The Merchant

Any natural or legal person who carries out commercial acts and makes commerce their profession.
habitual. It is also referred to as the owner of a business.
THE TRADER
They are defined as people who, having the legal capacity to engage in commerce, make it their
ordinary occupation and are in charge of a company.

Article 3 of the Commercial Code states that those who are merchants are:
1.- Those who, having legal capacity to engage in commerce, make it their occupation.
ordinary.
2.- The companies established under commercial law.
3.- Foreign companies and the agencies and branches of these within the national territory.
they perform acts of commerce.

This article makes a distinction between individual traders, collective traders, and the
foreign companies.

Individual Traders.- Persons who have legal capacity to engage in commerce, make...
his usual occupation.

The elements of the definition are: a) The capacity; b) The exercise of commerce; c) The occupation
ordinary.

a) Capacity.- Article 5 of our Constitution establishes that no person shall be prevented

that is dedicated to the profession, industry, commerce or work that suits them as long as it is lawful. Therefore,
any person, except for those expressly prohibited by law, may be a merchant. But the
the legal capacity referred to in section I of article 3 of the Commercial Code is not that
capacity for enjoyment, but the capacity to exercise, the capacity to act as a trader.
b) Exercise of commerce.- Articles 3 and 5 of the Commercial Code establish as a requirement
to be legally considered a merchant, in addition to the capacity, the exercise of commerce.
Article 5 states that 'Any person who, according to common laws, is capable of contracting and obliging themselves,'
and those to whom the same laws do not expressly prohibit the profession of commerce have legal capacity
to practice it.

MERCHANT COMPANY
The trade name is basically the name of the merchant. Therefore, it refers to two ideas.
various, although related, within the scope of the commercial enterprise:
The distinction and the identification.
The merchant has three rights that he enforces through the institution of the commercial signature:
right to individualization
defense of their credit rights; and
defense of their clientele
The commercial firm is related to the following ideas: name of the merchant, distinction from others
merchants, company, trading house or commercial house, the products it manufactures and its signs
distinctions and brands. It is both a right and a duty. The commercial signature is constituted
for the name and identification of all merchants in general. There are different ways to refer to the
commercial company, depending on the type of merchant being referred to.

STANDARDS OF MERCHANT FIRM

In some situations governed by the Commercial Code, the name is subject to

specific regulations: thus, in terms of personal, collective, and limited partnerships, the articles
26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 establish:
Article 26: A trader who has no partner or who has only one participant cannot use
another signature or business name, that includes your surname with or without the first name. You can add anything you think is appropriate.
useful for the most precise designation of your person or your business; but do not make any addition that
make believe in the existence of a society.
Article 27.- The signature of a partnership, in the absence of the names of all partners,
it must contain, at least, that of some of them, with a mention that makes known the existence
of a partnership. The name of a limited partnership must include the name of one, for
less, of the personally responsible partners, and a mention that reveals the existence of a
society. The firm may not contain other names than those of the personally associated partners.
responsible parties. What is provided in this article is without prejudice to the content of article 29.
Article 28.- Any new trade reason must be clearly distinguished from the existing ones and those that are
registered in the Commercial Register. If a merchant has the same name and surname as another who is already
he has registered it as your commercial signature, to use it you must add some wording that
clearly distinguish it from the previously registered reason for trade.
Article 29.- The heir of a commercial signature may use the signature of their decedent, indicating that
he is the successor.
Article 30.- The assignment of a commercial signature is prohibited as such and independently of the
commercial establishment of which it is a part.

- Regarding anonymous and limited liability companies, the commercial code

establishes specific regulations regarding its name: thus, Article 202 states: 'The
anonymous company and limited liability company must operate under a name
social, which may refer to its object or be formed with any fanciful or fictional name or
person, but it must necessarily include the mention of 'Anonymous Company' or 'Company of'
Limited Liability
legible without difficulty.
 Similarly, it is applicable to this topic and directed at all commercial companies, the
device established in article 31 of the Commercial Code that states: 'If a company
merchant changes, either by the incorporation of another partner, or by the separation of one of those who
The form, the mercantile reason can subsist; but the express consent of the partner is necessary.
It is withdrawn if your name appears on the signature.

MERCHANT ACCOUNTING
Legally, accounting is considered to be the records that the merchant makes of the operations.
the businesses that it carries out (both commercial and activities), in books especially
intended for the purpose of being able to know through them the situation of their activity
commercial, determine its results and specify in a certain way the causes that determined them.
Accounting is therefore the ideal means for the merchant to become aware of the situation or of
creditor or debtor that third parties have in relation to their company; which allows detailing and
check the values that make up your heritage assets, and determine the outcome of the operations
In each of the economic exercises, indicating the profits obtained or the losses suffered in
these exercises.
Every trader must maintain accounting in order to keep a record of the operations.
to execute and also to be able to break down from those amounts the taxes that must be paid to the Treasury.
For this purpose, you must bring books written in the Spanish language and in accordance with the law.

IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS ACCOUNTING.

Accounting understood in those terms becomes an instrument of control over the
development of the commercial activity of the merchant both internally and externally, which allows him
allows at the moment it deems appropriate to reconstruct its relationships made with others
traders or with third parties, and in case of economic crisis, specify the causes that determined it and
establish an approximate calculation of the consistency of your assets.
THE REQUIRED ACCOUNTING BOOKS

Every company must maintain accounting appropriate to the activity of its business, which allows
a chronological record of all its operations, as well as the periodic preparation of balances and
inventories.
Mandatory accounting books in Venezuela

The mandatory accounting books in Venezuela are described in the Commercial Code of
Venezuela, which in its article 32 establishes, that all merchants must keep their accounting in
Castilian language, which will necessarily include the journal, the ledger, and the book of
Inventories, and the auxiliary books that you deem appropriate to use.

Types of accounting books or accounting ledgers:

Journal: It is where each of the daily operations is recorded in order of dates.

These entries in the journal are called journal entries.

Ledger: it is where all the different accounts of assets, liabilities, and...

heritage, it is a summary of all the movements that appear in the daily ledger.

Inventory and Balance Book: it consists of recording all assets, both movable and immovable.
properties, assets, credits and liabilities, linked or not to their trade and also reflects the situation of
company assets.

Auxiliary Book: it is a complement to the main accounting books.

Purchase and Sale Book: it is where a chronological record of all purchases and sales is kept.
for taxpayers of the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Types of General Ledger Books It is recognized that there are two types:

Main General Ledger - For the general control accounts

Auxiliary Ledger - For sub-accounts and auxiliary accounts.

Importance and Purpose. When talking about the account, in the accounting medium it allows for classification.
Asset, Liability, and Equity, and group them according to certain affinity characteristics; allowing
control the increases and decreases experienced by the different real and nominal items. The
The General Ledger is a mandatory book that every company must keep (Art. 32 of the C.C.), this book
group all the accounts of Assets, Liabilities, Capital, Income, and Expenses that are used in a
organization to manage accounting.
Diary Book
Importance and purpose
It is a book that must be carried by all merchants, as stated by the Code.
of Commerce in Art. 32, in addition to being stamped and presented in the Commercial Registry before being
used (Art. 33 C.C.); it must be a bound book, paginated and must be completely sealed
on all its pages.
The Journal is known as the Original Entry book because it is where transactions are recorded for the first time.
business operations. In which all transactions that take place will be recorded.
a company and in chronological order; it will be registered indicating the names of the accounts that have to
to charge and credit, as well as the amounts of debits and credits.
The Diary book can be:
The Two Column Journal. (This book is the most commonly used) when taking it to the Commercial Registry.
To register it and seal it, the Note from the Court will be on its first page.
PROHIBITION OF BOOKKEEPING
The Bookkeeping
Modern accounting consists of a cycle of 6 stages, the first 3 refer to bookkeeping.
books, that is to register, classify, summarize information of each of the transactions carried out by
the company.

PROHIBITIONS IN ACCOUNTING BOOKS

In the accounting books it is prohibited:
Delete
Mancharlo
Break it
Mutilate it
Leave blank spaces
Change the order of the pages
Change the chronological order of the entries and documents.
To do any act that removes clarity and consistency from the rules

PROHIBITIONS ON ACCOUNTING BOOKS

The commercial code prohibits:
Change the seats, the order, or the date of the referred operations.
Leave spaces between seats that facilitate additions in the text of the records.
Make scratches or strikethroughs or corrections in the entries. Errors or omissions must be
carry out with a new record.
Delete, strike out, in whole or in part, the records.
Tearing off leaves or altering their order

LEGAL OBLIGATIONS OF MERCHANTS

Obligations that must be expressly fulfilled

The registration in the Commercial Registry of the documents indicated by the Law.
Keep the Accounting.
Register the trade signature
What is the Trade Registry?
It is a public institution created to provide for the interest of the community and
also from the merchant, important data about their legal situation, or the company since
they have the documents that were registered there, which gives anyone who wishes to know the free license to do so
stability of a trader, business, or company and having the information.

Importance
It is based on how it has contributed to access to the information of a trade, society, company, consortium,
merchant since it is exercised as formal advertising, as when making their formal registration in the registry
The act becomes public and is of public domain.

Commercial Register
Article 18.-The registration shall be made in a bound and paginated thread paper book, which cannot be
to be put into use without a dated and signed note on the first page, subscribed by the judge and their Secretary or
by the Commercial Registrar, in the places where it exists, stating the number of pages that
You have the book. The seats will be numbered, according to the date they occur and will be signed by the
Secretary of the Court or head of the Office and by the interested party to whose request the registration is made.
There will be a bound book containing an alphabetical index of the documents in the register.
as they are recorded, with annotation of the corresponding number and the folio in which they are
they find.

All names of the interested parties expressed in the document to be registered will be noted in
the index in the letter corresponding to the surname.

Article 19.- The documents that must be recorded in the Commercial Registry, according to article 17, are
the following:

1st The authorization of the curator and the approval of the Judge, if applicable, enabling the minors to
to trade.

2nd The agreement or consent of the husband regarding the responsibility for the wife's assets.
marital partnership not managed by the woman, according to the provisions of article 16.

3rd The revocation of the authorization to trade granted to the minor.

4th The marriage contracts, solemn inventories, wills, partitions, sentences

executed or acts of adjudication the public deeds that impose on the merchant spouse
responsibility in favor of the other spouse.

5th The requests for the separation of assets, the final judgments that declare them and the
liquidations carried out to determine what the trading spouse must deliver to the other spouse.

The demand must be registered and set in the Secretariat of the Commercial Court, within a month, for
less, in anticipation of the first instance ruling, and otherwise, the commercial creditors
they will have the right to challenge, as it pertains to their interests, the terms of the separation and the
pending settlements carried out to carry it out.

6th The supporting documents of the assets of the child who is under parental authority, or of the minor, or
of the incapable person who is under the tutelage or guardianship of a merchant.

7th The authorization given to the father or guardian to continue the business of the commercial establishment.
corresponding to the minor.

8th The trade signatures, whether personal

3. From Commercial Accounting

Article 32.- Every merchant must keep their accounting in Spanish, which shall include,
mandatory, the Journal, the Ledger, and the Inventories.

Trading Company

It is a legal obligation on the part of the merchant, as it is the name they adopt or the one assigned to them.
some commercial company and can be:

a.- The Personal Signature

b.- The Social or Collective Signature.