Memorandum of Association (MOA)
The Memorandum of Association (MOA) is the supreme legal document related with a company or organization. The MOA and the AOA (Articles of Association) together form the magnificent constitution of the company or organization. The AOA is considered subordinate to this MOA in respect of the overall importance and status of a company. In absence of these two documents a company can never be registered in any country, nor can work for a single day. Information about the Articles of Association of a company has been provided separately on other pertinent webpage of this internationally renowned law firm of India, located in Delhi. Here, being provided exclusively is a rich and very informative stock of information about the memorandum of association of a company, especially an Indian company or corporation.
The broad definition of the memorandum of association is being presented below. Here now, an overall difference between the MOA and the AOA is being dealt with, to help especially the readers novice to this subject/stuff. The MOA of a company contains all fundamental information about the establishment and location of the company, its activities and objectives, relationship among its members/shareholders, and other pieces of information necessary for the proposed company to be registrable. On the other hand, the AOA of the company contains all rules, provisions, regulations, and powers of all its shareholders and members positioned at varying hierarchies, which are necessary for the overall governance and management of the working of the company.
What is Memorandum of Association (MOA) of a Company in India
This section offers a generic and broad definition and other enlightening information to elucidate "what is memorandum of association (MOA) of a company in india or abroad", in order to inform the readers the finer points of this supreme charter document of a company.
The MOA of a limited liability company may be defined as "the supreme constituent document which offers to the public all fundamental information about the company, including its name and location, its permitted range of activities and objectives, criteria governing the relationship of the company with its shareholders and the outside world, and the provisions for distribution of its shares among the specified shareholders".
The Section 4 of the Indian Companies Act of 2013, describes the prescribed contents of the memorandum of association of an Indian company. While the Section 13 of this Act expounds the provisions for making any alterations or rectifications in the MOA of an Indian company, at any point of time.
Importance of Memorandum of Association of a Company
The importance of memorandum of association of a company is extreme, together with the AOA, to the shareholders, creditors, investors, and other people and companies dealing with the company, in contexts of complete guidance and safety. Actually, all these people and entities are presumed to have read the MOA and AOA of any company well before initiating any relations with the company. Again, a company can never go against anything which is clearly specified in its MOA, even the AOA of the company is bound to comply with the MOA of the company. Hence, drafting of the MOA as well as the AOA of a company must be guided by a veteran and expert corporate lawyer.
As per the Section 4 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013, the MOA of every limited liability company located anywhere in India, must contain the following six clauses:- Name Clause: --- It covers the unique and approved name of the company, which should end with the wording 'Private Limited' or 'Public Limited'.
- Situation Clause: --- This clause gives information about the physical location (place and State) of the registered office of the company.
- Objective Clause: --- This clause covers the main as well as the ancillary aims and objectives of the company.
- Association and Subscription Clause: --- It contains details of the founder subscribers, shares allotted to each of them, witnesses, etc.
- Capital Clause: --- It gives information about the total share capital and assets of the company, the minimum paid-up share capital, categories of shares, etc.
- Liability Clause: --- It discovers details about the liabilities of each of the members/shareholders of the company.