A company and a firm are not the same thing. I hold firm on this mainly because my first chief sub, Dr Two-Degrees-in-Italian Davies, says it is so – and he has an annoying habit of being correct. However, it’s always good to question something if you don’t know the reason for it. Especially if you are being subjected to a barrage of “firms” and someone has just insinuated that by changing each one to “company” you are being a pointlessly pestilent pedant. The latter two, yes. But, I hope, never the former.
So I have been doing a little research. The results, I’m afraid to say, are far from conclusive. The best explanations come from the Guardian and The Times style guides, which both refer to a firm as a partnership.
The Times:
companies abbreviate to Co in, eg, John Brown & Co. Company is singular. Full points in company titles usually unnecessary, as in W H Smith and J Sainsbury. Do not abbreviate Ford of Europe to Fords, Swan Hunter to Swans etc. See Ltd, plc
NB. Do not confuse the words company and firm, even in headlines. A firm implies a business partnership, as in the legal or accountancy professions, estate agents etc
The Guardian:
firm strictly a partnership without limited liability, such as solicitors or accountants, but may be used in place of company in headlines
As “firm” usually refers to solicitors, accountants and doctors (or even criminals and hooligans), I wonder if as well as specifying that the arrangement is a partnership, the word also implies that those involved are all experts in the same field – while a company may include members of several different fields. That’s just my own conjecture, though.
I have so far failed to find a crystal-clear explanation of the difference between the two terms. And the dictionary definitions are downright confusing.
OED (though I should mention that this is the “new edition for the 1990s”)
Company 3 a A commercial business, b (usually Co.) the partner or partners not named in the title of a firm
Firm 1 a a business concern b the partners in such a concern 2 a group of persons working together, esp. of hospital doctors and assistants
Collins
Company 4 a business enterprise 5 the members of an enterprise not specifically mentioned in the enterprise’s title
Firm 1 a business partnership 2 any commercial enterprise 3 a team of doctors and their assistants
Anyone care to clear it all up with an elegant and devastating definition?
