Company secretaries ensure that their clients’ organisations comply with legal and regulatory requirements as part of their services. A Company’s Finest Secretarial Services is the best secretarial services for a business are therefore crucial to ensuring that all organisational secretarial tasks are carried out appropriately and successfully. An organization’s reputation is impacted in addition to the Legal Certificate repercussions described in the Corporation Law[1]. Goodwill is essential to a company’s reputation since it indicates dependability. Similar to this, if your organisation has any issues with secretarial compliance, it faces the risk of missing out on significant business.
Considerations to Considering While Selecting the Best Secretarial Services for a Company
Price and Service Providers
Price is a factor that is always taken into account when a person or business is trying to purchase products or services, and this is also true when you’re looking to hire a corporate secretary for your company. Yet, it is imperative to keep in mind that you shouldn’t pick a corporate secretary based just on price.
This is mostly because various businesses’ secretarial service providers offer clients a variety of responsibilities. This involves crucial compliance tasks like abiding by legal responsibilities, keeping track of statutory records, and convening board meetings.
Company secretary companies frequently provide their services at low prices to draw clients before tacking on a number of additional costs after the deal is sealed.
Yet, just because a company charges more than others does not guarantee that they offer all corporate secretarial services. So, you might ask the following questions about corporate secretarial audit services:
- Are annual return filing costs included?
- Are there additional costs associated with amending company, share, or officer information?
- Is there a fee for early cancellation?
- Do company secretaries incur a transfer fee?
- What does renewal cost?
Common malpractice is the act of setting a low beginning cost for the first year and then raising it after that. Online company secretarial services are available for the majority of the businesses you own.
Ensure the Service Is Being Offered by a Registered Filing Agent
A business or individual that regularly deals with the Registrar (ACRA) on behalf of another person is known as a Registered Filing Agent (RFA). Contrary to popular belief, meeting the prerequisites to get recruited as a corporate secretary is currently rather straightforward. The Company Secretary of a Private Limited Corporation may be anyone. You cannot hold the positions of both Company Secretary and sole Director, nevertheless.
Setting a modest initial cost for the first year and then raising it the following year is a common misconduct. For the majority of the businesses you operate, online company secretarial services are available.
Check To See If a Registered Filing Agent Is Providing the Service
A Registered Filing Agent is a company or person that frequently conducts business with the Registrar (ACRA) on behalf of another person. Contrary to popular assumption, it is today rather simple to complete the requirements to be hired as a corporate secretary. Anybody can serve as a Private Limited Corporation’s company secretary. Therefore, you are not permitted to serve as both the Company Secretary and the single Director. Yet, if you choose a Company Secretary from an RFA, you can be sure of their quality and perhaps even their high aspirations.
Access to the Company Secretary
Ask the following crucial questions to the company if your business is getting ready to sign a contract with an outside corporate secretary firm:
- Who will be running my business?
- Can I have a direct conversation with the person in question?
- Do they fully comprehend the obligations and responsibilities they must meet?
You should check the credentials and experience of any prospective advisors while looking for a company secretarial for your company. Even if you decide on an outsourced company secretary provider, you need to make sure that every employee is capable of handling company secretarial duties.
Looking at the answers to the aforementioned questions will help you decide if the designated person is a good fit for your organisation.
Reliability and Consistency
The person who needs to be on the lookout for the firm’s filing deadlines is the company secretary. He or she must be thoroughly informed of the company’s annual compliance obligations with regard to IRAS and ACRA.
In addition to fines and penalties, the director of the firm may suffer consequences for late submissions. The main responsibility for the organisation rests with the director, which explains why. Do you employ a secretary that frequently forgets? Has there ever been a fine for submitting late that could be easily avoided by doing so? You want to look for a corporate secretary who is dependable, effective, and prompt with filing.
Updates on the Latest Trends and Changes
Due to the rapid advancement of time and the erratic nature of the market, legal standards, laws, and adjustments are always changing. Yet, understanding the legalese and jargon used in numerous laws and regulations can be particularly challenging for business owners. As a result, you must employ a company secretary who is up to date on all changes to laws, regulations, and legislation as well as someone who is informed about the most recent updates.
Responsibility of the Corporate Secretary
It’s important to understand the responsibilities of the company secretary, which include the following, when choosing which company secretarial services to hire for your business:
Fiduciary
As part of her fiduciary obligation, a company secretary must act in the shareholders’ best interests as well as those of her other clients. When a conflict of interest, dishonesty, or misconduct takes place, corporate secretaries have a duty to provide clear instructions on the relevant corporate laws and necessary corporate governance norms.
Administrative
Administration, which includes a variety of tasks, is one of the key duties of corporate secretarial services. Corporate secretaries, in their function as administrators, must ensure that their clients abide by all submission guidelines and legal criteria as defined in Indian Company/Corporate Law. Several people wrongly believe that corporate secretarial services include general management of the corporation, including answering phones, because the word “secretary” occurs in their names. Yet, this is not the case in this situation because the secretary is a management rather than a clerical one. The company secretary is also recognised as key managerial staff under Indian corporate legislation.
Advisory
The primary responsibility of a company secretary is to provide thorough advice to firms. Corporate secretaries are knowledgeable in legal and secretarial compliance, as was previously said. They are therefore better qualified to lead organisations.
Conclusion
Contrary to what the name may imply, company secretarial services refer to the level of administrative function within an organisation that ensures superior corporate governance, effective administration, and compliance with the laws, statutes, and rules that affect business. This information was revealed in the aforementioned article.
Also Read:
Understanding Secretarial Audit Applicability As Per Companies Act, 2013
