S.A. (corporation)
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The abbreviation S.A. or SATemplate:Efn designates a type of public limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and operate a derivative of the 1804, Napoleonic, civil law.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Originally, shareholders could be anonymous and collect dividends by surrendering coupons attached to their share certificates. Dividends were paid to whomever held the certificate. Since share certificates could be transferred privately, corporate management would not necessarily know who owned its shares – nor did anyone but the holders.
As with bearer bonds, anonymous unregistered share ownership and dividend collection enabled money laundering, tax evasion, and concealed business transactions in general, so governments passed laws to audit the practice. Nowadays, shareholders of S.A.s are not anonymous, though shares can still be held by a holding company to obscure the beneficiary.
Variations
Abbreviation
S.A. can be an abbreviation of:
- Template:Lang in Galician and European Portuguese (used in Portugal, Timor Leste, Macao, and Lusophone Africa)
- Equivalent as Template:Lang in Chinese for Macau<ref name="mo">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Lang in Brazilian Portuguese (used in Brazil)
- Template:Lang in Asturian and Leonese
- Template:Lang in Catalan
- Template:Lang in French (as used in French-speaking countries such as France (including French Polynesia, and New Caledonia) and Monaco; also in partially Francophone countries and/or nations with French as one of their official languages like Belgium (where it is equivalent to a Template:Lang), Luxembourg (also identifiable in Luxembourgish as Template:Lang), Switzerland (where it is equivalent to an Template:Lang or a Template:Lang), as well as Haiti, Lebanon, and such African countries as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mauritania, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Algeria)
- Template:Lang in Canadian French
- Template:Lang in Swiss Italian (in Italy replaced by Template:Lang, S.p.A., since 1942)
- Template:Lang or Template:Lang in Spanish
- Mexican law also takes into account the variability of the corporate stock, resulting in most S.A. turning into Template:Lang (S.A. de C.V.), or Template:Lang (S.A.B. de C.V.) for publicly traded companies.
- Mexico also has Template:Lang, which is analogous to the limited liability company.
- Template:Lang in Polish
- Template:Lang in Romanian
"SA" has been incorporated into the names of some companies derived from acronyms, such as Cepsa, originally Template:Lang, "Spanish petroleum company, S.A.",<ref name="Escolar">Template:Cite news</ref> and Sabena, originally Template:Lang, "Belgian S.A. of exploitation of air navigation".
Literal meaning
It is equivalent in literal meaning and function to:
- Template:Lang (N.V.) in Dutch
- Template:Lang (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
- Template:Lang (Bhd.) in Malaysia
- Template:Lang (A.Ş.) or Anonim Ortaklık (A.O.) in Turkish
- Template:Lang (C.A.) in Ecuador
- Template:Lang (C.A.) in Venezuela
- Template:Lang (Template:Lang, A.E.) in Greek is usually translated into S.A. in English and foreign languages.
Function
It is equivalent in function to:
- Template:Lang in Albanian
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (Template:Literal translation) in Arabic
- Template:Lang (d.d.) in Croatian and Bosnian
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (АД) in Bulgarian
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (АД) in Macedonian
- Template:Lang (a.s.) in Czech
- Template:Lang (A/S) in Danish
- Template:Lang (S.A.E.) or Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Literal translation, abbreviated Template:Lang) in Egypt
- Template:Lang (Oy) in Finnish
- Template:Lang (AS) in Estonian
- Template:Lang (AG) in German<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Lang (Rt) in Hungarian
- Template:Lang (Hf) in Icelandic
- Private Limited (Pvt. Ltd.) in India and Pakistan
- Public limited company (plc) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and several Commonwealth countries
- Template:Lang (K.K.) or Template:Lang in Japan
- Template:Lang (J) or Template:Lang in KoreaTemplate:Clarify
- Template:Lang in Laos
- Template:Lang (AB) in Lithuanian
- Template:Lang (AS) in Latvian
- Template:Lang (AS) in Norwegian
- Template:Lang (SA) in Polish
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (AO) in Russian
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (d.d.), or Template:Lang, Template:Lang (a.d.) in Serbian
- Private Limited (Pte. Ltd.) in Singapore
- Template:Lang (a.s.) in Slovak
- Template:Lang (d.d.) in SloveneTemplate:Citation needed
- Template:Lang (AB) in Swedish
- Incorporated in the Philippines (formerly used Spanish S.A., corporate structures were Americanized during the US colonial period)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Template:Lang, Template:Lang (AT) in Ukrainian
- Publicly traded company ("public company") or Incorporated (Inc.) in the United States, though the former term does not appear in the names of business entities
- Template:Lang (C.A.) in Andorra
- Template:Lang or Template:Lang (S.A.C.; Template:Literal translation) in Cambodia
- Template:Lang in Vietnam
- Template:Lang in Chinese<ref name="mo"/>
See also
References
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