Singapore Company Secretarial Services Assist you in Economizing on Your Statutory Compliance

As per the mandates of the Company Law of Singapore, each new company needs to appoint an individual as a company secretary within the 6 months from the date of its incorporation. They also have the option of appointing one of the company secretarial services to handle the task.

Many business owner thinks this is a wastage of resources, as the individual appointed do not take any part in revenue generation for the business. They don’t want to shell out the monthly salary of such an employee. The most hit entities are the start-up companies that have a shoestring of a budget. These business benefit by paying a small fee for the nominee company secretarial services rather than hiring a permanent company secretary Singapore.

Is Hiring a Company Secretary Waste of Money?

However, the company secretary is not cushy position. The professional appointed, acts as the interface between the company and the government agencies such as ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority), IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore), MOM (Ministry of Manpower), etc. A competent company secretary is a must for ensuring the statutory compliance mandated by the law.

The corporate secretary, Singapore is tasked with the fiduciary responsibility of informing the directors and shareholders about the due dates of the annual filing and AGM (Annual General Meeting) of the company. The appointee is directly answerable to the ACRA officials if they don’t receive company’s annual financial reports. The appointee is also tasked with other important tasks such as keeping an eye on the movement of shares and etc.

Tasks Handled by a Company Secretary

Along with shareholders, directors, and auditors, a company secretary in Singapore is counted as one of the stakeholders in the company. Which makes it a serious appointment. Even though, the appointee is considered as the least liable of all, he or she can be penalized because of the misconduct or an unprofessional behavior during the discharge of the duties.

The corporate secretary Singapore is also responsible for:

• The Paper filing of company documents in the company’s register folder
• The online filing of the documents with ACRA
• Maintaining an updated Bizfile
• Maintaining company register and making it available to the ACRA officials should they visit
• The custody of incorporation papers of the company, director’s resolutions, shareholder agreements, and filed annual financial statements
• Changes in the officials of the company; change of address, appointing new directors
• Filing the amended M&AA, change of shareholders, and allotment of shares

Appointing a Corporate Secretary in Singapore

Singapore authorities have not laid down any hard and fast set of qualifications for the company secretary for private companies. Of course, it is required of the appointee to be able to discharge the responsibilities including starting a company Singapore that the job entails. The individual is required to have knowledge and experience. The company secretarial services make available the services of qualified and certified professionals in their employ to the small business in Singapore.

However, appointing a company secretary is not an easy task for the public companies. They to select the individual from the pool of qualified and certified professionals. Most often, it is a full-time job requiring full commitment from the appointee. The market trend is to outsource this task to the one of the trusted company secretarial services.

As per the recommendations of ACRA any Singapore resident can be appointed as the company secretary. The appointee can even be a permanent resident or an Employment Pass or Dependent’s Pass holder who is above the age of 18 years. The directors of companies, unless they are the sole directors, are allowed to be a company secretary. However, from the point of view of the statutory compliance employing one of the company secretarial services proves to be useful.