Free Share Certificates Templates
Why does my company need share certificates?
Companies need to issue share certificates to indicate who owns the shares of the company.
What is the difference between a shareholder and a director?
A director is basically an employee of the company who oversees the day to day running of the company. A shareholder is not necessarily involved in the daily management of the company. They are the ones who owns the shares, thus they are the owners of the company. Shareholders also have the power to appoint or lay off directors and appoint a board of the company.
Free share certificate template (78 downloads )When should share certificates be issued?
When the company is registered, one has to indicate to CIPC how many shares the company has. As soon as a company is registered, the share certificates should be issued by the company and signed by the directors. As soon as more shares are issued, or shares sold, new certificates should be issued. A register must also be kept from when the company starts and should include all the names of shareholders and the amount of shares they own. This register should be updated as soon as the shareholders change.
It is very important to keep these records up to date from when the company started. From a legal point of view, it can be difficult to proof that you are an owner of the company at a later stage, even if you are a director.
Important to note
Close corporations do not need share certificates. The ownership of the close corporation is shown on the CK2 document under members’ contribution.
Non profit companies also do not have shares. When a non profit company closes, it has to donate any money or assets belonging to the company to another non profit company. Therefore there is also no share capital indicated on the annual financial statements for a non profit company.
If you need assistance to issue share certificates, please click here.
Beneficial ownership
Beneficial ownership is the process where the shareholders’ information must be submitted to CIPC. One of the documents that must be included with the submission is a share register that indicates who the owners of the business is. For assistance with beneficial ownership submission, click here.
