CORPORATE REGISTERS & LEDGERS

Contact Neufeld Legal PC for your incorporation legal work at 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

For corporate recording-keeping purposes, and compliance with jurisdiction's business corporations legislation, companies must maintain appropriate records as to its legal and ownership structure and its financial activity. A register primarily refers to the company's official legal and organizational records (governance and ownership). A ledger primarily refers to the company's financial records (accounting).

Corporate registers are official, statutory documents that track the key legal and administrative details of the corporation and its stakeholders. These records are typically kept in the company's minute book.

• Share Register (or Securities Register): An official list of all individuals or entities that are current shareholders or security holders, including their names, addresses, and the number and class of shares they own.

• Directors' and Officers' Register: A continuous log of all persons who have served as a director or officer of the corporation since its incorporation, including dates of appointment and removal.

• Register of Individuals with Significant Control: A record identifying the true individuals who ultimately own or control the corporation (often a legal requirement for compliance and transparency).

• Transfer Register: A record that tracks the chronological details of all transfers of shares between shareholders.

A corporate ledger is the central, comprehensive record-keeping system for a company's financial transactions. The most important ledger is the General Ledger (GL), which uses the double-entry bookkeeping method to organize all financial data into accounts for assets, liabilities, owner's equity, revenue, and expenses.

• General Ledger: The master record of a company's financial data. It contains all the summarized transactions (debits and credits) from all subsidiary (sub-) ledgers, categorized by account (e.g., Cash, Accounts Receivable, Wages Expense).

• Sub-Ledgers: Detailed records for a specific type of transaction, which feed the summarized totals into the General Ledger. Examples include the Accounts Payable Ledger (details of money owed to suppliers) and Accounts Receivable Ledger (details of money owed by customers).

• Stock/Shareholder Ledger: A detailed, historical record of all equity transactions from the company's inception, including the issuance, transfer, and cancellation of shares. This is often grouped with registers as it relates to ownership.

So if you are looking to incorporate a new corporation or deal with the corporate legalities impacting your company, contact us at 403-400-4092 [Alberta], 905-616-8864 [Ontario] or via email at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.