Text 4: Forms of businesses in the USA

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1602.

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

■ individual business

■ general partnership

■ limited partnership

■ corporation

■ alien corporation

■ foreign corporations

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

general partnership- товарищество с неограниченной (имущественной) ответственностью

limited partnership – товарищество с ограниченной (имущественной) ответственностью

corporation - корпорация

alien n - иностранец

syn. foreigner

alien adj - иностранный

syn. foreign

liable - ответственный

liable for – ответственный за

stockholder - акционер

syn. shareholder

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.) - власти штата

state authorities (Br.) - государственные власти

to state указывать

powers – полномочия

taxation – налогообложение

to require - требовать

requirement – требование

Exercises

24 Underline the predicates paying attention to the verbs have and have got, read and translate the sentences:

(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.

25 Sum up what the text says about:

individual businesses alien corporations

general partnerships foreign corporations

limited partnerships charters and certificates

corporations the state of Delaware

26 Translate into English using the text:

(1) Владельцы товариществ с неограниченной ответственностью несут ответственность по долгам и участвуют в распределении прибыли.

(2) Владельцы товариществ с ограниченной ответственностью делают ограниченные инвестиции и несут ограниченную от­ветственность.

(3) Акционеры обычных корпораций мало интересуются вопроса­ми управления корпорации.

(4) Акционеры корпораций обычно имеют сертификаты, в которых указано количество принадлежащих им 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.

27 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

28 Make a few sentences with the following words:

partnership stockholders taxation

corporation profits powers

29 Mark the terms associated with business in the States with a tick (v)

sole traders corporation

individual businesses shareholder

company stockholder