Understanding Corporate Structures and Financial Planning for Businesses

The Corporation: Concept and Characteristics

A corporation is a company comprising one or more partners whose capital, with a minimum of €60,101.21, is divided into freely transferable titles called shares. The partners are not personally liable for the company's debts (limited partnership).

Features:

• It is a capitalist society; the identity of the partners is secondary to their capital contribution.
• The share capital must be fully subscribed at the time of incorporation. This means there must be a commitment from partners to cover the entire capital, with 25% paid upfront.

Social Capital = Nominal Number of Shares

Labor Society: Concept and Characteristics

A labor society is a type of corporation or limited liability company in which the majority of the capital is held by workers with full-time and indefinite contracts.

Social capital is divided into shares or interests.

Stocks and shares in the company are divided into two classes:

• Labor: Owned by the workers.
• General: All others.

There can be three types of members:

• Working partners: Own 51% of the capital.
• Non-working partners.
• Employees: Those who provide services to the company in exchange for a wage.

Economic-Financial Plan

1. Investment Plan

Before starting a business, the entrepreneur should estimate how much money to invest to get it up and running. The investment plan includes a list of all the items the company needs to conduct its business, properly valued.

Current Assets

These are the goods and rights owned by the company that are involved in the production process and remain for more than one year. They are classified into the following items:

• Fixed Assets and Intangible Assets: These are intangible assets that are stable in character and have economic value, such as patents and trademarks.
• Tangible Assets: These are tangible assets used for the typical activity of the company, with a lifespan of more than one year, such as premises.
• Investment Property: Real estate held by the company to earn rentals or capital gains, not intended for the company's production process.
• Financial Investments: Includes loans (receivables), purchases of shares, and fixed-income securities (bonds, promissory notes) with a maturity of more than one year.

Current Assets

Resources or assets the company needs in the short term to address the needs of its ordinary business.

We distinguish the following items:

• Inventory: Raw materials, goods, and finished products.
• Receivables: Amounts to be collected from customers or debtors, loans, stocks, and bonds with a short-term maturity (less than one year).
• Cash: Money deposited in savings banks or banks.

2. Financing Plan

The financing plan analyzes and identifies the sources of funding for the company, that is, where the partners have obtained the money to make investments.