Congratulations on your company in the US! You are one step closer to expand your business to this important market. To ensure a smooth transition and further maintaining a good standing, you might need to prepare/have certain documentation once you have formed your company. We have made a non-exhaustive list on what documents you might need in the future for compliance and legal reasons.
- First of all, you might need to keep the original company formation documents in your company records for obtaining their certified copies in the future. Therefore, in case when a certified copy is required by some other party, you may request the certified copies from the state. (A certified copy is a duplicate/copy of an original document issued by the state that is certified as a true copy and attached to any state-filed corporate documents.)
- For foreign qualification, certified copies may be requested by the Secretary of State.
- The other important reason is that certified copies are needed to open a bank account.
- Certificate of Formation: A official document of the establishment of a limited liability (LLC) company in the USA.
- Articles of Incorporation / Organization: An official document of a corporation’s formation
- Operating Agreement: A key document used by limited companies to outline the financial and functional decisions of the business including rules, regulations, and provisions.
- Articles of Amendment: Needed when making changes on a document prepared and filed by the state previously. For instance, changing the name of the company, the number of shares offered for sale, the nominal value of the shares, etc.
- Articles of Dissolution: It is sometimes called “wind up” as well. It is the official dissolution process for the enterprises that will not continue the act of doing business in the state.
- Certificate of Authority: An official letter documented by the State of Delaware and certifying that firms established in another state or country are also capable of doing business in the state in which it is issued.
- Certificate of Merger: An act of merging two separate companies under one company. As a result of this merger, one company continues to exist and the other ends.
- Annual Reports: Annual report filings of corporations in the USA.
- Minutes: Minutes are records / detailed notes that are taken during a meeting of the members or owners of a company. You should note that the first meeting (when the company is first formed) of the LLC is very important in helping to organize all aspects of the business. Meeting minutes should include the following issues: Date, time, location of the meeting, results of any voting held, any changes and updates on the goals and business, and management structures.
