Abbreviation or Short form for Company and Corporation

What is the abbreviation for COMPANY?

The word "Company" is represented in short in the following ways:

• Co

• Co.

• Coy

Abbreviation for the word 'Companies'

The plural of Company is 'Companies', the abbreviation of which is 'Cos.'.

The most popular use is of "Co." and the least is of "Coy".

"Coy" is mostly used in countries like the UK, Australia and some Commonwealth countries.

Example

• McKinsey & Company - "McKinsey & Co."

• Crawford Bayley & Co. - "Crawford Bayley & Co."

• There are no funds available in the Co.

What is the abbreviation for CORPORATION?

The word "Corporation" is represented in short in the following ways:

• Corp

• Corp.

• CPN.

Example

• Microsoft Corporation - "Microsoft Corp."

What is an LTD in Company name?

When a company registers with limited liability, the word "Limited" forms part of the name of the company and is added at the end of the company's title. Here, limited liability means that the shareholders of the company are only liable towards the capital of the company they have opted for.

E.g. If the shareholder has subscribed for $300 share value of the company and has paid $200, and in case the company is unable to pay its debt (cases like liquidation), then the shareholder is liable to pay the rest of the $100 only.

This use of "Limited" is abbreviated as "Ltd" . The use of Limited company structure is mostly popular in countries like the United Kingdom, India, etc.

Example

• Barclays Insurance Services Company Ltd.

• JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd.

What does it mean when a company is incorporated?

It simply means that the Company is registered with the government. Upon registration it becomes a legitimate business, every company is also given a unique registration number by the authorized government authority.

What does INC mean after a company name?

'INC' is short for Incorporated.

When a company is incorporated /registered with the government and becomes a separate legal entity, it is required to use "Incorporated" or its short form "Inc." at the end of its name.

Example

• Twitter Inc.

• Facebook, Inc.

Difference between "Co.", "Inc." & "Ltd."

So, the question is - "Why are the companies abbreviated differently even though they are all called 'company'? 

Well, the answer is - "While Inc. & Ltd. are almost similar and are used in case of registered companies, 'Inc.' is used in the USA & some countries and 'Ltd.' is used in the UK & some countries. Whereas 'Co.' is used for businesses who are not registered companies, these businesses are generally association of persons or sole proprietorship concerns where a group of people work together for an organisation.

Please refer to the examples of Co., Inc. & Ltd. as given above in this post.

Country-wise special abbreviations for registered companies