20+ List of Business Documents Required to Start a Business

When we talk about Business documents, it seems like a business without documents is incomplete. Businesses are a roller-coaster ride of innumerable activities that sometimes might look daunting to a company. Having its legal, compliance, operational, functional and other frontiers clear will help a company establish future goals. While having established the milestone of setting the right infrastructure to thrive, companies should not eliminate the importance of structured documentation that supports the very backbone of any company.

A company needs to align its processes with necessary documentation as processes might suffer for lack of documentation. Bringing the right document to represent an Agreement or the lack in maintaining records can delay processes, attract fines and sometimes even cancel a critical deal.

Companies should build sustainable processes that are inclusive of the right documentation. It is imperative to have a repository of documents that can be retrieved from time to time for the effective process of functioning and recording data. Once this documents repository is built and the procedural norms are set around, it makes the processes easier. Ideally, every company should be having a list of documents that are mandatory for its operations.

Some of  The Mandatory Business Documents That Are Crucial For Any Company or Business Are:

1. Partnership Agreement

A partnership agreement is a contract between two or more individuals starting a business entity, has decided to share the profit and losses. The partnership agreement is a document that outlines the obligations, legal and operational, debt liability and profit-sharing as well as individual responsibilities of the parties involved.

The agreement essentially keeps all the partners in tandem to the agreed terms of working without any deviation and disagreements.

2. By-laws for Corporations

Corporate by-laws define the company’s purpose, responsibilities, shareholder obligations and rights, annual board meetings and schedule as well as the process of appointment and removal of directors. Corporation by-laws are also known as Corporate by-laws. The by-laws also indicate how to amend and incorporate laws.

A business documents template of rules will help you to establish your documentation by-laws.

3. Co-founder Agreement

Co-founder agreement is prepared across more than one founder and highlights the rules and obligations and share of each of the partners. It also includes the company’s goals, values, philosophies, and culture. Capital contributions, budgets and allocation can also be construed as a part of this agreement.

4. Business Pitch Deck

New companies should create a powerful and insightful pitch deck that will essentially capture the essence of the company. A pitch deck is usually presented to clients, shareholder or venture capitalists. The pitch deck should involve- introduction, team, problems, advantages, solutions, products, market speculations, competition, business model, investments requirement and contact.

List of Business Documents Pitch Deck

1. Startup Pitch Deck Template
2. E-Commerce Pitch Deck Template
3. Corporate Pitch Deck Template
4. Business Plan Pitch Deck Template
5. Advertising Pitch Deck Template
6. Agency Pitch Deck Template
7. Sales Pitch Deck Template
8. Product Presentation Template
9. Project Proposal Presentation Template
10. Fundraising Presentation Template

5. Investor Agreement

Investments are critical to companies along with their different growth phases. An investor agreement is prepared for documenting subscription of shares against the investments done. The investment agreement defines the terms of investments, investment amount, parties involved, the dividends and the returns offered. The agreement comes as a security measure guarding the investor’s interest in the company with the timely assurance of return on investments.

6. Minutes of Meeting

Minutes of the meeting captures the happenings of a meeting in detail and used as a referring document for the consecutive meetings. The meeting is also referred to as Notes or Protocol. The minutes of the meeting essentially documents all the proceedings of a board meeting. It captures inputs like date, time, name of attendees, absentees, the agenda of the meeting, decisions and suggestions, further issues, list of tasks to be performed, next meeting schedule.

7. Board Resolutions

Board Resolutions are decisions taken in a board meeting and form a part of the documentation for further reference. It is taken in several cases including appointing a new member to the board, expanding the company, resource allocation, selling company shares, or other major decisions that can affect the company. The board resolution is subject to documentation process after a unanimous decision by the board of members.

List of  Board of Resolution Documents

1. Board Resolution For  Change In Name Of The Company
2. Board Resolution For  Closing Of A Bank Account
3. Board Resolution For  Opening Of A Company Bank Account
4. Board Resolution Of  To Provide A Loan
5. Board Resolution Of  Approving A Sale Agreement
6. Board Resolution Of  Approving Subdivision Of Issued Shares
7. Board Resolution Of  Approving The Sale Of Shares

Download  All 400+ Ready To Use Business Documents, Pitch-decks, Legal Notices & Reports.

8. Non-disclosure Employee Agreement

Companies need to share confidential information with their employees from time to time. This information is very critical to the company and if leaked could cost a fortune. Companies, therefore, ask employees handling confidential company information to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The non-disclosure agreement states that the employee will under no condition disclose or make use of the sensitive and important company information with anyone while working with the company.

9. Business Plan

A business plan encompasses ideas and strategies in a certain framework such that they can be easily presented and appear structured. A business plan includes the executive summary, company information, product/service information, swot analysis, department wise sub-plans, budget, milestones and critical measures.

10. ESOPs  Agreement

Employee stock option plans, also known as ESOPsare the stocks offered by a company to its employees at a discounted price. ESOPs are provided to employees to retain them in the company for long. ESOPs agreement includes a number of shares allotted, name of the employee, strike price, date, vesting schedule and maturity.

11. Accounting Agreement

Accounting agreement is a document of mutual understanding between the bookkeeper and the company, discussing services and arrangements. This agreement is also known as bookkeeper agreement and can be for a one-time or retainer basis.

Accounting agreement usually involves the name of the company and bookkeeper, date of the agreement, duration of the agreement, services offered, compensation decided and confidentiality agreement.

Also Read: A Complete Guide to Documents Required For Company Registration in India

12. Financial Documents

The finance department functions can come handy by having the following set of documents:

• P&L (Profit & Loss)

P&L is the Companies Profit & Loss statement, projecting revenue and expenses. Companies have to prepare the statement for accounting purpose as well as for sharing with shareholders.

• Balance sheet

A balance sheet is a statement that documents the company’s assets and liabilities.  Balance sheets are usually referred by investors, creditors and shareholders of a company. They are prepared at the end of the financial year. It is a document that helps analyse the company’s growth trajectory.

• Projections

Projections are the forecasts based on internal and external accounting data. The projections are done around expenses, revenues and the overall growth of the business.

13. Franchise Agreement

A franchise is sourcing your business operations on the franchiser’s terms and these terms are standard across all franchise and documented and signed under an agreement. The franchise agreement is a mutual written contract between the franchiser and the individual who wants to enter the franchise agreement.

The agreement states the terms of working, compensatory details, standard branding practices, duration of the agreement, sight selection and development, operational support, insurance and accounting standards etc.

14. Trademark

Trademark is intellectual property documents and distinguish your company or brand from the others in the market. It could be a sign, phrase or symbol that is associated with a product, brand, service or company. The unique property of a trademark makes it sensitive to intellectual property rights. Trademarks draw legal implications if copied or reproduced illegally or without consent.

15. Business Insurance

Businesses as prone to risks all the time and business insurance is a handy document to put down all your business insurance details. A business ideally covers different insurance to keep it sailing through natural disasters, catastrophes, sabotages, the business loses, death/accident of the partner or owner, theft or other damage etc.

Business insurance is ideal for start-up’s as they are promising largely of risk management, lawsuit cover, copyright issues, natural disasters and unexpected events in the company.

16. Business Reports

Business reports are facts and figures about certain departments or aspects of your business that exist as company data, which, after analysis can derive outcomes and projections. Reports are used to evaluate risks and findings and offer workable recommendations.

Business reports cover an issue at hand and make use of extensive data analysis to project solutions.

17. Compliance Document

Many organisational processes have to adhere to certain set standards and thus come under the category of compliance documents. The compliance documentation is a set of agreements, reports, registrations, renewals and other crucial documents that are important in the event of an inquiry seeking compliance verification.

• Memorandum of Association

Memorandum of Association (MOA) is drawn between a company and its shareholders. This is a rule book that defines the working of the company as well as shareholder rights and contribution. The MOA defines the rights and privileges of the company. MOA offers a fair idea of the working of a company, making it beneficial to the creditors and shareholders, to arrive at necessary inferences.

• Articles of Association

Articles of Association is a critical document that lists the guidelines and by-laws that together help in running a company. It is essentially the management that defines the articles of the association including the shares trajectory, appointing and removing directors, powers to the directors, board meeting schedule and notices. It also includes borrowings, the procedure for wind-up, accounts and audits, revenues and dividends etc.

• Certificate of Incorporation

Certificate of incorporation is a process that registers the company under the Companies Act making it an operating entity. The certification of incorporation is further handy in creating different documents including creating a bank account for the company. Certificate of incorporation is a legal document that proves a company exists. The document primarily lists the company name and date of incorporation among the other details.

• GST Certificate

The GST Certificate (Goods and Service Tax) is a tax levied to companies for selling their products in the domestic market. It came to replace the existing tax format and therefore a mandatory process and document. The GST certificate bears the GST number that is useful in a company’s sales transactions.

The GST number also facilitates remittance of the advance tax taken by the government. It comes handy in client transactions. The GST certificate is a critical document and needs to be renewed regularly.

• Adequate Business License

Businesses need a plethora of licences for running smooth. These could be region-based license, or state-based or specific country permits. Every license comes with its set of terms and obligations and needs to be procured as well as renewed from time to time for the effective functioning of the business. A thorough listing of all the licences your business requires could be handy in defining further processes.

18. Agreement with Vendors

Vendor agreement is a mutual written agreement between the company and its vendor detailing the scope of services, compensation, tenure of assignment, privacy policy, confidentiality statement, working conditions and obligations.

Additionally, a renewal process for all the documents should be part of documentation and necessary reminders should be set to avoid missing out on any business opportunity.

19. Client Agreement

A client agreement is a crucial document that states the service you are providing to your clients. It also lists the terms of payment, dispute resolution, liabilities and termination clauses. The client agreement essentially defines the code of conduct and the expectations of both the parties involved. The client agreement is a legal document that can be referred to bring clarity when one or both parties are deviating from the set and agreed on standards.

20. Company Policy

Company policy is a rule book that defines the working around the legal, operational, functional and client-facing parameters. The policies are worked around health, safety, employee conduct, statutory policies, salary & compensation, workplace policies, substance abuse, disciplinary and legalities etc.

Policies are guidelines that create a backbone a company can rely on. Company policy is an easy reference manual around different situations, obligations, norms, issues and requirements.

The above set of documents are handy for every organisation and much-needed ones as the company grows. It is imperative to do an audit on these documents and know of the recent compliance requirements.

Additionally, a renewal process for all the documents needs to be noted and carried out to avoid missing out on any business opportunity.

Smart businesses work pro-active and are resilient to changing trends only when backed by the right documentation and processes

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