Are you a seasoned entrepreneur? Like, do you get the urge to be an entrepreneur occasionally? Or are you just starting out in business, permanently and for real?
Whoever you are, understanding your role as a company owner is important to your success. Because, as a business owner, you have a lot of control over your business and how it works. But you already know that with great power comes great responsibility, right? And it’s important to know your responsibilities and risks as a business owner. You have many responsibilities to run a successful and honest business, like ensuring your employees are safe and keeping your company’s assets safe.
Also, you need to know about your legal and financial responsibilities to keep yourself and your business safe from lawsuits and other legal problems. This blog post will discuss the most important responsibilities and liabilities of being a business owner, as well as tips and best practices for doing these things well.
Who Is a Company or Business Owner?
A company’s owner runs the business, decides how it works, and makes money. A business is any place that sells things or provides services for money, like an online store or a freelance writer.
A business owner can work alone or with others, but they are responsible for making plans, teaching employees, and ensuring the business runs daily. A business owner oversees how the business runs and how well it does.
Bill Gates is a well-known business owner because he co-founded Microsoft, one of the world’s biggest software companies. As the business owner, he was a big part of deciding where it was going and making important decisions that helped it do well. Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon, and Elon Musk, who started Tesla and SpaceX, are also owners of businesses.
Roles and Responsibilities in a Business
There are different types of roles in a business, and every role has certain sets of responsibilities to maintain. Some of these roles and responsibilities are divided into three levels:
- Executive,
- Manager,
- Operations and production.
Let’s talk in detail about those three levels of roles and responsibilities. Please take a look below:
1. Executive Or Top-Level Business Roles
There are different executive-level positions in a business or company. Those are discussed below:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO): A CEO makes top-level decisions, gets the company’s resources, and makes operational and structural changes that directly affect the organization’s growth. Either the president or the owner can carry out this task in smaller businesses.
- Chief Operating Officer (COO): A Chief Operating Officer oversees the company’s operations. In smaller businesses, the general manager can fill this role, which is similar to a COO. These top-level business jobs make sure that things run smoothly and often oversee different departments to ensure employees do their work right and on time.
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO): The CFO, also called the controller, oversees a business’s cash flow and how well it does financially. A CFO and a controller are usually two different jobs within a large company, but smaller companies may combine these two jobs into one job title. The CFO usually finds investors and other ways for the business to get money from outside sources, while the controller controls the company’s expenses and assets. When one person takes on both financial roles, they are in charge of both money coming in and money going out.
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): The chief marketing officer (CMO) oversees a company’s marketing campaigns, budgets, and the whole marketing department. This job may be in charge of multiple marketing teams, each with its own team leader or marketing manager. Also, the CMO usually makes the final decisions about how marketing projects are planned and carried out.
- Chief Technology Officer (CTO): The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is in charge of the organization’s technology. They often use new technology trends and ensure that any new technology meets their company’s needs. The CTO oversees the most important tasks in companies with big IT departments.
- President: Some organizations don’t have a CEO but do have a president. Even though the president and the CEO have many of the same responsibilities, the president may also have other tasks that the CEO may not. They could do some of the things that a COO and a CFO do in bigger companies. As a company grows, the president may take on more specific responsibilities, such as making top-level decisions and leading the management teams, instead of a wide range of executive duties.
- Vice President: For the president, the vice president makes decisions and plans by telling mid-level managers and team leaders what to do. They can, among other things, be in charge of how a business runs and sets up its organizational structure.
- Executive Assistants: Most of the time, an executive assistant works directly for the CEO and does most of the CEO’s administrative work. A business often needs an executive assistant to keep the CEO’s schedule, agenda, and appointments in order.
2. Managerial Business Roles And Responsibilities
The responsibilities of managerial business roles are discussed below-
- Marketing Manager: Depending on the company’s size, the marketing manager oversees the whole marketing department. In a large company, the marketing department might have more than one team, and each team might have its own marketing manager. Every manager reports directly to the CMO. In smaller companies, the marketing manager may be the only person at the top level who is in charge of marketing.
- Product Manager: Product managers research product markets and streamline product development processes. A product manager may spend most of their time researching customer markets, evaluating popular products, analyzing how products are made, and working with marketing teams to develop product promotion strategies.
- Project Manager: Project managers are in charge of much of the planning and making of business projects. These people are responsible for planning, designing, monitoring, controlling, and finishing projects. Project managers may examine and minimize risks on various projects. They often work with other department managers, like marketing and product managers, to plan and develop all parts of a project, such as its budget, resources, and timeline.
- Finance Manager: Finance managers often look at costs and income and use this information to make financial reports. In smaller businesses, this job may be in charge of a number of financial tasks, such as figuring out how much money is coming in and how much it will cost the company. In larger businesses, the finance manager may be in charge of the accountants and bookkeepers on staff, and they depend on their work to make accurate financial reports and forecasts.
- Human Resources Manager: Human resources managers oversee the department of human resources. In larger organizations, they may be in charge of a lot of people, but in smaller ones, they may only be in charge of a few people. This business role is important for operations because they look for, interview, hire, and start working with new employees. HR managers often talk to top-level executives to develop strategic plans and act as a link between top-level management and the rest of the company’s staff.
3. Operational Roles And Responsibilities
The responsibilities of managerial business roles are discussed below-
- Marketing Specialist: The marketing specialist is an important part of the marketing team. Specialists do many different things, like gather customer information, research target demographics, and optimize content for SEO. In the marketing department of many companies, there is more than one marketing specialist, and this person usually reports directly to the marketing manager.
- Business Analyst: Many companies hire business analysts to evaluate how their businesses grow and change. This job analyzes market trends, predicts future revenue, and makes plans that help businesses track profitability, product viability, and the overall success of operations.
- Human Resource Personnel: Human resources personnel are an important part of any business, and the HR manager oversees them. Most of the time, the people in these business roles are in charge of payroll, employee schedules, performance reviews, and evaluations. In big companies, the HR department might have a few HR managers and a lot of staff who work under them.
- Accountant: A business’s day-to-day operations, such as sales, paying bills, and filing taxes–an accountant oversees all of these. Accountants in smaller businesses may have to do things that finance managers or chief financial officers (CFOs) do in large businesses.
- Sales Representative: Sales representatives talk to customers to sell the products or services of their company. Successful sales teams use good communication and people skills to build customer relationships and maintain loyalty. This has a direct effect on how much money the business makes.
- Customer Service Representative: Customer service representatives deal with returns and refunds, help customers figure out how to fix problems, and listen to customer complaints. These operational roles are important to the company’s reputation and building long-term customer relationships.
- Administrative Assistant: Customers and clients first talk to the receptionist, office assistant, or administrative assistant when they enter a business place or company. They might be responsible for important tasks like running the phone lines, coordinating communication between clients and partners, and setting up staff schedules. They might even be given tasks like data entry to help keep business documents correct and up-to-date.
What Are the Responsibilities of a Business Owner?
The owners of businesses do everything they can to ensure their businesses do well. This could mean doing things they’d rather not do, like filling out paperwork, taking orders to the post office, or making plans for marketing.
What business owner do daily depends on what kind of business they run and how they spend their time. Most of the time, though, they boil down to the following roles and responsibilities:
Creating and Managing Plans: As a business owner, you must consider what you need to do to make your business successful. This means planning how they will run their business, promoting their goods or services, and finding ways to keep their business profitable. To be successful, you need to do research and make good plans. Business owners must also be good at time management to meet deadlines and balance their work and personal lives.
Managing Finance: Managing money is important. To start a business, a person needs money, so they may need to get a loan or find investors. They must also pay for new products, advertising, and staff. It’s important to keep track of your bank accounts, taxes, and how much money you make and spend.
Compliance and Legal: A business owner must follow the laws and rules about how to run a business. This means getting the right licenses, registering their business as a legal entity, and knowing the rules about labor. A business owner should also have a lawyer on hand in case of problems with employees or customers.
Marketing and Sales: A business owner must ensure people know about their business and want to buy from it. This means making campaigns, approving ads, and promoting their business through social media and email. They also have to talk to people who might buy their products or services and make deals with them.
Regular Monitoring: The company owner needs to monitor how their employees are doing their jobs, how well the work is getting done, and how well their plans are working. They have to do this daily to quickly see where things are going wrong and fix them before they become big problems. This way, the owner can stay on top of any potential issues that may arise.
Supervising Customer Service: It is up to the business owner to ensure customers are happy with the service they get. This means making rules about how to treat customers and ensuring people think well of the business.
Hiring People According to the Company’s Rules: If you own a business, you must find and hire the right people to work with you. This means that the owner will decide what each person should do, give them feedback on how well they are doing, and decide how much they should be paid and what benefits they should get. The owner also helps them improve their jobs by providing training and support.
Liabilities of the Owner in a Business Plan
The liabilities of a business owner are the legal responsibilities and financial debts that the business owner is responsible for. Among these responsibilities are the following:
Business Debts: The owners of a business may have to pay for its debts themselves. If a business can’t pay its debts, the owner may have to use their own assets, like their home or savings, to pay them off.
To avoid this, business owners must separate their personal and business finances. They should keep their business transactions in a separate bank account and consider incorporating their business or making an LLC to limit liability.
Legal Claims: If a company owner’s business is sued for any reason, they could be held personally responsible for any damages given to the plaintiff. This can happen when someone hurts a worker, breaks a contract, or steals someone else’s idea.
To lower the chance of being sued, they should ensure their business follows all laws and rules and consider getting liability insurance to protect themselves in case they are sued.
Taxes: As business owners, they have to pay different taxes, such as income tax, payroll tax, and sales tax. If you don’t pay these taxes, you could face fines, penalties, or even be charged with a crime.
Maintaining accurate records of all business transactions, filing the owner’s tax returns on time, and considering hiring a qualified accountant or tax preparer can all help you avoid tax problems.
Employee Obligations: If a business owner has employees, they may have legal and financial responsibilities like paying their salaries, giving them benefits like health insurance and retirement plans, and following employment laws and rules.
To ensure you follow all employment laws and rules, you might want to talk to an employment lawyer and assemble a handbook for employees explaining the owner’s company’s policies and procedures.
Liabilities of the Owner in a Business Plan Example
A liability is any debt that your business has to pay. And in a business plan, the owner’s liabilities mean the financial obligations or debts they are responsible for paying. These liabilities can vary depending on the business structure and the owner’s role and responsibilities. Some of the most common business liabilities for which a business owner may have to pay personally are:
-
- Personal investment
- Loans, mortgages, and other forms of debt
- Taxes on income and other taxes due
- Employee wages and salaries
- etc.
Importance of Owner in a Business
The business owner is in charge of the big picture and is not involved in the day-to-day tasks of running the service. Instead, they look at the whole picture. They set goals and plans. They know how to make strategic decisions and have the power to get rid of political and financial roadblocks. They talk to the people who matter most and work closely with the service owner, who creates a roadmap that fits the vision.
But That’s Not All
We’ve reached the end of our blog, but that’s not all.
Remember that running a successful business takes a lot more than a good idea and a strong work ethic. As a business owner, you must know your legal and financial obligations and meet them. This means keeping good financial records, paying taxes, following rules and laws, and ensuring their business is properly insured.
By keeping their personal finances separate from their business finances, business owners can stay out of trouble with the law and protect themselves from liability. A business owner must also know their responsibilities to their employees, customers, and the community. For example, they have to follow health and safety rules and ensure the workplace is safe.
Lawyers, accountants, and insurance agents can help business owners understand their legal and financial obligations and ensure they are met. These experts can also advise them on making it less likely that they will have legal or financial problems.
Shortly, if you own a business or company, you need to work hard, take responsibility, and be willing to ask for help when you need it. By following these steps and doing what they need to do, business owners can build a successful business that helps their customers reach their goals and gives them value while avoiding liability issues.
