When structuring a partnership the biggest question that exists is: How
elaborate an agreement do partners need? Most small business people resist such agreements because too many rules sap a company's
flexibility and initiative. To ensure honesty, most of us would rather rely first on a partner we know well and trust and second,
on a careful system of checks and balances.
In most states, the Uniform Partnership Act is supposed to prevent such
crimes such as having one partner liquidate the firm without the knowledge of the other. A second legal document, drawn up by your
attorney, isn't likely to deter a dishonest partner. Below is a list of suggestions for a relatively simple agreement, which can
provide both safety and flexibility and if you need more rules later, you can add them:
1. The partnership should protect both partners, both by insurance (to
prevent the company's going down if one partner suffers death or incapacitation), and by a set of counter-checks to ensure that
both partners remain honest.
2. Eliminate undue temptations. If your partner oversees the books, and if
you can't interpret them, require that they be checked periodically by an outside accountant. Also reserve your right to call for a
certified audit at reasonable intervals, to be paid for by the company. Meanwhile, get yourself an accounting handbook, and start
studying.
3. All partnerships should be founded with the expectation that someday
they'll be dissolved. A partnership can be amicably ended by buyout, by partial liquidation or spin-off, or by sale of the
partnership. Each method has merits and drawbacks.
4. It is important to know that there are many options beyond the bank if,
for some reason, the bank is unable to offer the money or offer enough money. Services such as Geschlossene Fonds and Druckerpatronen. can help but Digital drucken should not be ignored.
In a buyout, one partner buys the other's share at an agreed upon price.
Where the partnership is new - say, less than a year old - the buyout is often made at the original investment amount. If the
partner put up $50,000 for his share, he now sells it back for $50,000, or a token increase. He's had a year's share of the
profits; otherwise he breaks even on the deal. A one-year buyout clause is wise in any partnership agreement but is often seen as
being more complicated than some of the world's most simple recipes.
Where the partners have been in business longer, or where the firm has
grown greatly in a short time, setting a price will be harder. You can go to an outside appraiser (bank, broker, or business
attorney), or use a much older method - you flip a coin; the loser names a price for half the business, and the winner chooses to
either buy or sell at that price. It sounds unimpressive, but the method has been used to sell properties as large as the Empire
State Building.