Company Secretary
Company Secretary — a person responsible for all necessary documents required by law. For example, issuing company resolutions, managing regulatory filings, and maintaining company books. Every Singapore business must have one. The requirements include various certifications and the job involves a lot of responsibility.
What are the Company Secretary responsibilities?
- Prepares Board Meetings and AGMs. Including scheduling, notifying the participants, preparing the agenda, passing resolutions, following up on the decisions, etc.
- Maintains Statutory Registers. These are many, some of them include register of directors, of transfers, of secretaries, of charges, etc.
- Processes Annual Filings. Failure to submit annual returns to ACRA on time could result in penalties and fines.
- Ensures legal compliance. The Corporate Secretary must keep track of the changing requirements and inform directors of the necessary actions.
- Updates necessary paperwork. Drafting resolutions, updating the company Constitution, and informing ACRA of the changes is all part of the job.
- Maintains registered office.
What you need to know about Company Secretary
For a private company, the only requirement is that the Secretary is a Singapore resident. For public companies, a filing agent should fill in the position, or a person that has at least one of the criteria: extensive experience as a Secretary for a public company, or a membership in one of the listed associations.
Company Secretary in Singapore
You have 6 months after the business has been registered to appoint a Company Secretary. He or she must reside in Singapore, so the officer has to be a Singapore citizen, or a holder of Permanent Pass, EntrePass, Employment Pass or Dependant’s Pass. You can’t be a Company Secretary and a single director at the same time. However, if there are two directors or more, one of them can be the Secretary, too.
