Self-Paced Online Course

Business Organizations

How companies are built and governed — limited liability, the forms of business entity, and the balance of power between shareholders, directors, and officers.

  • Self-Paced
  • 22 Study Hours
  • 16 Sections
  • Certificate of Completion
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Course Introduction

About This Course

Liability, structure, and the balance of power

Limiting liability is something every founder and investor has to weigh, and so is the balance of power between a company's shareholders, directors, and officers. This course examines both — starting from the legal principles of agency and working through every major form of business entity, with the sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, and corporation compared and contrasted.

From there you go deep on U.S. corporations: the principle of limited liability, the mechanics of formation, the issuance of shares, and the appointment and powers of officers and directors. Later sections take on the harder questions — fiduciary duties and conflicts of interest, piercing the corporate veil, derivative lawsuits, and corporate fraud.

A certificate of completion is awarded when you successfully complete the course.

Learning Objectives & Outcomes

What you'll be able to do

  • ✓Select the most appropriate form of business organization for a new startup venture — deciding whether a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation is most suitable for a particular type of business.
  • ✓Compare and contrast the main entity types across the factors that matter most to founders: liability exposure, taxation, ownership flexibility, and governance.
  • ✓Explain the legal principles of agency, and how the relationship between a business, its agents, and third parties creates binding rights and obligations.
  • ✓Apply the principle of limited liability, and explain how it shields founders and investors from the debts and obligations of the business.
  • ✓Form a corporation or LLC, carrying out the steps and filings required to bring the entity into legal existence.
  • ✓Organize a corporation, assigning powers and duties among its directors, officers, and shareholders.
  • ✓Describe how corporate shares work — including classes of stock, share issuance, and the rights that attach to ownership.
  • ✓Distinguish the roles, powers, appointment, and removal of corporate officers and directors.
  • ✓Explain the rights and powers of shareholders, and analyze how control of a corporation is divided between the shareholders, the board, and management.
  • ✓Evaluate when an S-corporation or other corporate variation is advantageous, and recognize its eligibility requirements and limitations.
  • ✓Identify the fiduciary duties owed by directors and officers, and recognize the conflicts of interest that can breach them.
  • ✓Recognize the circumstances under which a court may "pierce the corporate veil" and hold owners personally liable — and how to avoid them.
  • ✓Understand the purpose of derivative lawsuits and the nature of corporate fraud, including the legal consequences for a company and its principals.

Course Sections

Sixteen sections, in sequence

  1. 01Introduction
  2. 02Sole Proprietor
  3. 03Agency
  4. 04Partnerships
  5. 05Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)
  6. 06Corporations — Introduction to U.S. Corporations
  7. 07Corporations — Formation
  8. 08Corporations — Shares
  9. 09Corporations — Officers
  10. 10Corporations — Shareholders
  11. 11Corporations — Directors
  12. 12S-Corporations & Other Variations
  13. 13Corporations — Duties & Conflicts
  14. 14Corporations — Piercing the Corporate Veil
  15. 15Derivative Lawsuits
  16. 16Corporate Fraud

Goes Well With

Round out your business-law toolkit

Business Organizations sets the foundation for how a company is built and governed. These SVBS courses extend that foundation across the deals, disclosures, and crises a company is likely to face:

Ready When You Are

Start the Business Organizations course today

Self-paced, 22 study hours, included with your SVBS subscription alongside the full course library and Prof, your AI course tutor — and you earn a certificate of completion when you finish.

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