Entrepreneurs Follow Law Rules
Meeting your obligations is about more than just obeying laws. It ensures that there is integrity in the financial system. As the business owner, you are responsible for complying with the law. Whether you run a small business under a business name or as a registered company, you must comply with laws that are administered and enforced by your Country, State and County. If you use a business name, you must meet certain legal obligations under the Business Names Act.
Company officers like directors and company secretaries, are responsible for complying with their personal obligations and ensuring that the company meets its obligations. If you operate as a registered company, you have general legal obligations under the Corporations Act.
In both cases, you may have additional legal obligations if you operate in certain industries, such as the financial services or credit industry. Integrity in the financial system provides a level playing field for all businesses and gives businesses and consumers some certainty and confidence knowing that they can conduct business in a fair and transparent environment.
Non-compliance may result in a warning letter, a court order and or a civil or criminal action taken against the defaulter.
Importance of the Law
The role of the U.S. government in business is as old as the country itself; the Constitution gives the government the power to regulate some commerce. The government exercises its authority in several ways. Though the government’s role has increased over time, the business community still enjoys considerable freedom.
Most businesses need to register with a state government to operate. Registration also allows the government to monitor companies to execute its other functions in the business world. Corporations need a charter, and other forms of businesses, such as limited liability companies or partnerships, need other forms of registration. The function of this registration is usually to define the financial liability the owners of the company have. It limits their risk to the amount they have invested in that particular organization.
Criticism of the Law
Especially in elections years, we hear a lot about the vital role of small business in the U.S. Lately, a lot has been said about the vitality of the role of the federal government in promoting small business in America and how vital is the Small Business Administration in that promotion. The SBA’s supporters argue that it guarantees billions of dollars in loans for small businesses each year and hence plays a crucial role in providing an army of counselors and information resources for those who need help. It is also believed that they particularly focus on those who have been failed by conventional lenders.
But the SBA’s critics say that the agency’s loans go to only a tiny fraction of the small businesses in the country and do more harm than good. The loans, for example, help the recipients compete with small businesses that aren’t similarly subsidized. Thus, instead of playing a crucial role in the U.S. economy, the critics say, the agency really is directing resources where the market has determined they aren’t needed.
Enhancing Company Image
Your company is a brand, even if it is a small brand. Just like any other brand cannot control how it is perceived by others, you also can only use ways to enhance the image of your company and influence people to form a positive image of it and one of the most important factors here is to be law abiding. In my post Quick Tips for Business Development, I have discussed a few ways to enhance the image of your company. For e.g. there should be consistency in the communication theme that governs all aspects of your brand. Whether online or offline your brand must reflect integration. To ensure that your company is presented with one cohesive, unified and professional image, creating and implementing ideas in compliance with your brand guidelines can also be helpful.
In the new year, technology is going to spread and develop further and become more important for every business owner, in more ways than it was last year. If you don’t have a website for your business, potential customers are going to assume that you are a small company that does not take their business seriously. Once you establish this reputation, it is going to be hard to make sales. If you need assistance in getting a website for your company but have no idea how you are going to maintain it once you have it, get in touch with HyperEffects.
