Managing a business can be an exhausting endeavour, especially when you have to balance your primary business functions with maintaining corporate governance and meeting tax deadlines, among other things. It may be worthwhile to look into corporate secretarial services to lend a helping hand and ensure you observe all legal corporate requirements in Singapore.
What are Corporate Secretarial Services?
Corporate secretarial services feature a host of administrative and regulatory responsibilities related to the company’s compliance with Singapore’s Companies Act and other relevant regulations while the business is operating. The complexity of Singapore’s corporate legislative requirements necessitates a dedicated company secretary or corporate secretarial service provider that can handle these tasks while you focus on your business’s growth.
Corporate secretarial services involve a host of responsibilities that must meet regulatory standards to ensure good corporate governance. A corporate secretarial service provider can not only support you by handling these tasks, but they can also advise you on corporate governance practices and ensure the company upholds the highest standards of corporate governance at all times.
While you can employ a company secretary to handle all the relevant corporate secretarial work, it is a time-consuming process that can take up considerable (and precious) time and resources, which could otherwise be used to support your business operations. As such, it may be wise to engage the assistance of a qualified corporate secretarial service provider to ensure your business consistently complies with legal and regulatory standards.
What is Included with Corporate Secretarial Services?
Company Incorporations
Corporate secretarial service providers can assist you in setting up a brand-new company by preparing the relevant incorporation documents to be submitted to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). They will also provide valuable advice and insights when deciding on a suitable company structure, appointing company directors, and registering an office address. Additionally, they will assist in drafting and ensuring the compliance of the company constitution and other relevant legal documents needed for the incorporation.
Record-keeping
Statutory registers listing members, directors, and shareholders, along with other key legal or corporate documentation, are frequently updated to stay compliant with existing regulations. All records are also filed and stored in a secure location in case these documents need to be audited in future.
Annual Filing
Annual filing of returns provides an assessment of a business’s overall status, including compliance with the relevant authorities. Corporate secretarial services ensure that all essential documents and reports are thoroughly compiled and submitted within the stipulated deadline per regulatory standards.
Corporate Governance
Corporate secretarial services can also provide valuable advice and insights to help your company stay compliant. These can take the form of frequent regulatory updates, implementing best practices, changing company details, and adapting corporate policies to ensure optimal corporate governance.
Meeting Minutes
Recording meeting minutes and monitoring board meeting progress are also crucial elements of corporate secretarial services. It also ensures that the company’s bylaws and statutory requirements are consistently met throughout each meeting.
Company Strike-Off & Dissolution
If there is a need to strike off a company from ACRA’s register, such as when the company ceases operations, corporate secretarial services can handle it from start to finish on your behalf.
Annual Audits
Some corporate secretarial services may provide independent auditors to help verify your company’s financial reports and other documentation, ensuring that your finances and corporate governance are meeting regulatory standards that help minimise errors and discrepancies.
Supporting Roles
Corporate secretarial services may also provide ad hoc services in case your company needs assistance with other compliance-related matters, including meeting industry-specific regulatory requirements.
Key Benefits of Corporate Secretarial Services
Focus on Core Business Functions
Outsourcing to a corporate secretarial service provider can divert your time and energy into expanding your business and improving sales and marketing outputs to drive new growth. You can rest assured that the corporate secretarial service team will help you resolve all compliance-related matters with their professional expertise.
Corporate Advisory
Corporate secretarial service teams are frequently updating themselves with new developments in Singapore’s regulatory framework. They utilise this information to keep companies up to speed on vital compliance updates and offer advice to maintain regulatory standards among directors, stakeholders, and other key corporate figures.
Greatly Improved Compliance
While you focus on driving your company to new heights, the corporate secretarial service team stays on track in monitoring and implementing the relevant regulatory and compliance measures to abide by Singapore’s strict regulatory framework. They will keep track of deadlines, implement proper reporting requirements, and perform other essential tasks to enhance corporate governance and minimise the risk of non-compliance and the associated penalties.
Scalability & Flexibility
Many corporate secretarial service providers are offering flexible packages that allow companies of any size to enhance their compliance measures at a reasonable rate. As the company grows, it can consider introducing additional corporate secretarial services to effectively and efficiently complement its growing corporate governance needs. This unprecedented versatility allows you to pay only for what you need, and then adjust accordingly as your company expands.
At My Office, we provide professional corporate secretarial services tailored to your company’s myriad compliance needs. Scale with our various options to help enhance your corporate governance and give you peace of mind with our professional expertise and up-to-date advisory services to help you abide by regulatory standards. Contact us today to find out more!
