Choosing a Secretary For Your Firm in Singapore

As a business owner who's planning to have a firm in Singapore, you ought to know that the Singapore Companies Act Section 171 mandates firms to appoint a company secretary service. Before you head out and look for your company secretary service, be sure to study this piece of content first to be aware of the key points related to this.

Have you got inquiries about this matter that you need help with? Does my business really need to retain the services of a company secretary? What are the skills of a company secretary? What duties are assigned to company secretaries? How much money are company secretaries paid? You've arrived at the right page where you could get the answers.

Does my business really need to retain the services of a company secretary?

It is obligatory for Singaporean companies to hire a secretary in 6 months time right after being registered.  If the corporation is not incorporated as an Exempt Private Company but instead as  a Private Limited Company, there is a need to retain the services of a professionally competent company secretary.

An Exempt Private Company has got fewer than 20 shareholders (in comparison to fewer than 50 in a Private Limited Company) and is without corporate shareholder. Any one of the shareholders of the Exempt Private Company could be the company secretary assuming he or she is informed about what to do.  It's not really easy to be a company secretary, so if one of the shareholders cannot do it, it's better to employ a professional who could do the task well.

The firm can take its time, up to six months right after the registration, prior to choosing a secretary. This is advantageous for small start-up firms and business people who manage the process of registration themselves.  However when you think using the services of a company secretary in the beginning could help you with the general process of incorporating the business, then go.

What are the skills of a company secretary?

You ought to know to begin with that the company secretary which is allowed by Singapore law must be a Singapore resident. Besides that, Section 171 (1AA) of the Companies Act calls for a company secretary to possess one of the following qualifying criteria:

1. Must be a company secretary for the past three years prior to employment
2. A Certified Public Accountant or a man or woman qualified according to the legal Profession Act
3. Has an active membership with any of these organizations: Singapore Association of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Institute of Company Accountants Singapore, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore, Association of International Accountants (Singapore Branch)

What duties are assigned to company secretaries?  

A company secretary must do a good job or else he/she might be penalized or even jailed when he/she is not able to deliver the prerequisites of the Companies Act.  Listed below are a number of the obligations which a company secretary needs to accomplish:

- Making minutes of shareholders meetings and maintenance of important business documents like the yearly financial reports, incorporation papers, allotment of shares and director's resolutions
- Updates company records with the ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority)
- Distributes facts with regards to the company's AGM to the company directors and shareholders

How much money are company secretaries paid? 

The price of employing a company secretary starts from S$600 upwards. Nonetheless, there are discounted packages which bundle incorporation services with one year of secretary service. This is a wise choice in case you need assistance with company registration, otherwise, simply hire a secretary service if you ought to.

Steps to Registering a Firm in Singapore

Starting up a company in Singapore is pretty inviting to lots of enterprisers because of the good system and economic conditions. Singapore rule permits local residents and foreign people to register a company.

In so doing, there are active restrictions and requirements that must be observed. It is strongly recommended to get the help of a competent firm when registering an enterprise particularly for foreign business owners considering that Singapore law doesn't permit foreigners to self-register a company.

In Singapore, private companies are registered as private limited companies. This type of firm can just issue 50 shares. Additionally, the responsibility of shareholders in relation to company debts is limited to the measure of their share in the firm.

The completely computerized system of the Singapore Registrar of Companies makes it quick and efficient to incorporate a brand new enterprise or an existing one. A business can get registered in about one to two days. To register a company, listed below are the most important information to bear in mind.

1. Ensure that your business is eligible for incorporation. Before incorporating a private limited company (Pte Ltd) at the Singapore Registrar of Companies, there are a variety of issues that should be taken into consideration. The company ought to:

• Have one or more directors and also one or more shareholders. It's compulsory for the director to be a Singapore resident, Permanent Resident or an Employment Pass Holder
• Get ready with a company name. To be permitted, make certain that it's different, not obscene or already reserved
• Have an office address to hold enterprise operations. It cannot be a PO box.
• Know its Singapore Standard Industry Classification (SSIC) code that is necessary for categorizing the business
• Be prepared to make payment arrangements.

2. Get acceptance for a company name. A recommendation before submitting the request for business name approval is to think of two other potential business names. In case your very first choice company name isn't approved, you have got additional options prepared for application.

It merely takes 1 hour right up until you will know if your application was approved or rejected. The decision might be slowed a few days or weeks on occasion because of the necessary approval some government authorities for particular categories of enterprises. This is true for companies associated with banking institutions, finance, law and media.

3. Work on the registration of the enterprise. You have 60 days from the time your business name is official register your enterprise.

The registration involves submitting an application and submission of certain papers for example the Memorandum and Articles of Incorporation. The rate of registration is S$300 that is paid to the Singapore Registrar of Companies.

For incorporating a company, yet another way is through OBLS or Online Business Licensing Service. This is advisable for particular companies that need to have supplemental permits and licenses. The supplemental permits and licenses are automatically taken care of whenever OBLS takes care of the registration of the enterprise.

Finally, your company is registered with the approval of The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority yet there is far more to do. For example, the firm must hire a secretary in 6 months, open a bank account, run the registered company office at least 3 hours on weekdays and print out new letterheads, invoices, receipts with the business registration number.

Go for Free Consultation with the Sites Offering Consolidations

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By searching with key words of companies of debt consolidations, one can get a directory of such companies, no matter where the individual stays.  As a matter of fact these companies impart ideas to people for getting rid of the complex situations that are related to the financial conditions.

Being under debt is an unavoidable situation in which a person tries hard to steer clear of the phase of life but he or she fails to do that because if an individual does not repay the amount of money that he or she has borrowed from his or her creditor such as an individual or bank or any organization.


These companies have proved to be successfully worked and saved their clients from repaying the whole amount of unpaid sum. As a matter of fact, these companies also offer consultations that are free of cost. What one needs to do is to fill up the online form that can be found in the pages of the sites of such firms.

The pressure of clearing debts often snatches the sleep of the people who are facing the problem of paying the mounted unpaid amount of money. As a matter of truth, if one wants then he or she can even find contents in the web that are relevant to the matter of debt. Therefore, all these make the journey of paying the long unpaid amount of sum easier because this will help people to understand what debt is all about and the ways of overcoming the situation and get back a stress free life. If you are the one who is under debt then go through the sites that deal with consolidation so as to gather in-depth knowledge about it.

More tips on managing your finance well go to http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2012/03/09/simple-steps-to-manage-your-money