Corporate Bylaws Made Simple

By David Gass

Writing your new corporation's bylaws is a key step on your new businesses path to success.  Corporate Bylaws are a set of rules and regulations which govern the business conduct and organization of your corporation.  Simply put, Corporate Bylaws are the central document defining how the corporation should to be operated.
Every corporation must adopt Bylaws upon formation.  Writing the Corporate Bylaws is pretty simple.  A new corporations Bylaws are typically written and created by the person(s) who initiated the incorporation process, called the incorporator.  They may also be written or formally adopted by the new corporations board of directors, and should be one of the board’s first actions.

For example, the Bylaws normally include requirements such as the number and election of directors, the various corporate officers, duties and obligations of board members and shareholders.  These Bylaws and can be contained within a single written document, the bylaws dictate the operating principles and procedures that the corporation will follow throughout its life as a business entity, therefore are very important when outlining what the corporation can and cannot do.   Please remember this very important detail.

Corporate bylaws are expected be more multifaceted the larger the business, but a typical corporation's Bylaws will cover and should contain:

• Identifying information - name, address, and principal place of business
• Number of directors and corporate officers - authorized for the corporation
• Number of shares and stock classes - that the corporation is authorized to issue
• Outline of Procedure for corporate record-keeping - including rules for preparation and inspection of records
• Outline of Procedure for director and shareholder meetings - including frequency, location, and protocol
• Outline of Procedure for amending articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Keep in mind corporate bylaws are not filed with any agency, such as your new corporation's "Articles of Incorporation" that must be filed with the Secretary of State, but they are extremely important and should be kept as an essential part of your corporation's business records.  We want to express this strongly, as they may need to be disclosed to potential investors, creditors, and other entities with whom your corporation does business with.   

Our software Corporate Manager is a complete all-in-one set of tools and services to help you keep your corporate paperwork in complete compliance and effortlessly record all of your required corporate business transactions and dealings all in one easy to use program.  You can test drive our Corporate Manager Software fully functional trial version by visiting our website.