Both California Corporations and California S-Corps are required to hold an annual meeting for shareholders. These meetings are pivotal for fostering transparency, discussing business strategy, and making essential corporate decisions.
If your business is set up and registered as a Corporation, you're required by law to hold an annual shareholder meeting and to document the meeting with minutes.
Directors who fail to follow the AGM requirements can be prosecuted in court, and may also face disqualification or debarment from being a director. In addition, ACRA can impose composition fines on companies that do not hold the required AGMs.
But to keep the liability shield in place, corporations must follow certain formalities—such as holding and documenting an annual meeting. Failure to hold annual meetings could allow creditors to “pierce the corporate veil” to pursue shareholders' personal assets to satisfy the business's debts.
The notice for an annual meeting must state the time of the meeting, the place of the meeting, if any, and the means of remote communication, if any, by which stockholders and proxy holders may be deemed to be present and entitled to vote at the meeting. Quorum and Presence at the Meeting.
While shareholders' meetings represent ownership, board meetings embody the company's leadership. The board of directors, acting as a bridge between management and shareholders, is responsible for making strategic decisions, overseeing management, and safeguarding the company's long-term interests.
All shareholders must be notified of the format, date, time, and place of the meeting. How far in advance notices should be distributed may depend on your state, but generally, they should be sent out more than 10 days prior to the meeting, but less than 60 days.
Shareholders who cannot attend the meeting in person are encouraged to vote by proxy, which can be done online or by filling out and mailing a form.
The information required in the proxy statement must include: (1) the identity of the late filer; (2) the number of late filings; (3) the number of transactions not reported on time; and (4) any known failure to file a required form. The solicitation of proxies section is required by Item 4 of Schedule 14A.