Business Structures and Legal Entities

In this course, you’ll learn how and why businesses choose different legal structures—and how those choices shape liability, taxation, governance, and financial risk. You’ll develop the ability to identify and compare sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, and to evaluate how each structure affects owners, investors, and advisors in real-world business situations. You’ll begin by examining the foundational characteristics of each business form, including ownership, authority, and exposure to personal liability. From there, you’ll explore how partnerships operate in practice, how corporations are formed and governed, and how businesses raise capital through debt and equity. Throughout the course, you’ll apply these concepts to realistic scenarios that mirror the kinds of decisions accountants and business professionals face every day. What makes this course unique is its applied, judgment-focused approach. Rather than memorizing definitions, you’ll practice analyzing trade-offs, assessing risk, and explaining why one structure may be more appropriate than another in a given context. By the end of the course, you’ll be better prepared to interpret business structures, advise stakeholders, and apply legal reasoning with confidence in professional settings

• Analyze how legal structures affect liability, taxation, and governance
• Apply legal reasoning to evaluate business structure options
• Identify and compare different legal entities in real-world scenarios

• Basic computer and internet skills
• Ability to read course instructions in English and complete short practice activities