''Aksjeselskap'' is the Norwegian term for a

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...

-based

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

. It is usually abbreviated AS, historically often written as A/S. An AS is always a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

, i.e. the owners cannot be held

liable In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agen ...

for any debt beyond the stock capital. Public companies are called Allmennaksjeselskap (ASA), while companies without limited liability are called ''

Ansvarlig selskap An (; en, liable company) is a Norwegian legal form, mainly used in small and medium-sized enterprises, in which the company's individual owners are held personally liable for any outstanding debts acquired by the company. It is similar to a ...

'' (ANS). All AS companies must have a stock capital of at least NOK 30,000. In addition, they must have a

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

, depending on the size of turnover, balance sheet total or number of employees, an

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

or. They may appoint a managing director (MD) or chief executive (CEO). If the company has

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that c ...

s exceeding NOK 3 million, the board must have at least three members and cannot be chaired by the MD/CEO. Practically all Norwegian companies have a

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

from January to December, but some foreign

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...

may have a different fiscal year, as is allowed, to match the parent

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

. The ASA differentiates from the Aksjeselskap in that it has rules regulating its ownership. There cannot be any rules limiting the company's ownership to certain interests, and an ASA must offer a public tender to purchase stock, either new stock or from existing owners if the company is converted from an AS. Norwegian companies, both those listed on a

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for t ...

and

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s, must be ASAs (banks, however, are exempt from certain regulation including ownership regulation). An ASA is required to have a

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

of NOK 1 million; a board with at least 40% of its members from each

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

as well as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

References

{{Norwegian type of company Types of companies of Norway