Forms of businesses in the usa

Businesses in the USA may be organized as one of the following forms:

• individual business

• general partnership

• limited partnership

• corporation

• alien corporation

An individual business is owned by one person.

A general partnership has got several owners. They all are liable for debts and they share in the profits.

A limited partnership has got at least one gen­eral owner and one or more other owners. They have only a limited investment and a limited li­ability.

A corporation is owned by persons, called stockholders. The stockholders usually have cer­tificates showing the number of shares which they own. The stockholders elect a director or directors to operate the corporation. Most corporations are closed corporations, with only a few stockholders. Other corporations are owned by many stockhold­ers who buy and sell their shares at will. Usually they have little interest in management of the cor­porations.

Alien corporations are corporations of foreign countries.

All the corporations are to receive their charters from the state authorities. The charters state all the powers of the corporation. Many corporations try to receive their charters from the

authorities of the State of Delaware, though they operate in other states. They prefer the State of Delaware because the laws are liberal there and the taxation is rather low. Such corporations, which receive their char­ters from an outside state are called foreign corpo­rations.

All the corporations require a certificate to do business in the state where they prefer to operate.

Vocabulary

* corporation		корпорация
alien		1) иностранец 2) иностранный
liable		ответственный
liable for		ответственный за
* debt		lолг, требование
to share		делить, разделять
* profit		прибыль, доход
* to profit		получать прибыль
* stockholder syn. shareholder		акционер
to elect		избирать, выбирать
election		выборы
* to buy (bought, bought)		покупать
* to sell (sold, sold)		продавать
at will		по желанию
authorities		власти
state authorities (Am.) state authorities (E)		власти штата государственные власти
to state		указывать
power		способность, возмож­ность
powers		полномочия
to prefer		предпочитать
* taxation		налогообложение
to require		требовать
requirement		требование

Exercises

Задание 1. Find the English equivalents in the text:

1. Владельцы генеральных товариществ несут ответственность по долгам и участвуют в распределении прибыли.

2. Владельцы ограниченных товариществ делают ограниченные инвестиции и несут ограниченную ответственность.

3. Акционеры обычных корпораций мало интересуются вопроса­ми управления корпорации.

4. Акционеры различных корпораций обычно имеют сертифика­ты, в которых указано количество имеющихся у них акций.

5. Большинство корпораций - корпорации закрытого типа с не­большим числом акционеров.

6. Корпорации должны получить регистрационные документы от властей штата.

7. Корпорации должны получить сертификат (лицензию) в том штате, где они хотят функционировать.

Задание 2. Underline the predicates in the following sentences paying attention to the verbs have/have got:

1. An individual business has usually got one owner.

2. A general partnership has commonly got a few owners.

3. A limited partnership has got at least one general owner and one or more other owners.

4. They have only a limited individual liability.

5. The stockholders usually have special certificates.

6. The certificate shows how many shares the stockholder has got.

7. If there are many stockholders owning a corporation they have little interest in management of the corporation.

Задание 3. Sum up what the text says about:

individual businesses general partnerships limited partnerships corporations

alien corporations foreign corporations charters and certificates

Задание 4. Translate into Russian:

limited partnership ________________________________________________________

to have a limited investment __________________________________________________

to have a limited liability ____________________________________________________

certificates showing the number of shares they own _______________________________

stockholders of ordinary corporations buy and sell shares at will ______________________

stockholders of ordinary corporations have little interest in man­agement of corporations _________________________________________________________________________

alien corporations are corporations of foreign countries _____________________________

Задание 5. Make a few sentences with the following words:

partnership, corporation, stockholders, profits

Задание 6. Mark the terms associated with business in the States, with a tick:

sole traders corporation

individual businesses shareholder

company stockholder