S.A. (corporation)

Companies law

Company · Business Sole proprietorship

Partnership (General · Limited · LLP)

Corporation Cooperative

United States

S corporation · C corporation LLC · LLLP · Series LLC Delaware corporation Nevada corporation Massachusetts business trust

UK / Ireland / Commonwealth

Limited company (by shares · by guarantee Public · Proprietary)

Community interest company

European Union / EEA

SE · SCE · SPE · EEIG

Elsewhere

AB · AG · ANS · A/S · AS · GmbH K.K. · N.V. · OY · S.A. · more

Doctrines

Corporate governance Limited liability · Ultra vires Business judgment rule Internal affairs doctrine

De facto corporation and corporation by estoppel

Piercing the corporate veil Rochdale Principles

Related areas

Contract · Civil procedure

v • d • e

For the art organization see Société Anonyme (art)

S.A. generally designates corporations in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law. This translates literally in all languages mentioned as anonymous company, anonymous partnership or share company and can be differentiated from partnerships and limited liability companies.

S.A. meaning "anonymous society/corporation" is the abbreviation of:

• Sociedad Anónima or Sociedad por Acciones in Spanish; Societat Anònima in Catalan (Variations include "S.A. de C.V." = "sociedad anónima de capital variable" and "S.A.B. de C.V." = "sociedad anónima bursátil de capital variable".)
• Sociedade Anónima in Galician and in Portuguese; Sociedade Anônima in Brazilian Portuguese
• Società Anonima in Swiss Italian
• Société anonyme in French (as commonly used in most French speaking countries, such as France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Monaco, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and various African countries)

It is equivalent in both literal meaning and practical function to:

• Anonim Şirket (A.Ş.) in Turkish
• Anonymi Etairia (A.E.) or Ανώνυμη Εταιρία in Greek
• Naamloze Vennootschap (N.V.) in Dutch
• Perseroan Terbatas Terbuka (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
• Sendirian Berhad (Sdn.Bhd.) in Malaysia
• Shoqëri Anonime (Sh.a.) in Albania

It is equivalent in practical function to:

• Several different forms with names equivalent to the German Aktiengesellschaft (AG), all literally meaning "share company" or "Company with Shares" (other types of company may also have shares, but these shares are given a different name, such as Anteile in German to contrast with Aktien):
  • Akcionarsko Društvo (A.D.) in Serbian
  • Akciová společnost (a.s.) in Czech
  • Akciová spoločnosť (a.s.) in Slovak
  • Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish
  • Aktieselskab (A/S) in Danish
  • Aksjeselskap (AS) in Norwegian (bokmål)
  • Dioničko društvo (d.d.) in Croatian
  • Lutlag (LL) in Norwegian (nynorsk)
  • Osakeyhtiö (OY) in Finnish
  • Részvénytársaság (Rt.) in Hungarian
  • Società per Azioni (S.p.A.) in Italian (sometimes translated as "joint-stock corporation")
  • Societate pe Acţiuni (S.A) in Romanian
  • Spółka Akcyjna (S.A.) in Polish
• Public limited company (Plc) in English (most commonly used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, less-known elsewhere).