What Are Partnerships And Limited Liability Companies?

Some business owners choose to create partnerships or limited liability companies instead of a corporation.

A partnership can also be called a firm, and refers to an association of a group of individuals working together in a business or professional practice.

While corporations have rigid rules about how they are structured, partnerships and limited liability companies allow the division of management authority, profit sharing and ownership rights among the owners to be very flexible.

Partnerships fall into two categories. General partners are subject to unlimited liability. If a business can't pay its debts, its creditors can demand payment from the general partners' personal assets.

General partners have the authority and responsibility to manage the business. They're analogous to the president  and other officers of a corporation.


Limited partners escape the unlimited liability that the general partners have. They are not responsible as individuals, for the liabilities of the partnership.

These are junior partners who have ownership rights to the profits of the business, but they don't generally participate in the high-level management of the business.

A partnership must have one or more general partners.
 
A limited liability company (LLC) is becoming more prevalent among smaller businesses. An LLC is like a corporation regarding limited liability and it's like a partnership regarding the flexibility of dividing profit among the owners.

Its advantage over other types of ownership is its flexibility in how profit and management authority are determined.

This can have a downside. The owners must enter into very detailed agreements about how the profits and management responsibilities are divided.

 It can get very complicated and generally requires the services of a lawyer to draw up the agreement.

A partnership or LLC agreement specifies how profits will be divided among the owners.

While stockholders of a corporation receive a share of profit that's directly related to how many shares they own, a partnership or LLC does not have to divide profit according to how much each partner invested.

 Invested capital is only of the factors that are used in allocating and distributing profits.

5 Things To Consider In Choosing Your Online Education School

Aside from the billion-dollar online commerce, communications, news, entertainment and others, online education is one of today’s very important growing industries on the Internet as a Result of Advancement in Technology.

For people with intentions of enrolling in one of these online learning institutions, it is best to check out upfront some very important things.

After all, education is one significant undertaking that should not be taken lightly in any way.

 1. Accreditation

The very first consideration about a school is its status. Is your prospective school accredited by reputable organizations or by the industry at large?



Your prospective employment will depend on your school’s standing and reputation.

How long has the school been in existence?  It may not follow that the school’s age is a barometer for excellence but experience is always a plus factor.

How many students are enrolled? How many have graduated? If the school has few students, it might not reflect much on its credibility. The same is true with low graduation rate.

2. Costs

The cost of educating yourself with either online or a traditional school is always an important factor. Your tuition should be slightly less than that of a regular university.

Look out for overcharged mandatory fees, hidden costs and other extraneous fees.

Determine the curriculum to be used. If there is a requirement for books, check out the costs first. Some institutions dole out their own lesson modules.

 These come out in other forms of media (downloads in audio, video, PowerPoint, etc.) Check out the fees, if any.

3. Computer Requirements and Needs

From your end, what computer hardware and software are to be used in the lessons? Online education requires that students must be well-versed in current multimedia and other programs.

Will the students purchase additional software for dedicated education programs? Lastly, if your computer is old, it may not work well, or not work at all, which means you have to buy another one.

4.  Instructors

Do your research on the school’s teaching staff as well. It is important that they are of the same level or have comparable experience and competence as those of traditional university professors.

Junior college teachers usually have an M.A. degree on the subject they handle. Professors usually have Ph.D. degrees. Online education teachers should be comparably competent. 

One other thing is the number of students per teacher. Teachers with many students have less time assisting each one. In essence, online education sometimes is a one-on-one learning process.

5. Degrees

Needless to say, the first thing you check out in your prospective online school is the list of degrees offered, and if your degree of choice is offered at all. Some programs may not offer the degree you want.

The next question would be how long will it take to complete the program needed for your degree. Some schools offer the chance of completing some degrees in less time. (Sometimes, they can save an entire year of work.)

Different schools offer different methods of student work: the chance to speed up or to work at one’s individual pace. Some schools require their students to participate in virtual classes and specific deadlines for assignments.

Some schools allow students to communicate with their instructors on all things about their lessons. Others do not offer such kind of assistance and students have to work out things on their own.

This early, it is good to remember that in online education, the student most often takes the initiative.

 Best Of Luck