S.A. (corporation) facts for kids
The letters S.A. stand for a special kind of company found in many countries. Most of these countries speak languages that come from Latin, like French or Spanish, and use a legal system called civil law.
Long ago, the owners (called shareholders) of an S.A. company could truly be "anonymous." This meant the company didn't know who owned its shares. People could collect their share of the company's profits (called dividends) by simply handing over special coupons attached to their share papers. These share papers could be passed from one person to another privately, so the company's leaders wouldn't necessarily know who their owners were.
However, this old system made it easy for people to hide money or avoid paying taxes unfairly. Because of this, governments created new laws. Today, shareholders of S.A. companies are no longer anonymous. While a company might still own shares in another company (this is called a holding company), the real owners can now be identified.
What S.A. Means Around the World
The abbreviation S.A. stands for different phrases depending on the country and language. But they all mean a similar type of company.
Here are some examples of what S.A. can mean:
- Sociedade Anónima in Galician and European Portuguese (used in Portugal, Timor Leste, Macao, and parts of Lusophone Africa)
- Sociedade Anônima in Brazilian Portuguese (used in Brazil)
- Sociedá Anónima in Asturian and Leonese
- Societat Anònima in Catalan
- Société anonyme (SA) in French-speaking countries like France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and many African nations.
- Société par actions in Canadian French
- Società Anonima in Swiss Italian (in Italy, it's now called Società per azioni, or S.p.A.)
- Sociedad Anónima or Sociedad por Acciones in Spanish
- In Mexico, many S.A. companies are called Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable (S.A. de C.V.). This means their company stock can change.
- Spółka Akcyjna in Polish
- Societate pe Acțiuni in Romanian
The Greek term Anonymi Etaireia (Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία, A.E.) is also usually translated as S.A. in other languages.
Similar Company Types
Many countries have a type of company that works like an S.A., even if it has a different name. These companies often have "limited liability," meaning the owners are only responsible for the money they invested, not all of the company's debts.
Here are some examples of similar company types:
- Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) in Dutch
- Perseroan Terbatas Terbuka (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
- Berhad (Bhd.) in Malaysia
- Anonim Şirket (A.Ş.) in Turkish
- Corporación anónima (C.A.) in Ecuador and Venezuela
- Shoqëri Aksionare (Sh.a.) in Albanian
- Dioničko društvo (d.d.) in Croatian and Bosnian
- Акционерно дружество, Aktsionerno druzhestvo (АД) in Bulgarian
- Акционерско друштво, Aktsionersko drushtvo (АД) in Macedonian
- Akciová společnost (a.s.) in Czech
- Aktieselskab (A/S) in Danish
- Osakeyhtiö (Oy) in Finnish
- Aktsiaselts (AS) in Estonian
- Aktiengesellschaft (AG) in German
- Részvénytársaság (Rt) in Hungarian
- Hlutafélag (Hf) in Icelandic
- Private Limited (Pvt. Ltd.) in India
- Public limited company (plc) in the United Kingdom and Ireland
- Kabushiki gaisha (K.K.) or 株式会社 in Japan
- Jusighoesa (J) or 주식회사 in Korea
- Akcinė bendrovė (AB) in Lithuanian
- Akciju sabiedrība (AS) in Latvian
- Aksjeselskap (AS) in Norwegian
- Акционерное общество, Aktsionernoye obshchestvo (AO) in Russian
- Деоничарско друштво, Deoničarsko društvo (d.d.), or Акционарско друштво, Akcionarsko društvo (a.d.) in Serbian
- Private Limited (Pte. Ltd.) in Singapore
- Akciová spoločnosť (a.s.) in Slovak
- Delniška družba (d.d.) in Slovene
- Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish
- Акціонерне товариство, Aktsionerne tovarystvo (AT) in Ukrainian
- Publicly traded company or Incorporated (Inc.) in the United States
- Compañía Anónima (C.A.) in Andorra
- Công ti cổ phần in Vietnam
- 股份有限公司 in Chinese
See also
In Spanish: Sociedad anónima para niños
- Président-directeur général (France)
