Organizing a Company: 25 Keys to Choosing a Business Structure

Learn the 25 keys to sole proprietorship, partnership, subchapter S and family ownership:

Key 1. How to begin: choice of business organization.
Key 2. Getting started.
Key 3. Personal liability exposure for sole proprietors.
Key 4. Personal liability exposure for partners
Key 5. Personal liability exposure in a limited partnership, a limited liability partnership, or a family limited liability partnership.
Key 6. Personal liability exposure for owners of a corporation.
Key 7. Personal liability exposure for owners of a limited liability company.
Key 8. Tax aspects of doing business as a sole proprietor.
Key 9. A partnership can be a great tax shelter.
Key 10. How corporations are taxed.
Key 11. Tax consequence as a limited liability company.
Key 12. Access to information and management participation in sole proprietorship and partnership.
Key 13. Ability to participate in management and access information as a corporate shareholder.
Key 14. Corporate merger and acquisitions.
Key 15. Federal securities laws and their effect on business creation and operation.
Key 16. State regulation of securities.
Key 17. Getting funds to begin and run the business.
Key 18. Doing business in another state.
Key 19. Sharing profits.
Key 20. How a joint venture works.
Key 21. The desirability of a buy-sell agreement.
Key 22. Transferability of business interests.
Key 23. Letting go.
Key 24. The real estate investment trust: high returns, low risk.
Key 25. Which form of business organization should I use?

Organizing A Company is part of The New York Times Pocket MBA Series, a reference series easily accessible to all businesspersons, from first-level managers to the executive suite. The 12-volume series is written by Ph.D.s who teach in the finest graduate business programs in the country, and edited by business editors from The New York Times. The structure of each volume presents an unparalleled synopsis of crucial principles of specific areas of business expertise.

S. Jay Sklar, J.D., is a Professor at the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate classes dealing with the legal environment of business, entrepreneurship, uniform commercial codes and the Constitution.

Joseph N. Bongiovanni, J.D., has taught graduate courses on commercial law and real estate for over 25 years at Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management. He is the principal editor of the 15-volume Guide to Pennsylvania Transactions.