SAS companies gain ground among entrepreneurs and reach 4,207 in 2020

In 2020, the Entrepreneurship Law came into force and with it the new figure of SAS companies, whose creation is more agile and less onerous.

The creation of companies under the figure ofSimplified Share Companies (SAS) was widely received in 2020 by the country's entrepreneurs.Despite being a pandemic year, 4,207 new companies were registered under this figure. This was reported by the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance (SCVS) when analyzing the corporate sector last year.

According to the control entity, in 2020, a total of 10,767 companies were created, of all types (public limited company, limited liability, simplified joint stock company, foreign branch). However, the figure ofSAS occupied a good part of the total: 39%.

Since May 18, 2020, the Superintendency enabled the process for the constitution of SAS, which was included in the Entrepreneurship Law. According to the organization, the mechanism is agile and allows business to be formalized through a simplified procedure at no cost and without minimum capital.

Herman Puglla, of Saraguro origin, says that he established a one-man company under the figure of SAS,after the Ministry of Tourism told him that this was a requirement to open a travel agency. At first he had thought about doing it the traditional way, but then he learned about that option and now his company Origen World Travel is starting to take off.

Aracely Paguay, a young lawyer from Pastaza, says that the figure of the SAS allows you to quickly create formal companies in a few days, without payment to the commercial registry, without minimum capital and with only one partner. He recently created the construction company ENCO y Asociados under the figure of SAS. He says that the owner of the company, who asked him for advice, was looking to stop working as a natural person. The idea was that once it was formalized it could access credit, and even contracts with the public sector. Right now he is working on setting up another catering company (also SAS) for a couple of entrepreneurs who want to provide food services.

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Another entrepreneur isAdriana Cañizares, who established her company Megalia SAS in October 2020. She did it online and says that it seemed like a good option since it is more economically convenient and also saves time.

He considers himself a very organized person, and that is why he likes to have everything at a formal level. It highlights that these types of companies are under the supervision of the Superintendency, they must comply with all obligations, such as uploading balance sheets or making monthly statements.

Meanwhile, Daniela Espinoza, manager of private public spaces at the Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (AEI), considers that the primary idea of ​​the SAS is for people to formalize themselves. This figure provides a solution to the problem that entrepreneurs faced and that was that the costs to formalize were high. On the other hand, with this figure the creation is free and does not require having a partner and the statutes can be tailored to what is required.

Espinoza says that the failure that has been registered at the moment has to do with the delay in obtaining the RUC by the Internal Revenue Service. While the creation is done immediately in a few days, the RUC can take 20 days, which is not consistent with the agility in the paperwork.

According to the Superintendency, “with the adoption of this mechanism, Ecuador marked a milestone in corporate procedures.” The process lasts six days if the documentation is submitted in person and two days virtually; unlike anonymous or limited companies whose incorporation process takes 45 days physically and 6 days electronically.

Initially, the Superintendency received the constitution procedures in person and by email. In order to automate the process, as of September 28, the electronic platform was enabledwww.supercias.gob.ec. In the three months of operation of the online modality, 19% of companies were created through the web and 81% through physical procedures.