Experts note that in North America more than 50,000 new corporations are formed each month. A business owner must choose from among a handful of legal structures when establishing a new firm. Forming a corporation can appear to be a formidable task requiring a lot of legal assistance, but there are many resources available to those seeking such a legal structure for their businesses. The primary step is to recognize the basic procedure of incorporating. The basic steps are:

• Select and reserve a corporate name;
• Prepare and file articles of incorporation;
• Select the board of directors;
• Establish corporate bylaws;
• Record the minutes of the first meeting of the board of directors;
• Establish a corporate bank account;
• Issue stock certificates to shareholders;
• Create a corporate record book;
• Conform to individual state requirements on incorporation;
• Review bulk sales laws that pertain to the corporation.

The business owner who possesses neither the time nor the inclination to perform these procedures independently can either enlist the services of a lawyer or utilize the services of organizations that deal directly with the individual owner in the incorporation process. Such specialists in incorporation can answer a business owner's questions over the telephone and can act as an agent for the company. For nominal fees advertised at $75 to $300, based on required services, these groups will help the organization choose from among the general, the closed, and the non-stock corporation, and will guide the owner through the procedures to incorporation. More information can be obtained from:

Corporate Agents
PO. Box 1281
Wilmington, DE 19899
(800) 877-4224 or (302) 998-0598
Harvard Services
25 Greystone Manor
Lewes, DE 19958
(800) 345-2677

The more adventurous individual can secure the guidance of several good publications and perform the process on his or her own. These sources contain step-by-step descriptions of the procedures and, in some cases, provide specimens of the required forms.