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 Business trust
UK/Ireland/Commonwealth:
Limited company (By shares · By guarantee) (Public · Proprietary) Community interest company
European Union/EEA:
SE · SCE · SPE
Other countries:
AB · AG · ANS · A/S · AS · GmbH
K.K. · N.V. · OY · S.A. · Full list
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 of law
Contract · Civil procedure

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".)
• Socidade 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
• Namelos Vennötschaft (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
  • Società per Azioni (S.p.A.) in Italian (sometimes translated as "joint-stock corporation")
  • Societate pe Acţiuni in Romanian, which abbreviates to S.A.
  • 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).