Before you start creating your Company Articles, our questionnaire requires a response to two important questions.
Firstly, confirm that your business is based in British Columbia. If your business operates out of a different Canadian province, use our Corporate Bylaws document.
Secondly, state if you are incorporating a new company. If so, an Incorporation Agreement will also be included in your Company Articles. This helps ensure you have all the information required to electronically file your Incorporation Application with BC Corporate Online.
After you’ve confirmed your location and incorporation details, we’ll take you through the following steps to complete your Company Articles:
Step 1: Provide the registered name of your company
Next, you’ll be asked to provide the full legal name of your business. This should be entered exactly as it appears on your company’s incorporation application filed with BC Corporate Registries.
If you haven’t registered your company’s name yet, you can enter the name you are hoping to use.
Step 2: Provide share details
At this stage in our questionnaire, you will be asked to provide the following information about the company’s share structure:
- Number of share classes: BC Corporations are required to have at least one class of shares. With LawDepot’s template, you can specify up to five different classes. They will be assigned a corresponding letter (i.e., Class A, Class B, Class C, etc.) Using multiple share classes is a great way to encourage investment in the company while still retaining decision-making powers.
- Voting rights: This determines which share classes give shareholders the right to vote on corporate matters and other managerial issues, such as electing directors.
- Share redemption details: In some cases, shares can be repurchased from the shareholder by the corporation. This is typically done through a Share Repurchase Agreement. When completing our questionnaire, select one of four options:
- Non-redeemable
- Redeemable by the corporation only
- Redeemable by the shareholder only
- Redeemable either by the corporation or shareholder
- Dividend details: In business, there are two kinds of dividends: cumulative and non-cumulative. Cumulative dividends pile up and must be paid later if not given when due. Non-cumulative dividends don't stack up, so if a dividend is not declared, it does not have to be made up in a future year when a dividend is declared. Non-cumulative dividends are more common.
Step 3: Provide incorporator details (if applicable)
This step is only necessary if you are incorporating a new company.
Incorporators are anyone who is forming the company and signing the incorporation agreement. Typically, the incorporators become the corporation’s shareholders after the incorporation process is complete.
Incorporator details will include the following:
- Incorporator type (i.e., individual or business entity)
- Incorporator’s name
- Number and class of shares that the incorporator will take
Step 4: Outline shareholder meeting details
Next, set the rules that will govern shareholder meetings. For example, determine:
- Quorum requirements. This decides the minimum number of people or the percentage of voting shares required to be present before a meeting can proceed. Any decisions made at a meeting without a quorum are not considered legally valid.
- Remote communication regulations. Can shareholder meetings be held remotely? If yes, then board members can join the meeting through phone or video conferencing.
- If shareholders can form voting trusts. If so, shareholders can temporarily give their voting shares to a third party, who will then vote on behalf of the shareholder in accordance with a voting trust agreement, also known as a Shareholder Proxy.
- If cumulative voting is allowed when electing directors. Cumulative voting allows minority shareholders to concentrate all their votes on a single director candidate. Cumulative voting allows minority shareholders a better chance of influencing the election of at least one of the directors.
Step 5: Create director meeting rules
Much like you will set the rules for shareholder meetings, your Company Articles provide an opportunity to outline any regulations on meetings of directors. This might include:
- Notice periods for special meetings. When a special meeting is called, the Company Articles should state how much notice is required. LawDepot’s template provides three options: reasonable notice, number of hours, or number of days.
- Remote communication regulations. Can director meetings be held remotely? If yes, then board members can join the meeting through phone or video conferencing.
- Conflict of interest guidelines. Specify if a director is disqualified from voting on issues where there is a direct conflict of interest with the company.
Step 6: Finalize director and officer details
Finally, your Company Articles must state:
- The number of directors the corporation has
- If the corporation can lend money to officers, directors, or employees
- If the corporation will consist of a simple or complex officer structure
- A simple officer structure consists of a president, a treasurer, and a secretary.
- A complex officer structure might consist of a CEO, COO, CFO, president, and any number of vice presidents.
- Who will appoint officers
Step 7: Sign the incorporation agreement (if applicable)
This step is only necessary if you are incorporating a new company.
If you are creating Company Articles for a new corporation, this document will need to be signed by all incorporators. This step is crucial because you will need to certify that you have both a signed incorporation agreement and a set of articles when filing for incorporation.