Company & Multi Owner Businesses
While an increasing number of professionals choose to start a business with another person in a Partnership, a Company structure suits the needs of many modern small businesses that want the legal protection of a separate legal business entity, owned by the Shareholders and run by the Directors. Not all registered Companies have multiple owners. Some are run by shareholders and a solo director who often do the work of two people and acts as the secretary and shareholder.
Different views of the same structure
- Accountants love to talk about how company structures are useful for those who want to scale, and how a company business structure enables easy additions of new shareholders, investors, and co-owners.
- Financial Advisors focusing on protecting people from risks and personal liabilities, will point to the independent entity as a useful protected liability structure.
Regardless of what you focus on and why, because company structures run on people and capital, they have their own unique risks so directors and owners, along with their families, need to be protected from the business.
The company structure brings different risks that still need to be managed
A company is considered an independent legal entity owned by shareholders and run by company directors, and therefore, individual shareholders are only liable for debts or liabilities that the company incurs up to the amount unpaid on their shares (which is commonly zero).
A note about alternative business trust structures
A Discretionary Trust structure with a trustee company is a very popular business structure because it offers asset protection, flexibility in income splitting, and access to a 50% general Capital Gains Discount.
A Unit Trust is similar to a discretionary trust however the beneficiaries have fixed entitlement to capital and incomes. A Unit Trust has less regulation than a company and is easier to wind up. It also has access to the 50% general Capital Gains Discount. Its ownership portions are specified in numbers of Units, which can be easily transferred. This is often a suitable structure for unrelated parties to go into business together. The downside is stamp duty is payable on the sale/transfer of units in many states. Unit trusts also offer less flexibility in income splitting and asset protection compared to discretionary trusts.
Regardless of the business structure that you are using, you are still exposed to the statistical people-based risks of Life and Business.
Capital and People-based risks overlap
As a business runs on people and capital, whatever affects people and capital becomes a risk for a business.
As business and family life are progressively more intertwined today – from cross-securing business debts with personal assets and guarantees through to mixed usage assets and fixed overhead costs (those keep-the-doors-open-for-business-costs) usually longer term and contractual in nature – people and business risks overlap.
The foundation of running a company is we all face the statistical reality of people-based risks.
- the more business Partners we work with, and Key People we rely upon, the greater the people-based-risks we face.
- the more we use personal assets to cross-secure company debts and Directors' Guarantees, the more intertwined our businesses and families become, and if uninsured, more liable for a domino effect event.
The statistical risks are unavoidable - we all face them equally - we can only better manage them.
How we can help
Don't leave the future and stability of what you have worked so hard for, to chance. Hope for 'only a bright future' is not a business strategy. Company Directors have specific risks to address so they can protect themselves and their families from the business.
Contact us for a confidential chat about your needs.
Related: Business types we work with
- Sole Traders – Tradies, Entrepreneurs, side gigs, and Solo business owners
- Partnerships – Multiple people working together to do something interesting
- Company & Multi Owner Businesses – Australia's most popular small business structure
