A stock company must have one or more directors.
株式会社には、一人又は二人以上の取締役を置かなければならない。
A stock company may have a board of directors, an accounting advisor, a company auditor, a board of company auditors, a financial auditor, audit and supervisory committee, or nominating committee, etc. as prescribed by the articles of incorporation.
株式会社は、定款の定めによって、取締役会、会計参与、監査役、監査役会、会計監査人、監査等委員会又は指名委員会等を置くことができる。
nominating committees, etc.machine translation
「指名委員会等」
The three committees of a company with nominating committee, etc.: its nominating committee, audit committee and remuneration committee.
Short name set inArticle 2, paragraph (1), item (xii)
articles of incorporation
定款
A company's own basic rules, written by its founders when it is formed: at least its purpose, its trade name, where its head office is, the value of the property contributed at incorporation and who the founders are (Companies Act, Article 27). A stock company's must be certified by a notary before it takes effect (Article 30, paragraph (1)), and can later be changed by a resolution of the shareholders meeting (Article 466). Many rules in the Act apply "unless the articles of incorporation provide otherwise", so a company's articles decide a great deal of how the Act applies to it.
Written by AI using Companies Act, Arts. 26, 27, 30, 466, 575 as a reference.
board of directors
取締役会
The body made up of all of a stock company's directors (Companies Act, Article 362, paragraph (1)). It decides how the company's business is carried out, supervises the directors, and appoints and removes the representative directors (代表取締役) (Article 362, paragraphs (2) and (3)) — except in a company with a nominating committee and the other committees (指名委員会等設置会社), where it appoints representative executive officers (代表執行役) instead (Articles 416 and 420). Some decisions, such as disposing of important assets or borrowing a large amount, it normally may not hand to the directors (Article 362, paragraph (4)). A company with an audit and supervisory committee (監査等委員会設置会社) can hand more of them to directors (Article 399-13, paragraphs (5) and (6)), and a company with the committees hands them to executive officers (執行役) rather than directors (Article 416, paragraphs (3) and (4)). A company chooses in its articles of incorporation whether to have one (Article 326, paragraph (2)), but a public company (公開会社), among others, must (Article 327, paragraph (1)): a public company is one whose articles of incorporation let at least some of its shares change hands without the company's approval (Article 2, item (v)). A company with a board must have at least three directors (Article 331, paragraph (5)).
Written by AI using Companies Act, Arts. 2, 326, 327, 331, 362, 399-13, 416, 420 as a reference.
company auditor
監査役
An officer of a stock company, elected by the shareholders meeting (Companies Act, Article 329, paragraph (1)), whose job is to audit how the directors carry out their duties and to write an audit report on it (Article 381, paragraph (1)). Not an outside accountant — that is the financial auditor (会計監査人) — and not a director: a company auditor may not also be a director or employee of the company or its subsidiaries (Article 335, paragraph (2)). The term normally runs to the annual shareholders meeting for the last business year ending within four years of election (Article 336, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Companies Act, Arts. 329, 335, 336, 381 as a reference.
director
取締役
An officer of a stock company, elected by the shareholders meeting (Companies Act, Article 329, paragraph (1)). Every stock company has at least one (Article 326, paragraph (1)). Where there is no board of directors, the directors run the company's business unless the articles of incorporation say otherwise (Article 348, paragraph (1)), and each of them represents it unless the company has chosen representative directors (代表取締役) or others to do that (Article 349, paragraphs (1) and (3)). Where there is a board (取締役会, board of directors), the directors are its members, and the board decides the business and normally chooses the representative directors from among them (Article 362). The term normally runs to the annual shareholders meeting for the last business year ending within two years of election (Article 332, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Companies Act, Arts. 326, 329, 332, 348, 349, 362 as a reference.