Unit 2 Types of Business
Businesses range enormously in size, from large oil companies, mobile telephone operators and big supermarket chains down to small one-person operations, such as a plumber or a window cleaner. They all have something in common. They sell goods or services for money.
Most types of businesses can be classified in terms of who is involved in them and how the organisations operate.
2.1 Sole Trader/Proprietorship
個體經營、獨資企業
An individual can run his or her own business, either alone as a one-person operation or as a business owner with several employees. The owner is entitled to all the profits（that is what is left after expenses have been deducted from income）and suffers all the losses made by the business. A sole trader may be involved in following items.
所有者享有企業所有的利潤并承擔所有的損失。
·Manufacturing:making something from raw materials, for example, furniture.
·Trading:buying and selling goods as in a small shop.
·Service:providing a service for customers such as hairdressing.
Accounting conventions recognise the business as a separate entity from its owner. However, legally, the business and personal affairs of a sole trader are not distinguished in any way. The most important consequences of this is that a sole trader has complete personal unlimited liability. Business debts which cannot be paid from business assets must be met from sale of personal assets, such as a house or a car.
在法律上，獨資企業的經營業務和個人事務是不區分的。
The advantages of operating as a sole trader include flexibility and autonomy. A sole trader can manage the business as he or her likes and can introduce or withdraw capital at any time.
最重要的結果就是獨資企業所有人承擔完全個人無限責任。
2.2 Partnership
合伙企業
Two or more people working together with the idea of generating a profit from a business are known as partners. Although governed by law, partnerships, otherwise known as legally as firms, can be quite informal. The partners agree how the firm should be run, partners share profits and losses in accordance with their agreement.
Like sole trader, a partnership is not legally distinguished from its members. Personal assets of the partners may have to be used to pay the debts of the partnership business.
合伙人的個人財物可能需要用來償付合伙企業的債務。
The advantages of trading as a partnership stem mainly from the there being many owners rather than one. This means that：
·More resources may be available, including capital, specialist knowledge, skills and ideas.
·Administrative expenses may be lower for a partnership than for the equivalent number of sole traders, due to economics of scale; .
·Partners can substitute for each other.
Partners can introduce or withdraw capital at any time, provided that all the partners agree
2.3 Limited Liability Companies
有限責任公司
Unlike sole traders and partnerships, companies are established as separate legal entities to their owners. This is achieved through the process of incorporation. The owners of the company invest capital in the business in return for a shareholding that entitles them to a share of the residual assets of the business（i. e., what is left when the business winds up）. The shareholders are not personally liable for the debts of the company and whilst they may lose their investment if the company becomes insolvent they will not have to pay the outstanding debts of the company if such a circumstance arises. Likewise, the company is not affected by the insolvency（or death）of individual shareholders.
公司是一個獨立的法人主體。
公司的所有人投入資金并持有公司的股份，享有公司的剩余權益。
2.4 Comparison of Companies to Sole Traders and Partnerships
The fact that a company is a separate legal entity means that it is very different from a sole trader or partnership in a number of ways.
（1）Property Holding
The property of a limited company belongs to the company. A change in the ownership of shares in the company will have no effect on the ownership of the company's property.（In a partnership the firm's property belongs directly to the partners who can take it with them if they leave the partnership.）
有限責任公司的財產歸屬于公司所有。
（2）Transferable Shares
Shares in a limited company can usually be transferred without the consent of the other shareholders. In the absence of agreement to the contrary, a new partner cannot be introduced into a firm without the consent of all existing partners.
公司股份在不經過其他股東的同意下可以依法轉讓。
（3）Suing and Being Sued
As a separate legal person, a limited company can sue and be sued in its own name. Judgments relating to companies do not affect the members personally.
有限責任公司可以以自己的名義起訴或被起訴。對公司的判決不影響合伙企業所有人。
（4）Security for Loans
A company has greater scope for raising loans and may secure them with floating charges. A floating charge is a mortgage over the constantly fluctuation assets of a company providing security for the lender of money to a company. It does not prevent the company dealing with the assets in the ordinary course of business. Such a charge is useful when a company has not non-current assets（e.g., land）, but does have large and valuable inventories.
公司可以通過借款籌資，并提供浮動擔保。
浮動擔保是指公司抵押其現有的和將來取得的全部資產，為債權人的利益提供擔保。
Generally, the law does not permit partnerships or individuals to secure loans with a floating charge.
（5）Taxation
Because a company is legally separated from its shareholders, it is taxed separately from its shareholders. Partners and sole traders are personally liable for income tax on the profits made by their business.