You made the decision to incorporate.  After reviewing your options and crystallizing your vision for the future, it was the best foundation on which to build your business.  While maintaining a corporate minute book might seem to be the least of your worries, an unnecessary formality, your company's future and your personal financial future may depend on it.

 

As you move forward with your business, you will continue to make decisions on how best to handle the various matters that arise.  You may change your mind, fine tune management, allocate resources, categorize purchases, hire employees, designate officers, issue shares, enter into financing arrangements.  Capturing these decisions as they happen is the most efficient route.  Shareholders, accountants and auditors will be reviewing "your books"; reports will be generated; and officers will sign off on the accuracy of the information contained therein.

 

A minute book is used to store all important corporate documents: Certificate and Articles of Incorporation, Certificates and Articles of Amendment, records of shareholder and director decisions and meetings, share certificates, by-laws, financial reports, tax filings and other legal documents.  For ease of management, efficiency and security, it is important to keep such documents in one place so that they can be consulted as the need arises.

 

It is essential that a history of the important decisions made by your Corporation be kept and made available to demonstrate that your business is acting like a corporation.  You could lose the rights being incorporated provides to the company and its owners.  To be treated as a corporation for liability and tax reasons (the main reasons for incorporating), the law requires that it act like a corporation; observing certain formalities.  Failing to "act like a corporation" may lead a court to "pierce the corporate veil" and hold individuals liable for corporate business.  Revenue agencies have been known to deny corporate tax benefits to companies that failed to act like corporations.

 

DIFerEnterprises can introduce you to painless, cost-effective processes to keep your minute book in top-notch up-to-date shape.  Email or call today!