Search corporations, businesses, filings, corporate name availability and other information about businesses in each state.
Business Search or Coporation Search: Free online access to corporate, limited liability company and limited partnership information. Available information includes the complete entity name, entity number, formation, registration or conversion date, status, jurisdiction, entity address, and the name and address of the agent for service of process.
Publicly Traded Disclosure Search: Free online access to abstracts of reported information for all publicly traded corporations that have filed a Corporate Disclosure Statement with the California Secretary of State.
How are credit conditions for small firms?
Credit conditions are improving. In mid-2010, commercial banks began to ease the tight lending conditions on small businesses that had begun in early 2007. And credit has continued to flow, as loans under $1 million totaled $695 billion in FY ...
How are small businesses financed?
Commercial banks and other depository institutions are the largest lenders of debt capital to small businesses. They accounted for almost 65 percent of total traditional credit to small businesses in 2003. (This includes credit lines and loans ...
How do regulations affect small firms?
Very small firms with fewer than 20 employees annually spend 45 percent more per employee than larger firms to comply with federal regulations. These very small firms spend four and a half times as much per employee to comply with environmental ...
Whom do I contact about small business regulations?
To submit comments on proposed regulations, send email to advocacy@sba.gov or visit Advocacy’s regulatory alerts page. To inquire about unfair regulatory enforcement, contact SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman at ...
At what rates are the self-employed taxed?
Of the 15.5 million individuals whose primary occupation was self-employment (incorporated and unincorporated), the median personal marginal federal tax rate was 10 percent in 2008. Only 4.1 percent of the self-employed were in the marginal tax ...
What research exists on the cost and availability of health insurance?
For many years, the cost and availability of health insurance have been top small business concerns. These concerns are driven by premium increases and administrative costs. Advocacy research shows that: insurers of small health ...
What is the role of women, minority, and veteran entrepreneurs?
Of the 23 million non-farm businesses in 2002, women owned 6.5 million businesses, generating $940.8 billion in revenues, employing 7.1 million workers, and paying $173.7 billion in payroll. Another 2.7 million firms were owned equally by both ...
How can I get more information on small businesses and statistics?
For more information, visit Advocacy’s website. Specific points of interest include: Economic research Firm size data (U.S., state, and metropolitan static and dynamic data) Small firm lending ...
What is a Small Business?
In making a detailed definition SBA may use a number of criteria, including the number of employees, annual receipts, affiliates, or other applicable factors. The Office of Advocacy defines a small business for research purposes as an independent ...
How important are small businesses to the U.S. economy?
Small firms: Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms. Employ just over half of all private sector employees. Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll. Have generated 64 percent of ...
How many small businesses are there?
In 2008, there were 29.6 million businesses in the United States, according to Office of Advocacy estimates. Census data show that there were 6.0 million firms with employees in 2006 and 21.7 million without employees in 2007 (the latest ...
What is small firms’ share of employment?
Small businesses employ just over half of U.S. workers. Of 119.9 million nonfarm private sector workers in 2006, small firms with fewer than 500 workers employed 60.2 million and large firms employed 59.7 million. Firms with fewer than 20 ...
What share of net new jobs do small businesses create?
Firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 64 percent (or 14.5 million) of the 22.5 million net new jobs (gains minus losses) between 1993 and the third quarter of 2008. Continuing firms accounted for 68 percent of net new jobs, and the ...
How many businesses open and close each year?
An estimated 627,200 new employer firms began operations in 2008, and 595,600 firms closed that year. This amounts to an annual turnover of about 10 percent for entry and 10 percent for exit. Nonemployer firms have turnover rates three times as ...
What is the survival rate for new firms?
Seven out of ten new employer firms last at least two years, and about half survive five years. More specifically, according to new Census data, 69 percent of new employer establishments born to new firms in 2000 survived at least two years, and ...
Profit Corporations
Corporation: A business corporation is a for-profit, limited liability entity that has a separate legal personality from its members. A corporation is owned by multiple shareholders and is overseen by a board of directors, which hires the business's managerial staff.
Historically, corporations were created by special charter of governments. Today, corporations are usually registered with the state, province, or national government and become regulated by the laws enacted by that government. Registration is the main prerequisite to the corporation's assumption of limited liability. As part of this registration, it must in many cases be required to designate the principal address of the corporation as well as a registered agent (a person or company that is designated to receive legal service of process). As part of the registration, it may also be required to designate an agent or other legal representative of the corporation depending on the filing jurisdiction.
Generally, a corporation files articles of incorporation with the government, laying out the general nature of the corporation, the amount of stock it is authorized to issue, and the names and addresses of directors. Once the articles are approved, the corporation's directors meet to create bylaws that govern the internal functions of the corporation, such as meeting procedures and officer positions.
The law of the jurisdiction in which a corporation operates will regulate most of its internal activities, as well as its finances. If a corporation operates outside its home state, it is often required to register with other governments as a foreign corporation, and is almost always subject to laws of its host state pertaining to employment, crimes, contracts, civil actions, and the like.