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With LLCs and S Corporations, members and shareholders are able to pass company losses to their personal income reporting.

In some circumstances, the LLC lets you pass more loss than in an S Corporation, most notably when it comes to real estate.

6. Reinvesting Profits There’s another twist regarding the LLC, S Corp and your taxes. As pass-through entities, individual owners of an S Corporation or LLC are liable for any taxes owed on profits — whether that money is retained in the company or put in their wallets. For example, if you own 50% of an S Corporation or LLC and that company makes $80,000 in profit, you need to report $40,000 in income on your personal tax return. And it doesn’t matter whether that $40,000 actually ended up in your pocket. This is known as “phantom income,” and can obviously cause a problem for some shareholders. What to know: If you plan on retaining money in the company (and would prefer not to have shareholders be personally taxed on this money), you should consider the C Corporation over both the LLC and S Corp. Of course, your specific situation may vary, so it’s always best to consult your accountant.

t rests on the recognition that attention to corporate social and environmental responsibilities is generally in the long-term economic interests of the firm.

Managers have a responsibility to consider those affected by company actions; equally, however, those stakeholders are often able to exert pressure on a company if it does not—even to the extent of shutting down the business, as Coca-Cola found in Kerala.  This is particularly true for large companies subject to intense media scrutiny.

When companies implement “strategic CSR” they can find there are many benefits, including strengthened corporate and brand reputations and enhanced trust with key stakeholders (customers, employees, regulatory agencies, suppliers, and investors), improved risk management, increased revenues from innovation to identify new business opportunities, and reduced costs from efficiency improvements. 

aw requiring larger companies to spend 2 percent of each year's profit on those kinds of initiatives. The law kicks in for companies with a profit of at least $80 million over the past three years.

t outlines nine "pillars" that can fulfill the requirement, one of which is "ensuring environmental sustainability," under which installing solar systems falls. This likely will incentivize more solar development because it's an area that provides businesses with a return in investment.

Companies must use a new auditor every five years and any given auditor can't serve more than two five-year terms; an auditor can't serve more than 20 companies; and auditors can be criminally liable if they knowingly or recklessly omit information in their reports.

VF Corporation — one of the world’s largest single purchasers of cotton, whose brands include Lee, Wrangler and The North Face — says much of the world’s cotton comes from areas that are expected to be impacted most by water scarcity and extreme weather  such as the Western US, China, Pakistan and India. The IPCC report makes firms’ risks associated with climate change even more clear, says Letitia Webster, VF’s director of global corporate sustainability.

“Whether in mountains or the ocean, our brands and our consumers are feeling the impacts of climate change,” which means less ski-related business for The North Face.  The company today signed Ceres’ Climate Declaration, calling on US policymakers to enact climate and clean energy policies that will benefit the economy.

Hannah spoke of how the accusations leveled at Nike in the nineties, which claimed they used child labour, were the greatest threat to the company, but at the same time the company’s biggest gift and a golden opportunity.

But where does this responsibility end? Should the alcohol industry be held responsible for the 2.5 millions alcohol-related deaths every year? Can the fashion industry be blamed for anorexia and unhealthy body image issues amongst young women?

It begins with an effort to communicate the business value of sustainability in terms investors already understand: the potential to drive revenue growth from sustainability-advantaged products, improve productivity (and margins) from sustainability initiatives and measurably reduce key sustainability-related risks to revenue and reputation.

Understanding how effectively a business is exploiting the new global force in business in simple terms may be a key indicator that every analyst needs to know.

n 2012, DuPont generated more than $10bn from environmentally advantaged products

“Universities live and die on their rankings,” he said. “If you’re a university, attracting the faculty and students you want may mean you need to be more green.” “If you’re an non-government organization (NGO), your donors are your drivers. If you have a green mission you need to demonstrate that in your own building.” Genzyme, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, Mass., built a LEED Platinum corporate headquarters and documented they had reduced staff turnover by 5 percent. “That value to them of not having to replace key staff on an annual basis was twice their energy cost,” said Yudelson. “In a place like Cambridge, you can change jobs easily if you’re a knowledge worker in certain industries.”