Vincent Ding  [More info] If a company sets up another company, what do you call that, a subsidiary company or a branch? tks a lot. Vincent Ding Joined on Fri, Apr 29 2005 Full Member 182

	+1 Mister Micawber  [More info] Not a branch. It could be a subsidiary or a separate entity, depending on the relationship defined in the articles of incorporation. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 36,916 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	+1 vinodram  [More info] MM I think It cannot be a subsidairy as the parent is itself forming an another company. So it can be a seperate company. vinodram Joined on Tue, Jul 13 2004 Chennai, India Full Member 360 Vidhya dhathathe vinayam | Vinayath yathi pathrathvam || Pathrathvath Janam apnothi | Janah dharmam thatus sukam||

	+1 rwiles  [More info] This question is quite complex and depends on several factors (and the decisions when setting up companies are usually always tax related). To keep it simple, a branch would arise where a new location, division, department, office....etc. is set up, yet still under the original company's name and is still part of that legal entity. That's to say the new 'branch' will not need to produce its' own set of statutory accounts. A susidiary (and for the purpose of this example we will assume the question refers to a wholly owned subsidiary) is where a company sets up a new companyand registers the legal entity with the local authority (in the UK Companies' House) as a stand alone company. If it is 100% owned by the parent company (i.e. the one setting up the new company) then it will still be required to produce a set of statutory accounts, these will then simply be consolidated into Group Accounts by the parent. The company I work for has a very complex domestic and overseas parent, subsidiary and branch structure, with wholly owned subsidiary companies often being legal entities in name only (non-trading), purely for tax relief and group loss transfer. Hope this hasn't complicated the issue too much. For simplicity, it's best to think that if the new company set up has legal registration it's a subsidiary, if not it's a branch. rwiles Joined on Thu, May 26 2005 Live in England work in Germany Full Member 144 Gott weiß ich will kein Engel sein

	+1 nona the brit  [More info] IT probably depends on the laws of each country. In the UK, branches of a company can sign contracts - it is certain people/job roles that have the authority to do this or not and the head office will set the limits of who and what type of contract. Branch managers usually have a certain amount of authority.  It wouldn't be very workable if a company with, say, 1000 branches over the UK, had to refer every tiny decision back to the head office, even just to arrange a local office cleaning contract for example. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,782 The name says it all.

	+1 Tidus  [More info] It is more likely to be a subsidiary. Every company is a separate entity.  If a company - a high street bank for example - has banks in 5 different towns, then those are known a branches of the bank.  A branch is just an outlet used to carry out the business of the company. If a company starts up another company, then that new company is a subsidiary company. Tidus Joined on Mon, Nov 27 2006 England Full Member 372