Corporate growth is monitored and reported on through the documentation of revenue, profitability, and capital transactions. Tracking inbound revenue and net profits, after deducting expenses, is relatively straightforward and can be maintained using basic accounting principles.

Maintaining accurate records becomes more complicated for capital transactions. Whereas tracking business revenue is a matter of documenting the flow of cash into the company bank accounts, monitoring capital transactions involves keeping track of things like:

• The sale of share capital
• Maintenance of shareholder ledgers
• Long-term debt capital payments
• Purchase or sale of fixed assets under the company’s ownership
• Capital gains taxes owed from the transaction

A corporate record of each and every one of these transactions is necessary for proper recordkeeping. Due to the potential complexity of these transactions, documenting official records is a very arduous and time consuming process. However, entity management software can simplify that process, accelerate the workflow, and maintain all accurate information for the official record.

What needs to be recorded in a capital transaction

In most instances, there are two phases to complete a capital transaction. The first phase is when capital is formally authorized, and the second phase is when capital is officially issued.

During the authorization phase, it’s important to record exactly what type of capital has been permitted. You need to show the intended transfer of ownership of the asset itself, and many of those options fall within the following asset classes:

• Equity in the company
• Stock options for shareholders
• Use of restricted grant funds
• Issuance of mutual fund units
• Issuance of stock warrants
• Authorized usage of fixed or non-fixed convertible securities

The issuance phase of the transaction documents on what date and at what value the transaction was completed. All of this information should be reflected in corporate records so that the company’s financial statements are legally accurate for all shareholders to review.

Tediousness of capital transaction recordkeeping

Keeping track of all of those transactions is a time consuming affair, especially since it requires tracking both the authorization and the issuance of capital. You’ll need two separate sets of records to show the completion of the transaction and maintain accurate record books.

Documenting, storing, and sorting all of these corporate records is one of the most time consuming duties undertaken by a law firm working on behalf of corporate clients. Law clerks or paralegals have limited time to focus on boosting Legal Recurring Revenue for the firm if the majority of their time is spent documenting corporate transactions of all existing clients.

What if there was a way to expedite the process, essentially eliminating the need to write out the same records twice to complete a corporate transaction? What if you could digitize the entire process and give your legal professionals more time to focus on growing the firm?

Entity management software modernizes capital transaction documentation

Rather than continue with the old ways of tracking capital transactions, you can use entity management technology to improve the process. Platforms like MinuteBox simplify the entire recordkeeping process and uphold the strictest enterprise security standards. This ensures all corporate entity information is kept secured with complete confidentiality.

Let’s say the corporation your firm represents authorized a convertible loan. A record needs to show that the loan was authorized and then issued once the capital officially moves from one account to another. Your legal team may even be required to document rarely used capital structures like SPACs or entities that include stock warrants, mutual funds, and even equity.

With MinuteBox, inputting and storing any of these records can be completed in a matter of minutes. All this information is stored and tracked in the platform itself, which means you don’t have to manually input the same information to create an issuance record following the authorization record. Instead, you simply pull in the information from the authorization record with no need to repeat the information.

Additionally, you can create standard templates for commonly used capital transactions. This way, you can apply those records to an entity and reuse them throughout any of the entities that you are managing within the platform.
Are you ready to use a much simpler process to document capital transactions? Join the MinuteBox revolution so that you can document all capital transactions with pre-built templates, save hours of valuable working time, and maintain digital security all within one secure platform.

Since the Corporate Transparency Act was officially enacted, legal experts and compliance officers have spent hours and hours combing through the legislation.

At the heart of the CTA’s mandate, federal legislators require all qualifying business entities to submit diligent beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The purpose of the legislation is part of a broader effort to crack down on white-collar crime and promote greater corporate transparency.

Common FAQs About the CTA

While the enactment of the legislation was highly anticipated, many lingering questions about the reporting requirements confused business leaders. Therefore, FinCEN created a detailed FAQ page that guides legal professionals, in-house counsel, and compliance officers on how to prepare their respective BOI reports.

The most common FAQs relate to the legislation’s filing deadlines. FinCEN requires that any business entity created on or after January 1, 2024 must submit transparent BOI reports no later than 90 days following the receipt of the articles of incorporation. Some exceptions can be made but, generally speaking, most new entities must follow these requirements.

Businesses that were operational before January 1, 2024 are not required to submit their BOI reports until January 1, 2025. Regulators recognize that established corporations have multiple entities and subsidiaries operating under their corporate umbrella. As a result, gathering and documenting all BOI reporting data is a larger undertaking in these businesses.

Updated FinCEN FAQs on the CTA

Despite the detailed FAQ page, a significant amount of confusion remains regarding the status of the CTA. A lawsuit brought before federal court in Alabama, in which a federal judge ruled the CTA “unconstitutional” — a ruling currently under appeal — further compounded the confusing status of the legislation.

To help address ongoing questions about the CTA, FinCEN added new information to their FAQ page. These are a handful of the concerns addressed by FinCEN’s latest content update.

Reporting obligations for previously exempt entities

When the CTA was first enacted, some businesses in various industries were exempt from the BOI reporting requirements. Common exempt industries included sectors you would expect, such as:

• Government authorities
• Financial institutions
• Securities exchanges
• Venture capital funds
• Public utility companies
• Financial market utilities
• And more

In some cases, those exemptions have been challenged and previously exempt entities have lost their exemption status. In these situations, FinCEN requires these businesses to file their BOI reports by the end of 2024, based on specific conditions. General counsel or law firms representing these businesses can contact FinCEN to discuss these reporting conditions.

Businesses that received their articles of incorporation after January 1, 2024 that have lost their exemption status must act more quickly. These entities are required to submit BOI reports within 30 days upon losing their exemption status.

Guidance for S-Corporation compliance

S-Corporations have different business structures than the more common C-Corporations. However, under the CTA, S-Corporations have the same BOI reporting requirements as C-Corporations that must be filed with FinCEN.

Some exemptions do exist, though they’re primarily awarded to S-Corporations that have a significant presence in the United States, as well as those that meet certain financial thresholds. FinCEN advises legal and compliance officers of S-Corporations to contact the Department of Treasury for any questions about exemption statuses.

Homeowners Associations compliance clarification

Homeowners Associations make and enforce rules or by-laws regarding properties within their jurisdiction. Individuals who serve on the board of directors for Homeowners Associations may be classified as beneficial owners, requiring the organization to submit BOI reports to FinCEN.

Beneficial ownership through trusts

Individuals with significant control over trusts are, in most cases, exempt from BOI reporting requirements under the CTA. The exception to that rule lies in cases where those individuals maintain or control at least 25% controlling interest — the threshold requirement that classifies an individual as a beneficial owner — in another business entity through the trust.

Additionally, if the beneficial owner has access to a significant portion of the trust’s assets, they may be required to submit BOI reports documenting those instances. A detailed review of individual trusts must be conducted by FinCEN to determine if trustees qualify as beneficial owners, whose information must be disclosed to the authorities. FinCEN encourages any legal experts managing trusts to contact their department for additional clarity.

How to easily prepare BOI reporting data for FinCEN

FinCEN continues to update their FAQs with more content as new legal matters are addressed. Each individual entity should prepare to submit detailed BOI reports to FinCEN if that data is indeed required. Failure to comply with the reporting requirements will result in stiff financial penalties for the business and possible criminal charges against shareholders and stakeholders.

Newly formed and long-established businesses can simplify their reporting workflows using intuitive entity management software. These platforms provide easy-to-use templates so you can build structured organizational charts, cap tables, and shareholder ledgers in one centralized database.

The benefit of using entity management software for all beneficial ownership, stakeholder, and shareholder data is that the platform functions as a single source of truth. If there are any discrepancies in the BOI reports, compliance officers can simply refer to the platform for clarification. Once the data has been corresponded, make the appropriate updates to the BOI reports and submit them to FinCEN.

By storing all beneficial ownership, stakeholder, and shareholder data in a centralized entity management platform, most of the tediousness of generating those BOI reports is already complete. The data exists in structured minute book records within the platform. All your legal team has to do is pull out the appropriate records and generate PDF files to submit as your BOI reports. It’s a quick, easy, and painless workflow.

Ready to get out ahead of your entity’s BOI reporting requirements? Join the MinuteBox revolution today and build template organizational charts, cap tables, shareholder ledgers, and all entity management records all within one cloud-based secure platform.

Maintaining secure and accurate corporate entity data underscores the foundation of an organization. Legal teams are tasked with managing entity data to ensure regulatory compliance with jurisdictional laws.

Unfortunately, managing all this data becomes increasingly challenging, time consuming, and resource intensive. According to a joint study by EY Law and the Harvard Law School Center, 89% of organizations struggle to maintain diligent corporate records.

Why the struggle? Let’s dig into that.

Legal teams have limited resources to manage global entities

In a survey of 427 legal departments, the findings show a median of six experts on an in-house legal team. Even more telling is that the number of experts considered part of the legal operations division is approximately 5% of the total staff.

Think of legal operations in a similar role to a revenue operations team. These are the people who provide the data, the resources, and the structure to help the professionals who will go out and sell the value of the business to a potential buyer.

In revenue operations, they provide salespeople with leads to go and sell the business. In legal operations, these are the paralegals or clerks that provide trained lawyers with all the information they need to service clients. In the case of in-house corporate counsel, the client is the business entity itself. It’s a vital role that, in the legal community, is sorely lacking in bandwidth, headcount, and resources.

Legal experts must manage global entities and subsidiaries

The strain on legal departments grows as businesses scale to global levels. At this stage, securing data and maintaining compliance for the principal corporate entity are only one aspect of a legal department’s responsibilities.

The greater challenge lies with managing subsidiary data and those business records. As corporations become global businesses, they often establish subsidiary branches in different jurisdictions. This means creating new subsidiary business names, bank accounts, tax IDs, office locations, executive officers, employees, etc.

Among the main reasons why businesses create new subsidiaries include:

• Protecting corporate assets from subsidiary liabilities
• Enforcing compliance in international jurisdictions
• Receive tax advantages that can’t be claimed by parent companies
• Improve mergers and acquisitions with newly acquired companies
• Coordinating financial disbursements to support overseas operations
• Providing another arm of guarantor security if the corporation requires credit financing

Subsidiary management best practices

Given that in-house counsel is a limited team with global responsibilities, it’s best to provide your legal department with subsidiary management best practices. This will help teams use their resources effectively and avoid the frictions or pitfalls that can arise from uncoordinated subsidiary management.

Create a subsidiary governance framework

When companies reach the size of a global corporation with multiple subsidiaries, it only makes sense to establish a subsidiary governance structure. By creating a subsidiary management playbook, your legal team can use the guidelines to assist with things like:

• Reporting controls between subsidiaries and the parent corporation
• Processes to create boards of directors and subsidiary executive committees
• Systems to establish powers of attorney for subsidiaries

Establish detailed organizational charts for the subsidiary

Organization charts are an excellent resource to structure and organize your subsidiaries. These charts outline the hierarchical structure of the business, providing detailed records of which executives are responsible for specific operations.

These charts can even include a connective thread to the parent entity. Your legal team can refer to the charts and contact the executives at the top of the hierarchy whenever legal or fiduciary matters overlap between the parent entity and the subsidiary.

Use subsidiary management software to centralize all business records

Finally, the best resource for efficient subsidiary management is an intuitive platform designed to modernize minute book record keeping and maintain corporate compliance.

Subsidiary management platforms automate many of the clerical tasks and responsibilities involved with the compliance process. They also include advanced security measures that store and safeguard important business records, ensuring all data security protocols specified by jurisdictional laws and by-laws are maintained.
Most importantly, subsidiary management platforms help in-house legal teams save valuable working time on compliance protocols. Given that the average in-house legal team consists of only six people, a platform that simplifies and streamlines the subsidiary management process makes it far easier and more efficient for legal teams to complete their responsibilities. Providing these resources will go a long way toward helping your legal team avoid feelings of burnout.

Regardless of the industry or the company, business owners and managers often handle and sign a substantial number of documents on a day-to-day basis. These documents may include supplier contracts, employee agreements, financing and banking documents, minute book documents and various correspondences. Given the significant amount of paper involved, the cumbersome and time-consuming task of organizing, executing and delivering documents (whether by courier or via email) inevitably leads to delays, inefficiencies and increased costs. One promising solution addressing these issues is the use of electronic signatures. However, this option is often not adopted or even considered for several reasons ranging from unfamiliarity and inertia to concerns in respect of invalidity and fraud. This article provides an overview of both the legal framework governing electronic signatures and the technology that enables them. Hopefully the information below affords some assurance to business owners, managers and legal professionals that electronic signatures can be a convenient and cost-effective way to transact business.

What is a ‘signature’?

Although the colloquial understanding of a signature (which generally consists of the name of a person written in a distinctive way with his or her own hand) is decidedly narrow, the legal concept of signatures is both broad and flexible. Specifically, the courts have defined a ‘signature’, in as early as 1976, to mean “the writing or otherwise affixing, a person’s name, or a mark to represent his name, by himself, or by his authority, with the intention of authenticating a document as being that of, or as binding on, the person whose name or mark is so written or affixed.” In other words, the key consideration for whether or not a ‘signature’ would be legally effectual is the intent which underlies the ‘signature’ as opposed to the ‘signature’ itself.  Consequently, if a ‘signature’ is found to have the necessary intent (which usually communicates approval of and willingness to be bound by the associated document), then it is likely that the ‘signature’ will be binding.

Electronic Signatures

Based on the common law interpretation of ‘signature’, it is clear that if an electronic signature communicates the necessary intent, it would be found binding in the same way that a traditional hand-written signature would. However, given the concerns surrounding the use of electronic signatures (the most concerning of which is the commonly held perception of a heightened risk of fraud), the Ontario provincial legislature passed the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 (the “ECA”). (Various e-commerce acts have been passed in the other provinces in Canada and although there are some differences between such acts, they are generally minor.) The ECA sets out the rules for conducting business transactions electronically (in Ontario) and it is a voluntary and enabling statute which enables electronic business transactions while ensuring that parties who do not want to engage in business electronically have the option to refuse to do so. Consequently, before documents with electronic signatures are exchanged and considered binding, all parties involved must have consented to conducting business electronically.

Pursuant to the ECA, ‘electronic signatures’ are defined as “electronic information that a person creates or adopts in order to sign a document and that is in, attached to or associated with the documents.” Further, the ECA provides that an electronic signature can satisfy (barring exceptional circumstances) any legal requirement that a document be signed insofar as the electronic signature is 1) reliable for the purposes of identifying the person, and 2) the association between the electronic signature and the relevant electronic document is reliable. As such, a typed name at the end of an email or the click of an “I accept” or “sign” button on a website or any other electronic platform are often sufficient to create a binding relationship.

Electronic Signature Technology and Audit Trails

The oft-heard argument that electronic signatures are not as “certain” as ink and paper signatures reveals itself to be baseless once one understands how the technology operates. In fact, electronic signatures may rightly be considered the preferred method of authenticating a document. Electronic signature technology uses email as a way of notifying the signator(ies) that specific documents require signatures. Behind every electronic signature is a digital audit trail, a collection of meta data cataloguing all the steps from when a request for an electronic signature is sent out to when the signed document is returned.

Electronic signature technologies generally track the following information as part of the audit:

• When was a request for an electronic signature sent out;
• To whom was the request sent out;
• When was the email opened;
• When was the document signed and returned;
• Precise details about the computer or device used to sign the document (type of computer, IP address etc).

The audit trail is safely stored and can be verified in cases where the validity of a signature is questioned. In truth, it is far easier, cheaper and more conclusive to verify an audit trail than to hire experts to verify whether ink squiggles directly correspond to a given individual. Audit trails dramatically increase the technical challenge of faking a signature, and they prevent tampering with documents after they have been signed.  Many electronic signature systems ensure trust in the process by employing a document identification number (“DIN”) or a cryptographic hash, both serving to uniquely provide an independent verifiable trail.

Exceptions and Special Requirements

Certain classes of documents are held to a higher validation standard and in these cases, an electronic signature can only satisfy the legal requirement if the electronic signature meets certain prescribed requirements and information technology standards in addition to the two requirements listed above. Some documents that may require a higher validation standard include, but are not limited to, statutory documents (that are to be submitted to the government), statements made under oath, statements declaring the truth and sealed documents. For any such documents, it is recommended that business owners and managers consult their legal counsel before moving forward with the use of electronic documents and signatures.  It is also important to recognize that, although most electronic signatures are governed by provincial legislation (such as the ECA), there are certain documents which would not fall within jurisdiction of the province and therefore must abide by the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act or other federal legislation in order to be valid and binding.

In addition, although electronic signatures are widely accepted, for public policy reasons, certain documents continue to require a hand-written signature by the signatory in order to be enforceable. In Ontario, these documents include wills and codicils, trusts created by wills or codicils, powers of attorney, and negotiable instruments.

Best Practices

Given the above, the validity of electronic signatures can be broken down into four components: 1) consent, 2) intent, 3) reliable association between the electronic signature and the signatory, and 4) reliable association between the electronic signature and the relevant electronic document. First, as set out in the ECA, for electronic signatures to be valid, that all parties involved in the exchange of electronic documents and signatures must have consented to such. Consequently, it is imperative that all parties keep a written record of the consents before transacting business electronically.

Second, as determined by common law, the means in which an electronic signature is applied must clearly indicate that the signatory is ‘signing’ the electronic document and intends to be bound by it. As such, use of the words ‘sign here’ and a confirmatory statement (such as “By clicking on this button, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this electronic document”) which requires the signatory to confirm again (often by clicking ‘yes’) would be useful in ensuring that intent is captured.

Third, there needs to be a reliable association between the signatory and the electronic signature. Often, this association can be evidenced by requesting the electronic signature through a portal that is uniquely linked to the signatory (such as an email address).

Finally, the electronic document and the electronic signature need to be reliably associated. In essence, the electronic signature should be captured such that it clearly applies to each page of the associated document. This association circumvents the concern that any portion of the electronic document was changed or modified after the electronic signature was provided – in which case, the electronic signature would not rightly apply to the pages which were later modified or changed. To satisfy this last requirement, it is best to use an electronic signature software which carries with it an electronic audit trail whereby each document that is signed is issued a DIN.

Conclusion

Electronic signatures are increasingly utilized in every day business and management and provide value to both those collecting signatures as well as the signatories. They provide a solution to the inadvertent inefficiencies and high costs that often come from the tedious and mundane tasks of collecting signatures from different parties. However, it is important that users research the different tools available on the market and choose the one that best services their specific needs. As trust and understanding of the benefits of electronic signatures grow, and their benefits become widespread, disputes over signatures and document tampering may become a relic of the past.

About Loopstra Nixon LLP

Loopstra Nixon is a full-service Canadian business and public law firm dedicated to serving clients involved in business and finance, litigation and dispute resolution, municipal, land use planning and development, and commercial real estate. Major financial institutions, insurance companies, municipal governments, and real estate developers along with corporate organizations and individuals are among the wide range of clients we are proud to serve.

About MinuteBox Inc.

MinuteBox is a cloud-based AI powered tool to support law firms that store and maintain corporate minute books for their clients. It is an online repository where law clerks, lawyers and clients can access and share minute book information safely and securely. Combined with document automation, filing and e-signature features, MinuteBox is quickly becoming the preferred entity management platform for innovative law firms nation-wide.

The foregoing has been prepared for clients of Loopstra Nixon LLP and MinuteBox Inc. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the information contained herein should not be relied on as legal advice; specific advice should be obtained in each individual case. No responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of material herein is accepted by the authors, Loopstra Nixon LLP or MinuteBox Inc. If advice concerning specific circumstances is required, we would be pleased to be of assistance.

© 2018 Loopstra Nixon LLP and MinuteBox Inc. All rights reserved.

This may qualify as “Attorney Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

A growing body of legal entities are using purpose-built legal entity management systems, according to Ernst & Young.

According to their report entitled “The General Counsel Imperative,” 65% of all companies use a purpose-built legal entity management system. Additionally, 85% of businesses with annual revenues that exceed $20 billion use these systems to report corporate governance obligations.

However, a significant percentage of those companies report technology challenges. Specifically, 62% cite challenges in tracking and reporting governance activities within their legal entity management platforms.

How corporate governance works

Corporate governance embodies all the rules, bylaws, policies, and procedures that ensure businesses remain accountable to their stakeholders. Effective corporate governance mitigates risk, provides transparency, and establishes structured workflows that allow corporate entities to fulfill their mandates and achieve their visions.

There are four ways that organizations implement and evaluate the effectiveness of corporate governance policies.

Interconnected relationships between people and stakeholders

Any business entity’s primary objective is to fulfill its vision and turn a profit while doing so. Corporate governance policies influence relationships between the people who determine an organization’s profitability. It includes how founders and board members set internal policies through the consumers and influencers who purchase the company’s products.

Align all stakeholders around a common purpose

Internal and external relationships allow corporate entities to grow their businesses. To ensure satisfactory relationships, the organization must establish a core purpose. Corporate governance policies align all stakeholders around that purpose so that they make decisions to achieve that common goal.

Establish processes that guide organizations to their goals

Businesses must have the tools to analyze and evaluate performance to achieve their purposes. Corporate governance establishes structured processes to track the business’ performance. You can amend your workflows over time, but your processes create a baseline for how to report productivity.

Determine the success of organizational performance

Business entities use corporate governance policies to measure the effectiveness of their performance. Evaluate the success of your corporate governance workflows. Did you achieve your goals, or did the workflows cause more setbacks than achievements? Accurately reporting on corporate governance performance helps the business set more realistic goals.

Challenges of reporting corporate governance performance

Corporate governance helps organizations make more strategic decisions to improve performance. Therefore, accurate reports on corporate governance are necessary to iterate and enhance performance.

So what happens if 62% of business entities have challenges tracking and reporting on corporate governance using legal entity management systems? There are many reasons why those organizations experience reporting challenges with their chosen platforms. These are a handful of the most common struggles.

Difficulty maintaining up-to-date entity management systems

The legal industry is noteworthy for its slow adoption of modern technology. In-house legal departments in large enterprise companies are more accepting of entity management technology, but there are still gaps in how businesses use those systems.

When legal departments are too reliant on older systems, there’s a risk that reporting data will be compromised. Older systems like binders of minute book records or countless files of Excel spreadsheets are less effective than more intuitive entity management platforms.

Uploading all reporting data into an entity management platform like MinuteBox eliminates errors with reporting data. The platform uses helpful wizards to guide general counsellors and their subordinates as they build diligent corporate governance records. The platform also warns the team if data is missing in the modules, ensuring corporate governance risk management.

Passive approaches to entity management that compromise data integrity

According to the EY report, corporate governance reporting challenges are at their highest within organizations where only legal departments use entity management systems. Companies often view the purpose of entity management systems as tools to house legal entity data.

Businesses with effective corporate governance reporting and performance evaluations recognize entity management software as a forward-thinking resource. These entities use their systems to evaluate organizational risk — internal and external — so that they can pivot accordingly.

Entities with global reach and numerous subsidiaries use entity management software for more real-time reporting. They use entity management software as a single source of truth by hosting, reporting, and evaluating data from all subsidiaries in one centralized platform. As a result, they make regular updates to corporate governance workflows.

Tedious and repetitive workflows impede corporate governance

Finally, many corporate entities rely on inefficient operating workflows. Businesses that use spreadsheets, physical minute books, or non-intuitive entity management systems subject their workers to tedious and repetitive corporate governance reporting tasks. As a result, workers struggle to complete governance reporting tasks by designated filing deadlines.

Modern entity management systems like MinuteBox automate most clerical, administrative, and data-entry tasks. The platform’s intuitive nature creates structured cloud-based minute book documents with modules highlighting what reporting data to insert throughout the system.

Automated workflows make corporate governance reporting more efficient and more effective. Detailed performance reports help stakeholders evaluate the effectiveness of their corporate governance programs.

If the program is successful, it can continue with only minor changes. If the data indicates anything less than success, stakeholders can review the evaluations and change their corporate governance processes.

Use MinuteBox to build effective corporate governance programs

Ensure your organization remains on the right side of corporate governance reporting. Join the MinuteBox revolution to build more structured corporate governance processes in an intuitive platform and streamline how you evaluate governance performance.

At MinuteBox, we describe a secure entity management platform as a single source of truth. Safely store all reporting and compliance data within one centralized database, and the cloud-based storage features allow you to access all records from anywhere in the world.

Now, entity management is even easier. The new AI-powered Second Chair by MinuteBox provides insights and answers to wide array of legal entity management questions. The AI lets you chat with your company and simplifies how you gather data to file reports with the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Use a conversational interface to simplify entity management

Imagine asking your entity management platform a helpful question as you create the appropriate filings and business records. Second Chair by MinuteBox fulfills that exact need, empowering paralegals, legal assistants, and entity managers to complete their tasks.

The Second Chair AI — powered by LLMs like GPT-4 — opens a conversational dialogue with your legal entity. Simply chat with your company and access corporate records, minute book documents, and legal databases using a conversational interface.

How to use Second Chair AI for legal entity management

AI-powered solutions have transformed how people receive answers to their questions. An individual can input questions about products, prices, delivery, and other value-add services into the AI technology and receive instantaneous customer service in return.

Second Chair AI by MinuteBox functions very similarly. The technology plugs into your corporate database and maintains an accurate accounting of all entity reporting data about your business. Make use of the technology by asking the AI questions about your workflow, such as:

• What are the quorum requirements for the next board meeting?
• How do I access corporate by-laws and update the rules of governance?
• Where do I find beneficial ownership data and report those shareholders?
• How do I update cap tables and organizational charts with new leadership?
• How do I verify the NAICS code designation for my industry?

You get the idea. Ask the AI whatever questions relate to your current workflow so that you can get the answers and move forward to complete your tasks.

Benefits of Second Chair AI

Second Chair AI helps guide your legal support team as they finalize minute book records and corporate documents. The technology functions as a helpful addition to the human capabilities of your legal team.

Here are some of the main benefits of Second Chair AI that will improve the effectiveness of your legal team.

Direct citations of source documents

Suppose your corporate records require the citation of pertinent documents to help reinforce the data in those records. Second Chair AI will pinpoint those supportive documents and bring up embedded links that direct your legal team to the source of those documents. The AI provides a breadcrumb trail and crystal clear clarity to those source documents.

Immediate and accurate answers

Access to source documents increases the weight and validity of your reported entity data. Direct access to those records means you have quick and precise answers to important legal matters. Stakeholders get their finalized reports, and your legal team files all pertinent records by the appropriate legal deadlines.

Say goodbye to manual searches

Time never seems to be on your side. As calendar deadlines to file beneficial ownership data, shareholder ledgers, or annual reports creep ever closer, legal teams must operate with utmost efficiency. Second Chair AI streamlines the entire legal entity workflow, saving valuable time completing legal documentation. As a result, you’ll meet all legal deadlines without error.

Try Second Chair AI today

Ready to chat with your company using the power of AI? Don’t wait another minute. Try Second Chair AI today and watch how much easier it is to maintain accurate legal records. You’ll reduce time, stress, and errors by choosing the most modern and efficient solution to legal entity management. Check it out today!