سؤال قراءة ستيب محلول — فهم التفاصيل (تدريب 6125)

Passage A: Advantages of a private limited company (1) Shares can be sold to a large number of people (in some countries there is a maximum number). These can include friends and relatives - they cannot advertise the shares for sale to the general public. The sale of shares could lead to much larger sums of capital to invest in the business than original partners could manage to raise themselves. The business could therefore expand more rapidly. (2) All shareholders have limited liability. This is an important advantage. It means that if the company failed with debts owing to creditors, the shareholders could not be forced to sell their possessions to pay the debts. The shareholders could only lose their original investment in the shares - their liability is limited to the original investment. Shareholders in a company have less risk than sole traders and partners. Limited liability encourages people to buy shares, knowing that the amount they pay is the maximum they could lose if the business is unsuccessful. It is important that the people and other businesses that deal with a private limited company know that it is not a sole trader or a partnership. Creditors, for example, need to be aware that if the business did fail, then they could not take the owners to court to demand payment from their savings. For this reason, all private limited company names must end with ‘Limited’, or ‘Ltd’ as an abbreviation. In some countries, although not the UK, this title is amended to ‘Proprietary Limited’ or (Pty) Ltd’. There can be many shareholders, but they need permission from other shareholders to sell their shares Passage B: Disadvantages of a private limited company (1) There are significant legal matters which have to be dealt with before a company can be formed. In particular, two important forms or documents have to be sent to the Registrar of Companies. (2) The Articles of Association - This contains the rules under which the company will be managed - the rights and duties of all of the directors; rules concerning the election of directors and the holding of official meetings; and the procedure to be followed for the issuing of shares. (3) The Memorandum of Association - This contains very important information about the company and the directors. The official name and the address of the registered offices of the company must be stated. The objectives of the company must be stated as well as the number of shares to be bought by each of the directors. (4) Both of these documents are intended to make sure that companies are correctly run and to reassure shareholders about the purpose and structure of the company. Once these documents have been received by the Registrar of Companies, then a Certificate of Incorporation will be issued to allow the company to start trading. (5) The shares in a private limited company cannot be sold or transferred to anyone else without the agreement of the other shareholders. This rule can make some people reluctant to invest in such a company because they may not be able to sell their shares quickly if they require their investment back. (6) The accounts of a company are less secret than for either a sole trader or a partnership. Each year the latest accounts must be sent to the Registrar of Companies and members of the public can inspect them. Owners have to be prepared to allow more information about their business to be known to other people. (7) Most importantly for rapidly expanding businesses, the company cannot offer its shares to the general public. Therefore, it will not be possible to raise really large sums of capital to invest back into the business. What do passages A and B say about a private limited company?