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Disclosure statement

This information refers only to those forming a trading cooperative.

When forming a trading cooperative, members need to know how much they will have to commit financially and how liable they will be for any cooperative debts. For this reason, trading cooperatives must provide prospective members with a disclosure statement outlining these issues.

The disclosure statement must contain information such as:

the nature and extent of a person´s financial involvement or liability as a member
a statement on the need for the cooperative, the resources available, expected benefits, members´ involvement and the minimum activity required for a member to retain membership
the names of potential members (if only five people indicate their intention to join the cooperative, otherwise you needn´t do this)
if there is an existing unregistered organisation or business whose assets and liabilities the cooperative is taking over, copies of the accounts and balance sheets for the last two financial years, preferably certified by an auditor with an accompanying signed report
a budget covering at least the first 12 months´ operations. Show capital and revenue items separately. For very small organisations, a budget showing estimated cash flow is acceptable
names of people willing to be appointed as officers and directors, with their experience and qualifications
details of the estimated costs of formation
the rights and liabilities attaching to shares of the proposed cooperative
any contracts required to be entered into by the proposed cooperative
copies of any letters demonstrating offers or availability of real estate, loans, grants, subsidies, donations, and particular resources necessary for the proposed operations of the cooperative.

Disclosure statement template (doc, 161KB).

Submit the draft disclosure statement to us using Cooperatives Form 1 - Application of approval of draft disclosure statement for a proposed trading cooperative (PDF, 415 KB).

Make sure you send it at least 28 days before you plan to hold the formation meeting.

Last reviewed 26/11/2012