Organizational and legal the form:

1) Individual entrepreneur. Founders: Citizen of the Russian Federation. Sources formation of the authorized capital: Private property or property acquired from state or municipal enterprises. Responsibility for obligations: All property belonging to him, with the exception of property, on which, in connection with civil procedural legislation, execution cannot be levied. Constituent documents: State registration as individual entrepreneur without forming a legal entity (IPBOYuL).

2) Full partnership. Founders: Individual entrepreneurs and (or) commercial organizations. Sources formation of the authorized capital: Contributions of participants (general partners*). Responsibility for obligations: Bear subsidiary liability** for all property belonging to the participants. Constituent Documents: Memorandum of Association***.

3) Faith partnership (limited) (from French commandite - partnership in faith). Founders: General partners - individual entrepreneurs and (or) commercial organizations and one or more contributors (commanders) - civil and legal entities not taking part in entrepreneurial activity. Sources formation of authorized capital: Contributions of participants. Responsibility for obligations: General partners are liable with all their property, limited partners - within the limits of the contribution. Constituent Documents: Memorandum of Association.

4) Society with limited liability ( OOO). Founders Sources Responsibility on obligations: All participants - within the limits of their contributions. Not responding to

society's obligations with their own property. Constituent Documents: Memorandum and articles of association****.

5) Society with additional responsibility ODO). Founders: One or more founders: citizens and legal entities. Sources formation of authorized capital: Contributions of participants. The authorized capital is divided into shares determined by the founding documents. Responsibility for obligations: Subsidiary liability of participants with all their property in the same amount for all, a multiple of the value of their contributions. Constituent Documents: Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association.

6)Joint-stock company (JSC). Founders: private owners shareholders: citizens and legal entities.

Sources formation of authorized capital: The authorized capital is divided into a certain number of shares. Through the sale of shares in the form of an open subscription [(open joint-stock company(AOO)]. By distributing shares only among distributors or other predetermined circle of persons [(closed joint-stock company (CJSC)]. Responsibility on obligations: All owners of shares - within the limits of their contribution (block of shares). Constituent Documents: Charter.

7) Production cooperative (artel). Founders: Voluntary association of citizens and (or) legal entities on the basis of membership (at least 5 people). Sources formation of authorized capital: Contributions of participants: property share contributions, personal labor participation. Responsibility for obligations: Subsidiary liability with all property belonging to the cooperative on the basis of ownership in the amount and in the manner prescribed by the law on production cooperatives. Constituent Documents: Charter.

8) State and municipal unitary enterprise. Founders: Bodies of state administration or local governments. Sources formation of authorized capital: Contributions of other unitary enterprises. Responsibility for obligations: He is not responsible for the obligations of the owner of the property. Responsible for its obligations. Constituent Documents: Charter approved by the owner of the property.

* Full comrades- participants in the partnership who manage it by common agreement and are unlimitedly liable with their own property for the obligations of the enterprise.

** Subsidiary(from lat. subsidiarius - reserve, auxiliary) responsibility- additional liability of the person for the obligations of the principal debtor.

*** Memorandum of association- an agreement of two or more parties, fixing the legal status of the formation being created, establishing the procedure for distributing income, the obligations of the parties.

**** Charter- a set of rules and regulations, including sections such as general provisions, goals and subject of activity, characterizing the material and technical base and means of the enterprise, management and control bodies, describing the production, financial and economic activities of the enterprise, providing for the conditions for the reorganization and termination of the activities of the organization being created.

Organizational legal forms entrepreneurial activity(OPF) are the forms in which a particular person (person or organization) can conduct business. Russian legislation provides for many types of OPF. What do they have in common, what is the difference and how to classify different OPFs? We will talk about all this in detail in our article.

What is a form of entrepreneurial activity?

Entrepreneurship, or commercial activity, is a special type of occupation that in Russia is carried out by citizens or their associations, who at the same time act on their own initiative, at their own peril and risk, aiming to maximize profit. AT modern Russia Entrepreneurship is expressly permitted by law, but must proceed in accordance with one of the organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity. OPF is understood as the status that a particular person has, the totality of his rights, opportunities and obligations provided for by law.

It should be noted that organizational and legal signs apply not only to commercial entities: in the Russian Federation, organizations can also be registered that are not aimed at making a profit, but created to solve other social or political problems. An example would be parties, churches and other religious organizations, public funds, etc. The key feature for them is that although the law does not prohibit them from having income from their activities, extracting it should not be the main occupation for these organizations.

Classification of forms of entrepreneurial activity

OPF classification in Russia can be carried out according to various criteria. The roughest division will be on those who:

• has the status of a legal entity (LLC, JSC, MUP, etc.);
• and does not have such a status (IP, branches, representative offices, etc.).

If, however, we take as a basis the definition of whether the persons who create the organization are its members (it is this classification that is now the main one according to the Civil Code), then we get 2 other groups:

1. corporate organizations. Most of the OPFs fall into this category.
2. unitary organizations. These are various municipal unitary enterprises and other enterprises created by local authorities or the state. The key factor here is that these organizations, although created in order to make a profit, do not themselves own the property that is transferred to them for their activities. All this property cannot be divided into shares or shares and transferred to anyone (even to the employees of the enterprise themselves).

Organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity - is it possible to separate them?

AT regulations and theoretical literature, the term "organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity" is often used. Is it possible to draw a line between the form of organizational and legal?

There are no clear boundaries in modern legislation. The form in which the organization is registered and then conducts its activities is determined by the current rules of law. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation explicitly states that organizations are registered in those OPFs that are provided for by the code. Thus, the law does not provide for the possibility of creating and registering an enterprise that will have another OPF.

However, the framework of the legislation is quite flexible, so there are quite a lot of ways to engage in entrepreneurial activity. In this regard, the norms of the law only establish boundaries that cannot be transgressed.

Forms of business organization in Russia

Russian legislation regulates in detail only the OPF of individual organizations, however, entrepreneurial activity can also be organized by combining several business entities into various structures.

To separately actors relate:

• individual entrepreneurs;
• legal entities.

Such associations of persons act together, such as:

• cartel (association of independent organizations that produce products of a single type, in order to gain control over the market for the goods being sold);
• trust (association of companies operating in the same or different industries, with the loss of their independence), etc.

Changes in the forms of doing business

Civil law is constantly evolving, including in relation to the definition of commercial OPF. In particular, the following changes took place in 2014:

1. The concept of ALC (additional liability company) has disappeared. Now, new organizations cannot be registered in this form, and those ALCs that still exist are subject to the same rules as for LLCs.
2. Production cooperatives are no longer considered as separate groups of commercial legal entities, standing on a par with business companies - now they are just a type of corporate organization of a commercial orientation. The corresponding paragraph of the Code has been terminated, and the previous one has been supplemented with a new subparagraph, consisting of 6 articles.
3. Subsidiaries are also no longer treated as a separate OPF. Now, separately in the section describing the general rules that apply to commercial organizations, the signs are indicated by which a particular company can be recognized as an affiliate or subsidiary.
4. A division of companies into public and non-public has been introduced. With regard to joint-stock companies, this means that closed joint-stock companies and open joint-stock companies have become a thing of the past. Now a society that wants to have the status of a public company must directly indicate this in its name.
5. The norms describing the status of participants in partnerships and companies have been significantly changed.
6. The number of limited partners in a limited partnership is limited. Now there can be no more than 20.
7. Unitary enterprises are no longer specifically divided into those based on the right of economic management of property, and those that conduct operational management. Now they have a common status.
8. The founders and participants of organizations are given the opportunity to conclude internal agreements and adopt other documents regulating the management procedure. Previously, such documents dealt only with a number of specific issues, but now there are almost no restrictions and any agreements can be concluded - as long as they do not contradict the law and the company's charter documents.

The changes didn't end there. The list of organizational and legal forms is constantly updated. For example, in 2017, notarial chambers were added to corporate organizations, and the list of unitary legal entities was expanded by adding state corporations to them.

Current organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity in the Russian Federation

As of 2017-2018, commercial activities in Russia are allowed in the following forms:

1. Individual entrepreneurship. A citizen has the right to go through the registration procedure with the tax service and receive the status of an individual entrepreneur. From the moment an entry about this is made in the USRIP, all those rules that regulate the activity of a citizen are applied to the commercial activities of a citizen. commercial organizations. The exceptions are cases where either the law says otherwise, or the legal relations themselves are such that the rules on organizations cannot be applied to them.
2. Full partnership. By this is meant organized activity 2 or more persons who join together and conduct commercial activities not on their own behalf, but on behalf of the partnership. At the same time, they are liable for the debts of the organization not only with the property that was transferred to it, but with everything that they have. Moreover, if a partnership enters new member, he assumes the risk of liability for all obligations - up to those that arose before his entry. When exiting, the risk is assumed for obligations that arose before the exit, which remains for 2 years. Due to the fact that this OPF provides for a deep connection between partners in their common activities, each person is entitled to participate in only one general partnership.
3. Faith partnership. In principle, this OPF can be considered a kind of partnership described above, but there is one slight difference: in addition to general partners who act on behalf of the organization and risk all property, there are also limited partners. Their liability does not exceed the limits of the value of the property (or money) that they contributed to the capital of the organization. In addition, limited partners cannot participate in the activities carried out by the partnership unless they have a special power of attorney. However, there is one point: if the name of the limited partner is suddenly included in the name of the partnership, he becomes a full partner. Otherwise, the organization and status of a limited partnership and a general partnership are practically the same.
4. Production cooperatives, they are artels. It provides for both the pooling of property contributions and the personal labor participation of members. At the same time, the liability of cooperative members for obligations to third parties is limited only by the size of their shares. characteristic feature this OPF is that when voting on general meeting the size of the share invested in the organization does not matter, because the rule "1 participant - 1 vote" applies.
5. KFH. They have a rather curious status, which should be emphasized.

Peasant farms

Previously, all kinds of farms formed by peasants (farmers) did not have the status of a legal entity - in fact, they had a status similar to individual entrepreneurs, only the heads of farms acted as entrepreneurs. This rather strange provision was corrected in 2012, when a corresponding subparagraph was introduced into the Civil Code. Home feature of KFH is that they are created primarily for commercial activities in the agricultural industry.

As a result, now this term actually combines 3 separate OPFs:

1. KFH, originally created under the old law as legal entities. They may be valid until 2021.
2. KFH, created on the basis of the current eponymous federal law. They are not legal entities, representing only a contractual association of citizens-members around the head, who has the status of an individual entrepreneur. Now this should be the main option for the existence of such farms.
3. KFH - legal entities. As already mentioned, innovations in civil law make it possible to register a peasant farm already as an organization. True, for this it is necessary that they previously act in the form provided for by the law on peasant farms.

Curiously, a citizen can participate in several contractual peasant farms, but only one of them can be created as a legal entity. In this sense, the farms of farmers are close to partnerships.

Business companies

The list of OPF continues such a form as business companies. At their core, these are commercial organizations whose authorized capital is initially divided into shares or shares. In contrast to the cooperatives discussed above, in business companies, when voting, it is taken into account how many percent of the authorized capital or how many shares (if they have the same nominal value) belong to the voter.

Business companies are divided into 2 types:

1. OOO. This is the most common of the organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity. In this company, the authorized capital is divided into shares belonging to the participants. Participants bear responsibility for the debts of the company only within the limits of the share of the authorized capital that belongs to each of them.
2. AO. In this company, the authorized capital is divided into securities - shares. The shareholder does not withdraw from the JSC, but only sells his shares to another shareholder or, if allowed, to another person. However, at the same time, he no longer has the right to demand the allocation of part of the property in kind or the return of the amount paid for the shares (except in cases where the law provides for the redemption of shares by the company).

In turn, joint-stock companies, according to the current law, are divided into the following types:

1. Public (previously called OJSC). It allows free circulation of shares and the possibility of their sale to any person who wants to purchase them.
2. Non-public. Here, the circulation of any securities takes place only within the circle of shareholders or other persons specified in the law or the constituent documents of the JSC.

It should be noted that the sign of publicity, according to the current civil legislation, applies to all business companies. However, it does not make practical sense to apply it to an LLC: an LLC is directly called non-public by law, but public organizations of this legal form simply do not exist.

Unitary enterprises

The list of existing OPFs is completed by such a variant of them as unitary enterprises. Here are their characteristic features:

1. The property of the UE is not divided into shares, shares or shares, even between its employees. It is a single complex provided for maintaining economic activity.
2. The UE is not the owner of the property that is assigned to it. The property belongs to the founder, the UE itself only uses it.
3. UEs are created either by the state or by local municipalities, which act as owners of the property.
4. The management of the UE is not elected, but appointed by a state or municipal body.
5. The owner is not liable for the debts of the UE. An exception is the so-called state-owned enterprises, in relation to which a situation is allowed when, if the UE has a shortage of property, the outstanding part of the debt is reimbursed in a subsidiary manner from the budget of the municipality, the subject of the Federation or the Russian Federation as a whole.

Table of organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurial activity

As you can see, now there are many different OPFs in which commercial entities can operate. In order to understand all this diversity, it is more convenient to use the table. If you do not want to deal with the classification yourself and want to refer to already compiled tables, you need to pay attention to the following:

1. The date of compilation of the table should be no later than February 2017 - it was then that the latest changes in civil law came into effect.
2. The table should reflect not only the names of various OPFs, but also their features (at least briefly). Without this, it is almost impossible to understand how, for example, 2 types of partnerships differ - full and faith.
3. The best option is if the table contains not only the name of the OPF, but also indicates who can be their participant, and also determines the degree of responsibility of the participants. Other information may be added as needed.

In the meantime, we offer a short version of the table:

	Forms of entrepreneurial activity
	Individual entrepreneur
	Entity
		Commercial	Corporate	Business partnerships
				Business companies
					JSC (PJSC or non-public JSC)
				Business partnerships
				Production cooperatives
			unitary	unitary enterprise
					State enterprise
		non-commercial	Corporate	Public organizations
				Consumer cooperatives
				social movements
				Associations of owners of real estate (housing)
				Associations (unions)
				Chambers of notaries
				Cossack societies
				Communities of Indigenous Peoples
				Chambers of Lawyers
				Lawyer formations	Law office
					Law Office
					Legal consultation
			unitary
				Institutions
				Autonomous non-profit organizations
				Religious organizations
				State corporations
				Public law companies

Don't know your rights?

Each entrepreneur, starting his activity, first of all faces questions concerning the choice of the legal form of his business.

There are three main organizational forms of entrepreneurship:

Sole proprietorship - is the property of one person or family, bearing all the risk from the business, unlimited liability and receiving all the income from this activity. Entrepreneurship in the form of sole proprietorship can be carried out in two forms, having different legal statuses: individual entrepreneur ( individual), unitary enterprise (legal entity).

A partnership (partnership) is an association of two or more persons entitled to engage in entrepreneurial activity. There are three main types of partnerships:

• 1) Simple - carried out by persons who undertake to act jointly without creating a legal entity in order to achieve a specific goal that does not contradict the law.
• 2) Complete - participants (full partners) in accordance with the conclusion between them founding agreement engage in entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and bear joint and several subsidiary liability for its obligations with their property.
• 3) Limited - two categories of members: general partners and limited partners. General partners carry out entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for the obligations of the partnership with all their property. Limited contributors are responsible only for their contribution to the development of something (business or project).

Society (corporation) - the association of capital and property for joint management of the economy for profit or other purposes. According to the type of responsibility, there are types of companies that can be created to carry out business:

• - Limited Liability Company (LLC) - a corporation established by two or more persons and having an authorized fund (capital) divided into shares. The size of the shares is determined by the statutory documents.
• - Additional Liability Company (ALC) - a company established by one or more persons, the authorized capital of which is divided into shares determined by founding documents sizes. Participants bear subsidiary liability for its obligations with their property in the same multiple for all to the value of their contributions, determined by the constituent documents of the company.
• - Joint stock company (closed - CJSC, open - JSC) - the authorized capital is divided into shares of equal nominal value. A JSC is closed if the circulation of its shares on the market is prohibited or restricted by the charter. Shares of an open JSC are freely bought and sold by their owners on the securities market without any restrictions.

In turn, all types of entrepreneurial activity can be classified according to the following criteria:

• 1) by the form of capital formation (small business based on personal ownership of the means of production or lease; joint venture based on equity capital; corporate entrepreneurship based on equity capital);
• 2) by means of capital investment (manufacturing business, commercial business, financial business, engineering, consulting business, investment business).

Entrepreneurship is very diverse.

Depending on the field of activity, the following types of entrepreneurship are distinguished:

a) Production - production of products, goods, works is carried out, services are provided. Industrial entrepreneurship includes innovative, scientific and technical activities, direct production of goods and services, their industrial consumption, as well as information activity in these areas. result production activities entrepreneurs are the sale of products or works, services to the buyer, consumer and the proceeds of a certain amount of money.

b) Commercial - characterized by operations and transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services. Here you can get a faster return. This area, which was largely limited earlier, thanks to the efforts of energetic, enterprising people, began to develop rapidly, mainly as a private, individual entrepreneurship. The field of activity of commercial entrepreneurship is commodity exchanges and trade organizations.

c) Financial circulation, exchange of values. Financial activities penetrates both production and commercial, but it can also be independent: banking, insurance, etc. The main field of activity of financial entrepreneurship is Insurance companies, commercial banks and stock exchanges.

d) Advisory - the activity is carried out by highly qualified specialists who solve the problem of the enterprise development strategy. Beginning entrepreneurs can be assisted in starting their own business, and subsequently - in advising on various aspects of the activity. In foreign practice, commercial consulting on management issues is called consulting.

The main types of organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurship

1.2.1 Limited Liability Company (LLC)

1.2.3 Joint stock company

1.2.3.2 Open Joint Stock Company (JSC)

1.3 Production cooperative (artel)

1.5 Individual entrepreneur (IP)

Entrepreneurship is a certain activity, a type of activity. Activity, in turn, is a kind of human activity. Activity is a form of human existence as a free person.

Entrepreneurial activity is, first of all, the intellectual activity of an energetic and enterprising person who, owning any material values uses them to run a business. Deriving benefit for himself, the entrepreneur acts for the benefit of society. The transition of the Russian economy to market relations is inevitably associated with the establishment and development of entrepreneurship. Success in entrepreneurial activity is achieved by knowledge, practice, the necessary material resources and the psychological qualities of the individual. Our state supports small business. In 1995, a law was passed Russian Federation"On State Support for Small Business in the Russian Federation". And on the basis of this law, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 4, 1995 established the Federal Fund for Support of Small Business. According to the Law, the Fund is defined as the state customer of the Federal Program state support development of small business in the Russian Federation.

: Organizational and legal forms of entrepreneurship

1.1 Partnership (partnership)

A partnership (partnership) is an organizational form of entrepreneurship, when both the organization of production activities and the formation of the authorized capital are carried out by a joint effort of two or more persons (individuals and legal entities). Each of them has certain rights and bears certain responsibilities, depending on the share in the authorized capital and the place it occupies in the management structure of such a partnership.

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Civil Code of the Russian Federation) developed the pre-existing provisions of a simple partnership, formulated and enshrined in its previous edition.

Chapter 55 of the second part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to aspects legal regulation simple partnership. According to article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation under a simple partnership agreement (an agreement on joint activities) two or more persons (partners) undertake to combine their contributions and act jointly without forming a legal entity in order to make a profit or achieve another goal that does not contradict the law. Thus, a business partnership is a commercial organization that owns separate property, with authorized or share capital divided into shares (contributions).

A partnership may be formed:

1) individuals;

2) individuals and commercial organizations;

3) commercial organizations.

There is a general partnership and a partnership in faith.

1.1.1 General partnership

From the point of view of legal consequences, a general partnership belongs to the category of undesirable forms of associations, since it does not imply limitation of liability. For the obligations of a general partnership, its members, called general partners, are liable with all their property. Responsibility in this case is subsidiary in nature.

Subsidiary liability implies that before making claims against a person who is liable in addition to the liability of another person, the creditor must make claims against the principal debtor. If the latter refuses to satisfy the demand or fails to respond to such a demand, the creditor has the right to present such a demand to the person bearing subsidiary liability.

Thus, a partnership is recognized as full, the participants of which (general partners), in accordance with the agreement concluded between them, are engaged in entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the company and are liable for its obligations with their property (subsidiary liability).

Such partnerships are called open commercial partnerships in a number of countries (Germany, Austria). In a number of countries, it is also possible to organize another type of partnership - a company civil law(Austria), civil code society (Germany) or common society (Switzerland). They are created to achieve a specific goal and as a result of an informal agreement between several persons. They do not have legal personality. Verification of the credentials of persons representing them is difficult, since the company is not included in commercial register.

In most cases, general partnerships are formed by legal entities ( large enterprises). An agreement on their joint activities in any area can already be considered as the formation of such a partnership. In such cases, neither the charter nor even the registration of the partnership is required. Individual entrepreneurs and commercial organizations may be participants in only one full partnership.

The partnership agreement (agreement) defines the powers of each partner, the distribution of profits, total amount capital invested by partners, the procedure for attracting new partners and the procedure for re-registration of the partnership in the event of the death of one of the partners or his withdrawal from the partnership. Legally, a partnership ceases to exist if one of the partners dies or withdraws from it; if only one participant remains in a full partnership, it may be liquidated or transformed.

A clear disadvantage of partnerships is that they make it difficult to make decisions, since the most important of them must be taken by a majority vote. To simplify the decision-making process, partnerships establish a certain hierarchy, dividing partners into two or more categories according to the degree of importance of the decision that each partner can make.

1.1.2 Limited partnership (limited partnership)

A limited partnership (limited partnership) is a partnership in which, along with the participants who carry out entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for the obligations of the partnership with their property (general partners), there are one or more participants - contributors (limited partners), who bear the risk of losses, associated with the activities of the partnership, within the limits of the amounts of contributions made by them and do not take part in the implementation of entrepreneurial activities by the partnership. The position of general partners participating in a limited partnership and their liability for the obligations of the partnership are determined by the rules of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on participants in a general partnership.

A person may be a general partner in only one limited partnership. A participant in a general partnership cannot be a general partner in a limited partnership. A general partner in a limited partnership cannot be a participant in a general partnership. The company name of a limited partnership must contain either the names (names) of all general partners and the words "limited partnership" or "limited partnership", or the name (name) of at least one general partner with the addition of the words "and company" and the words "partnership on faith" or "limited partnership".

If the business name of a limited partnership includes the name of a contributor, such contributor becomes a general partner. The rules of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on a general partnership are applied to a limited partnership insofar as this does not contradict the rules of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on a limited partnership.

This form of business organization has some advantages and disadvantages.

The benefits of partnerships.

1. Ease of organization. Like a sole proprietorship, partnerships are easy to set up. In almost all cases, a written agreement (partnership agreement) is concluded, and, as a rule, this does not involve burdensome bureaucratic procedures.

2. More financial resources. Combining several participants in a partnership allows you to expand its financial resources in comparison with the resources of an individual private enterprise. Partners can pool their money capital, and usually their venture seems less risky to bankers.

3. Joint management. Through the participation of several partners in the business, a higher degree of specialization becomes possible. With carefully selected partners, it is much easier to manage the daily activities of the enterprise. Members of the partnership provide each other with time free from doing business, and also have complementary qualifications and views.

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for various organizations. With the exception of peasant (farm) farms, they have the status of organizational and legal forms or their varieties.

These organizations differ from each other in a number of parameters, the most significant of which relate to the area of ​​their management (features of the adoption management decisions, the procedure for the formation of management bodies, the measure of responsibility, etc.).

The organizational and legal form of entrepreneurial activity is a set of specific features of property and organizational isolation, ways of forming the property base, features of interaction between owners, founders, participants, the entrepreneur himself, in some cases - his structural divisions, the labor collective, their responsibility to each other, consumers, competitors, the state and society.

First of all, two main forms should be distinguished: individual entrepreneurship and legal entity.

Individual entrepreneurship is the simplest and oldest type of entrepreneurship. In this case, all funds are owned by one owner. He independently decides what, for whom and how to produce; solely manages the proceeds received and bears unlimited liability for the results of their work. In the case of a debt, for example, an entrepreneur pays with his property. Such a prospect is quite real, because, as statistics show, every year no less individual entrepreneurs go bankrupt than new ones are registered. An individual entrepreneur has the right to hire and additional workers signing an agreement with each of them. An individual entrepreneur cannot be a specialist in all matters of production, supply, marketing, management, finance, and this often leads to making erroneous decisions, and therefore to economic losses. However, this type of entrepreneurship also has certain advantages, consisting in the minimum regulation of activities, mobility, material interest, etc. In world practice, this form of business is typical for small shops, service enterprises, farms, professional activity lawyers, doctors and teachers.

All other forms of entrepreneurial activity are collective.

Legal entity - an organization created and registered in accordance with the procedure established by law, which may own, manage or manage separate property and be liable for its obligations with this property, may, on its own behalf, acquire and exercise property and personal non-property rights, bear obligations, be a plaintiff and defendant in court. Legal entities must have an independent balance sheet or estimate.

Depending on the purpose of the activity:

• - commercial;
• - non-commercial.

Commercial organizations are created by their founders in order to make a profit. Russian legislation provides for several organizational and legal forms of these organizations. These are business partnerships and companies with the authorized (share) capital divided into shares (contributions) of the founders.

These include:

1. Partnership

A partnership (partnership) is an organizational form of entrepreneurship, when both the organization of production activities and the formation of the authorized capital are carried out by a joint effort of two or more persons (individuals and legal entities). Each of them has certain rights and bears certain responsibilities, depending on the share in the authorized capital and the place it occupies in the management structure of such a partnership.

A partnership may be formed:

• - individuals;
• - individuals and commercial organizations;
• - commercial organizations.

There are 2 main types of partnerships:

A general partnership is a type of economic partnership, the participants of which (general partners), in accordance with the agreement concluded between them, are engaged in entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for its obligations not only in the amount of contributions to the share capital, but with all their property, that is “full”, unlimited liability. Currently, this organizational and legal form is practically not used.

A limited partnership is a commercial organization based on share capital, in which there are two categories of members: general partners and limited partners. General partners carry out entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for the obligations of the partnership with all their property. Limited contributors are responsible only for their contribution. Currently, this organizational and legal form is practically not used.

2. Economic company

A business company is a commercial organization, the statutory fund of which is formed by one or more individuals or legal entities by contributing their shares (or full size authorized capital, if one person acts as a founder). As shares, monetary or material resources, intellectual capital, securities or property rights having a monetary value can be considered. At the same time, an expert assessment of the value of intellectual capital and property rights in monetary form is carried out.

There are three types of business companies:

• - limited liability company (LLC);
• - company with additional liability;
• - joint-stock company.

A limited liability company (LLC) is a commercial organization, the founder of which is one or more individuals or legal entities who are liable for the obligations of the company and the risk of losses only within the limits of their contributions.

An additional liability company is a type of limited liability company. An additional liability company is the establishment by one or more persons of an organization whose authorized capital is divided into shares of the sizes determined by the constituent documents; the participants in such a company jointly and severally bear subsidiary liability for its obligations with their property in the same for all multiples of the value of their contributions, determined by the constituent documents of the company.

A joint-stock company is a company whose authorized capital is divided into a certain number of shares; participants of a joint-stock company (shareholders) are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the company within the limits of the value of their shares. A joint-stock company, from the point of view of an individual entrepreneur, is the optimal form of organizational and legal registration of entrepreneurial activity. It can be created by one person or consist of one person if one shareholder acquires all the shares of the company.

Types of joint-stock companies:

• - open (JSC)
• - closed (CJSC)

A closed joint stock company is a company whose shares are distributed only among its founders (among a predetermined circle of persons), when the form of an open subscription for shares issued by the company is not used and they cannot be freely sold and bought on the stock market.

An open joint stock company is a joint stock company whose members can freely sell and buy shares of the company without the consent of other shareholders. It can carry out an open subscription for shares issued by it, which can be freely traded on the stock market. This implies the complete openness of the society and careful control over its activities, therefore it is obliged to publish annually for public information:

• - annual report;
• - balance sheet;
• - profit and loss account;

as well as annually attract professional auditor to review and validate the annual financial statements.

3. Corporations.

A corporation is a legal form of business that is distinct and limited from the specific individuals who own it. Such a structure, which has the status of a legal entity, has the right to acquire resources, own assets, manufacture and sell products, borrow money, provide loans, sue, sue in court, and perform all those functions that are performed by business ventures any other type.

4. Production cooperatives

A production cooperative (artel) is a voluntary association of citizens (at least five) and legal entities on the basis of membership, personal labor participation in production (economic) activities and share contributions. The profit received by the cooperative is distributed among its members in accordance with their labor participation in the activities of the cooperative.

5. State enterprises

The state enterprise is a production unit characterized by two main features.

The first is that the property of such an enterprise and its management are fully or partially in the hands of the state and its bodies (associations, ministries, departments); they either own the capital of the enterprise and have undivided authority to dispose of it and make decisions, or they unite with private entrepreneurs, but influence and control them.

The second concerns the motives for the functioning of the state enterprise. In its activities, it is guided not only by the search highest profit, but also by the desire to satisfy social needs, which can reduce economic efficiency or lead even in some cases to losses, which, however, are justified.

should be distinguished from state-owned enterprises state institutions, which pursue non-economic goals (hospitals, schools, public services) and do not participate in the actual market exchange.

State and municipal enterprises, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, operate in the form of unitary enterprises.

A unitary enterprise is a commercial organization that is not endowed with the right of ownership of the property assigned to it.

Unitary enterprises have a number of features that distinguish them from other commercial organizations:

• - if in the form of management unitary organization the principle of unitarity is laid down (the owner of the property is the state, not the organization), then the form of management of other commercial organizations is the principle of corporatism;
• - the property of a unitary enterprise is indivisible and under no circumstances can be distributed among deposits, shares and shares, including between employees of the enterprise;
• - management of a unitary enterprise is carried out by a head appointed by the owner.

Depending on who owns the property, unitary enterprises can be state or municipal.

Such enterprises, depending on the rights granted by the founder, are divided into two categories:

• - with the right of economic management;
• - with the right of operational management.

The right of economic management is wider than the right of operational management, that is, an enterprise operating on the basis of the right of economic management has greater independence in management.

For non-profit organizations, making a profit is not the main goal. They have the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities only insofar as it is necessary to achieve their statutory goals, and the profit is fully used for self-development and is not distributed among the participants.

The advantage of this form of business organization is preferential taxation. But it must be emphasized once again that non-profit organizations are not created for the purpose of making a profit.

Organizational and legal forms of economic entities that are legal entities-non-profit organizations

• - consumer cooperatives;
• - public associations(including religious associations);
• - public organizations;
• - social movements;
• - bodies of public initiative;
• - political parties;
• - funds (including public funds);
• - institutions (including public institutions);
• - state corporations;
• - non-commercial partnerships;
• - autonomous non-profit organizations;
• - communities of indigenous peoples;
• - Cossack societies;
• - associations of legal entities (associations and unions);
• - associations of peasant (farm) households;
• - territorial public self-governments;
• - associations of homeowners;
• - horticultural, horticultural or dacha non-profit partnerships.