Chances are that if you operate a business you are either a director of the company, or a shareholder, or both. There are thousands of small and medium sized business in New Zealand that operate through companies.
When it is just you who is the director and shareholder, its relatively straightforward because you're going to make the decisions yourself. Good and bad. You answer to yourself, but really you probably answer to the bank and the landlord too. You probably had to give personal guarantees to them before they'd sign anything up with your company.
Overall though, its quite simple, and you know where you stand. You know where the buck stops. The bank and the landlord do too.
Where it becomes more complicated is where there are more shareholders. And where there are more directors. In other words, the business is a bit bigger than a one man job. There might be a number of shareholders and they might not all know each other. Maybe you've got some directors who have been with the company since they started it years ago. Its their baby. But now its grown, and maybe there was a decision one day to bring in an independent director or two. An outside perspective. Its even possible that these directors don't even have shares in the company.
