Corporate
Book and Seal
Keep all of your business records and documentation organized and easily accessible with a corporate book and seal.
What Is a Corporate Book and Seal?
A corporate records book and seal is a neat, professional way to store and organize all of your important business documents. The seal is a unique stamp or logo that serves as the company's signature on important paperwork. This ensures authenticity when creating legal documents.
What a Corporate Records Book Includes
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Corporate Book and Seal
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Articles of Incorporation
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Company Bylaws
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Stock and Membership Certificates
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Company Minutes
Corporate Book and Seal
A corporate book is, as its name suggests, a book or binder containing all of the documentation. The company seal is a stamp or logo that authenticates legal documents. The seal is used to validate agreements, contracts, and other official documents.
Throughout the course of your company's lifecycle, certain corporate documents may need to be produced, which require a corporate seal. Additionally, other important documents may need to be accessed. A corporate book and seal is an invaluable tool for producing, organizing and storing these essential business documents.
Articles of Incorporation
The corporate records book includes the Articles of Incorporation – a legal document filed with the Secretary of State that establishes your business as an entity. This usually includes:
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Company name
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Legal purpose
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Type of business
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Registered agent information
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Shareholder and/or membership information
Company Bylaws
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Corporation bylaws and LLC operating agreements contain the rules that govern how your organization operates. They help to ensure cohesion between shareholders and directors/managers when making decisions. Bylaws and operating agreements also outline procedures for voting and electing directors, as well as other internal operations. Regardless of if you're an LLC or corporation, every business requires bylaws/an operating agreement to adhere to domestic state business corporation or LLC laws, as applicable.
This section of your corporate book might also include:
- Partnership agreements
- Shareholder agreements
- Leases
- Deeds
- Asset purchase or sale agreements
- Bill of sale
- Proposal agreements
- Service agreements
- Indemnification agreements
- Employment agreements
Stock and Membership Certificates
The corporate book also includes stock and/or membership certificates. These documents are a legal record of stock ownership/membership interest in the corporation/LLC. This will include:
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Name
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Business name
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Identification number
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How many shares you own, or your ownership percentage
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Signatures from the business' signatories (often a president, secretary, etc.)
Company Minutes
The corporate records book should also include the minutes from all board meetings. The minutes should detail such board actions as:
- Board decisions and resolutions
- Elections of officers
- Stock issuance or transfers
By keeping minutes from each meeting, you can easily refer back to decisions that were made at any given time. This helps to ensure that your company is following the regulations and procedures set forth in the bylaws/operating agreement and ensures corporate actions are being documented in compliance with the domicile state business corporation or LLC laws.
Working With Investors or Lenders
Sharing financials, papers, and other documents with investors or lenders can be complex without a proper book and seal system. Having all the necessary documents organized and secured can provide confidence for potential investors.
For IRS Audits
If your business is audited by the IRS, having an organized corporate book can make the process much smoother. The documents within your company records book will, more likely than not, be required for an IRS audit.
Increased Security
Having a corporate seal means that any documents bearing this symbol or signature have been verified by the company itself, thus ensuring authenticity. This helps reduce fraudulent activity and ensure the security of your business documents.
What Our Customers Have to Say
Dave Quinn
President
NAESIP
"I cannot overstate the value of their recommendations. They approached us with a strategy to change the way we manage our annual licensing fees. In the past, they all came up at roughly the same time which required us to come up with a lot of cash to cover them. Now, we’re paying out smaller amounts each month, which is much easier for our business to manage. It’s really valuable to have the kind of knowledge, expertise, and technology the 3H team puts to work on our behalf."
Chris Peterson
President
Chris-Leef General Agency, Inc.
“We started working with 3H in 2014, following multiple referrals. At that time, we had just acquired an agency and were looking for a way to eliminate liability associated with insurance compliance-related filings. The cost analysis of having to undertake this work internally didn’t make economic sense and so we engaged 3H. Our decision to do so has proved to be beneficial and very valuable; we have been extremely impressed with their services ever since.”
Les Ross
Executive Vice President
Jencap Group
“The overall compliance topic is very important to our Group, including the core issues of ensuring that we have appropriate licenses and business registrations – and that they are properly maintained in a centralized/uniform manner. The 3H team has played an instrumental role in working with us to establish a national protocol that effectively addresses these elements of our compliance effort.”
Coryn Thalmann
CEO/COO
Jimcor Agency, Inc.
“We have been working with 3H Corporate Services for over 18 years. They have been doing all our licensing since then and we have never had a problem. They are extremely reliable, and therefore, we never have to follow up or worry that our license did not get renewed. When we have had an inquiry, they are and have been extremely responsive and courteous. I highly recommend them.”