Incorporating Your Business for Dummies

Whether your business is big or small, incorporating isn’t as simple as it could be. This handy reference makes incorporation make sense, and guides you through the process step by step. From handling the mountain of paperwork to getting back to business once you’re finished, Incorporating Your Business For Dummies offers a wealth of helpful advice on these and many more topics:

• Knowing whether or not incorporation can help you
• Choosing the type of entity that will work best for your business
• Dealing with shareholders and shareholder agreements
• Transferring money and assets in or out of the corporation
• Documenting corporate actions and maintaining compliance
• Finding the right attorney, accountant, tax advisor, and other professionals

Written by the experts at The Company Corporation, who handle more than 100,000 incorporations every year, this helpful book offers the kind of advice you can only get from professionals — but in a user-friendly, lingo-free format. Whether you just want a little help with the paperwork, or don’t even know what a corporation is, you’ll find everything you need to know:

• What limited liability means
• Corporate statutes, bylaws, and articles
• Choosing directors and assigning duties
• The benefits of S corporation status
• Deciding where to incorporate
• Registering corporate names and domain names
• Balancing equity versus debt
• Understanding shareholder rights
• Getting your financial information in order
• Hiring a professional to help with corporate compliance

If you want step-by-step help on setting up your corporation, dealing with the paperwork, and getting off on the right foot, Incorporating Your Business For Dummies is the only resource you need. Packed with the kind of tips and advice you’ll find nowhere else, it’s the uncomplicated way to get incorporated.

Some additional books icnlude How To Incorporate: A Handbook for Entrpreneurs and Professionals by Michael R. Diamond. How To Incorporate in Any State: Everything You Need to Form a Corporation by W. Dean Brown. S- Corporations by Robert Cooke.

Form Your Own Corporation and Launch a Business in Any State and The Small Business Kit by J.W. Dicks.

Use the dummies book as a starter guide. Use the other books for the real meaty information. Be careful what you buy, the marketplace is proliferated with books by self proclaimed experts who read a lot but have no real world experience.


just the tip of the iceberg   February 27, 2004
 23 out of 54 found this review helpful

In order to maintain the legal status of your corporation, you need to pass very specific resolutions and keep very specific records. I had hoped for a "cookbook" for the legal steps required to set up and operate my corporation, but this is not it.

The info on corporate structures is very basic and general - you could easily find this level of detail on the web. That's my primary complaint with this book... it mentions what you must do, but doesn't give you the specifics of how.

Instead of this book, I recommend you:

(1) Get the *basics* from your lawyer or accountant (or even doing some research on the web)

(2) buy The Corporate Minutes Book by Anothony Mancuso instead of this book!


Good book for those contemplating a corporation   February 23, 2004
 51 out of 51 found this review helpful

If you are contemplating starting a business and therefore a corporation, this book is a great first start. As with all of the dummy series books, the authors feel that people reading these books are brand new and know nothing. So this gives even the most naive a good start on how to incorporate.

So much of the information is basic and since the book was written awhile ago, some of the material may be dated. Nonetheless, good first start for business people.

Other good books include How To Start a S-Corporation by Robert Cooke and Brilliant Deductions by Wade Cook. The latter shows a way to drop out of the social security system and offers a good section on Nevada Corporations.