Contributions are the assets that the partners are obliged to provide under the partnership deed.
In other terms, the contributions are the resources that the partners contribute to create the initial assets of the company.
It is their function to provide the company with the initial capital required to carry out the company’s activity.
Through the contribution each partner allocates a part of his personal assets to the common activity throughout the lifetime of the company and takes on the entrepreneurial risk: the partner runs the risk of not receiving anything in return for his contribution if the company does not make a profit, and he runs the additional risk of losing, all or part, of the value of the initial resources if the company produces losses.
Contributions may consists of: money; allotments in kind (capital and real estate, tangible or intangible assets) transferred to the company for good or granted in use; manual or intellectual work; loans; companies. In short, a contribution may be any resource that can be attributed an economic value that the parties deem useful or necessary for carrying out their joint business.
In any case, limits are set for joint-stock companies and cooperatives: contributions in the form of work or services can be offered directly only in the case of limited liability companies.
It is worthwhile describing the concept of company assets and share capital because it is linked to the notion of contribution by the partners.