situation like yours, I would recommend that it is the person with the strongest financial or business background.
D. Secretary is responsiblefor the detailed minutes of all board meetings, stock meetings, etc. A good level of attention to detail would be the key characteristic yuou want in this role.
E. And what about your forth partner...there are many different executive titels that can be added, many starting with Chief. If your project is a technical one, then I would recommend Chief Technical Officer or Chief Information Officer. If it is a creative endeavor, such as gaming, the Chief Creative Officer would be better.
For all the roles that have an Officer title, you could do C-Level title for their company role as well...CEO and President, CFO and Treasurer; Vice Presidient and Secretary; etc.