Certificates of Existence

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the Articles of Incorporation and the Certificate of Existense? Both are filed with the Secretary of State, right? Why is it necessary to get both documents?

Thanks in advance.

A certificate of existence show only that, that a company exists. The articles of incorporation show what the company can and cannot do within the law.

Articles of Incorporation have become looser over the years and now often state that the company can do all it likes to achieve a profit or indeed in more recent times all it believes will enable it to achieve that end.

The articles will however tell you how many officers a company should have and the like which is often usful information for making sure that you understand the structure of the entity and showing that you "know your customer".

Matthew Read
Compliance Officer Association, Privacy Officers Association, AACFE,MICM,SHRM.

The other document some banks request is the business license issued by the local government. That is what I have had to produce when opening accounts. In order to get the license, I had to prove my company's existence, so that the license actually "proved" both the fact of incorporation and existence -- and the fact that the company pays its taxes!