Share Owners/Members
Share holders are the individuals/companies that collectively own the company. The split of shares owned typically represents the percentage split in ownership. For example two individuals who hold 50 shares each own 50% each of the company.
Proprietary companies are limited to 50 non employee share holders.
Companies formed through eCompanies must have at least one share holder/member who owns at least 1 share.
In the below example, Frank Exampleman is setting up to receive 100 shares with a nominal amount of $1.00 paid per share for a total value of $100.00
Share Class
Different share classes can be used to assign different rights to share holders/members. Examples of rights would be the right to attend and vote at meetings of share holders, receive dividends etc.
(ORD) Ordinary shares are by far the most common type of share. This type of share makes up the vast majority of shares for sale on the stock exchange. Share holders of ordinary shares have the normal or ordinary rights as set out in various sections of the Corporations Act 2001.
If you are unsure then you will want to issue Ordinary shares.
If you are an advanced user the constitution provided by eCompanies outlines a range of custom share classes with rights attached to them. If you are not planning to use the supplied constitution we also provide the option to select a range of commonly named share classes for you to specify the rights to.
Share classes in the eCompanies constitution
Remember (ORD) Ordinary shares account for the vast majority of shares. Other types of shares are for advanced users only.
Only the classes listed here are covered in our constitution. Other classes are included in the dropdown for if you provide your own.
| Class | Meeting | Voting | Dividends | Winding up | Subject to redemption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ord | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| B | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid price only | No |
| C | Yes | Yes | No | Paid price only | No |
| D | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| E | No | No | Yes | Paid price only | No |
| F | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| G | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| H | Yes | No | No | Paid price only | No |
| I | Yes | No | 5% Non-cumulative on issue price | Paid price only | Yes |
| J | Yes | No | Yes | Paid price only | Yes |
| K | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid price only | Yes |
Issuing additional Shares to a yet un-named entity by clicking on "Another Person or Organisation"
You can add another person or company as the additional shareholder by first entering their details to be selected from in this image below. You can add a company that has a valid ACN as a shareholder by entering the ACN of that company in the relevent field and clicking on "Validate"
This will retrieve the ACN details and populate the other field.
Enter the Shareholder address for ASICs records.
Number of shares
The number of shares issued is entirely up to the applicant. The main thing is to reflect the ownership of the company, for example a company that is equally owned by two people could be represented by each person holding 1 share each or 50 shares each.
If you are unsure it is fairly typical that between 1 and 100 shares are issued in a small company.
Amount paid per Share
The value of all the shares issued in a company represent the limit of the share holders legal obligation to pay the debts of the company. It also represents the initial capital of the company.
While shares can be worth as little or as much as you would like it is fairly typical that company shares are initially priced at between 1c and $1.
The amount paid per share cannot contain a fraction of a cent.
Amount remaining unpaid per share
Normally the owner of the shares will pay the full price of the shares to the company upon registration. However it is also possible to partially pay the cost of the shares and be liable for the remaining amount if the company needs the money.
The amount paid per share and the amount remaining unpaid adds up to the nominal cost of the share. ie if you have $1.00 paid and $0.50 unpaid then the cost per share is $1.50.
Unless you are an advanced user you should have $0 remaining unpaid per share.
The amount remaining unpaid per share cannot contain a fraction of a cent.
Beneficial Ownership
If the shareholder is not holding the shares on behalf of another person, organisation or trust, the shares are beneficially held. Answer 'Y' the shares are beneficially held.
If the shareholder is holding the shares on behalf of another person, organisation or trust, they are not beneficially held. Answer 'N' the shares are not beneficially held.
If you select 'No', you can enter the name of the Beneficial owner to
Beneficial Owner Name
If you would like the name of the beneficial owner to appear on the share certificate please enter it here.