Company administrators

Company administrators are in charge of managing and making the day-to-day decisions of an organization, taking care of their representation. They can have the figure of natural or legal person.

In other words, the administrator of a company can be an individual or an institution. Thus, it acts on behalf of a company, mainly, in daily legal processes, for example, signing employment contracts.

One of the strictly necessary steps when setting up a commercial company is the appointment in the deed of the administrator or administrators that the company will have.

Types of company administrators

There are different modalities by which this task of company administration can be carried out:

• Sole administrator: It is a single designated natural or legal person.
• Joint or several administrators: Joint and several administrators act independently when managing and representing the company. On the other hand, the joint ventures require consensual actions so that their decisions can be valid and be carried out.
• Board of directors: Group with at least three members.

In startups or smaller companies, the figure of the administrator is usually identified with that of the CEO or executive director.

Requirements to be the administrator of a company

In order to become an administrator of a company there are certain requirements, such as being natural or legal persons. On the other hand, there is no need for the administrator to be a shareholder of the company he is representing.

Another important point is that it is not possible to act as a company administrator in the case of minority (except for legally emancipated minors), or incapacitation or disqualification according to the law.

It should also be noted that the duration of the administrator's position is usually subject to the type of commercial company. That is, it depends on the provisions that are marked in the statutes of each particular company.

The firm may or may not establish a specific period of time for this purpose. For example, in limited liability companies, administrators are usually assigned their role for an indefinite period.

Functions of the administrator of a company

The functions of the administrator are generally established in the statutes of each company. However, there are several regulations in this regard. Thus, the laws usually have a series of basic duties such as the following:

• Act diligently, loyally defending the interests of society.
• Do not continue looking for your own benefit, taking advantage of an advantageous position.
• Obligation to inform partners about possible situations of conflict of interest for the company.
• Keep confidential all confidential information related to the company, even when leaving the organization.

There are many other tasks assigned to the figure of administrators more focused on the day-to-day running of a company, such as the convening of the General Shareholders' Meeting. They can even promote a hypothetical dissolution of the company in certain legal situations, among many others.

In cases in which company administrators do not correctly fulfill their mission, they may have to be forced to respond personally and with their assets to the company and its partners. This, in proportion to the damages caused in their activity.