How much time, costs or administrative burden are you spending to keep on top of your corporate registry obligations with ASIC? If you would rather focus time on your organisation’s core activities then you should consider outsourcing your corporate registry maintenance to ABN Australia. Read on...
ASIC and the law - what are your obligations?
Details of every company registered in Australia are kept on ASIC’s corporate register. Corporations Law requires registered companies to keep and maintain appropriate statutory records in relation to directors, shareholders and other matters.
In addition to the ongoing maintenance requirements, each company has an obligation to review the company statement issued by ASIC each year to ensure that the database of ASIC matches the office holder and shareholder ownership of the company.
ASIC late fees and penalties
Did you know that The Corporations Act 2001 requires companies to tell ASIC of changes to details generally within 28 days after the change has occurred.
In fact ASIC imposes strict lodgement criteria and imposes heavy fines to ensure the integrity of its database. The penalty for late lodgement begins at $80, with failure to lodge documents with the Commission upwards of $1,000 or even 3 months imprisonment.
Outsourcing to ABN Australia significantly reduces the chance of incurring such penalty fees, saving you money whilst ensuring you remain on good terms with your end client.
How can ABN Australia help?
When a client chooses us to become its outsourcing agent we become the ASIC Registered Agent for the relevant company/companies. This is done at no cost to you and we do not require any up-front fees. As the company’s ASIC agent, we:
- receive all correspondence from ASIC relating to the company annual review statement and fees payable;
- send ASIC invoice statements to you for fees due or any late fees that need your attention;
- are able to download a current ASIC search and debt reports for the company at no cost;
- prepare the company's ASIC Annual Review Company Statement and directors solvency resolution and send them to you;
- use our ASIC EDGE approved software which means you no longer are required to administer Corporate Keys for each company;
- lodge ASIC documents for each company so that you have proof of receipt of lodgement at ASIC;
- Change of company addresses
- Appointment and cessation of company officeholders
- Adding or removing ultimate holding company
- Changing share structure
- Appointing or ceasing members
- Changes to officeholder details
- Company resolutions e.g. change of company name
- Changes to shareholder details
Full benefits of outsourcing
Outsourcing of corporate registry maintenance is an important business decision as it directly impacts on the service you provide to your end clients and the allocation of resources within your business. The benefits of oursourcing are however numerous, and include:
- You are able to focus on your organisation's core activities;
- You will be employing our expertise at extremely cost effective rates;
- Profitability will improve for your organisation as you will be able to redeploy your human resources to your core business activities;
- You can ensure compliance continuity during your periods of staff change;
- We ensure the highest levels of accuracy in everything we do.
What are the costs involved?
When you choose to outsource your corporate registry maintenance to ABN Australia we charge just $330 per annum per company plus GST. This represents an extremely cost effective solution when considering the administrative burden normally required by your in-house staff to lodge change of company details with ASIC or review company annual statements. Furthermore, our prices are extremely competitive compared to other outsource providers in the market.
If you represent an accounting firm and are looking to outsource your client's corporate registry maintenance, we can also provide volume discounts on the above price for as low as $99 per annum. Contact us for more information.
A Client Case Study
A client who uses our corporate registry maintenance service, recently sent through a list of change requests in relation to a client's company he looks after. These changes included:
- the addition of a new director/secretary and the resignation of a company secretary
- a change of address for a continuing director (who is also a shareholder)
- the transfer of some shares from the resigning secretary to the new director
If our client managed his corporate registry obligations in-house, he would have been required to lodge multiple form 484s online, as well as draft together a range of director resolutions and prepare associated board minutes. This work could have taken him in excess of 3 hours and been a distraction from other more value add client work.
Instead, he simply forwarded the source client email on to ABN Australia with a click of a button, and we prepared the changes the same day, promptly sending him back the updated corporate registry documentation and minutes of meetings for signing to enable lodgement. He was happy and his end client was happy too.
Phone 1300 226 226 to discuss how we can help.
Please note this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Should you have any queries or require more information, please contact the team at ABNAustralia.com.au.