Every company sector must appoint a secretary to do the task related to corporate governance. The corporate secretarial services in Singapore acts as an advisor to the board of directors, and they implement the decision taken by the board of directors. A secretary has the central position around the whole office machinery rotates and occupies a key position in the administrative set up of the organization. Recently, many business environments having a professional company secretary can be useful in several ways and cost-effective. In this session, we are going to acquire certain knowledge regarding the value of a secretary in the company.
Why companies need a secretary?
The major reason for appointing a secretary is to reduce the directors’ workload by helping them with their statutory duties and responsibilities. But the specific duties of a secretary vary from company to company. If the company does not employ a secretary, they will read to meet the consequences based on the companies’ act. Hence, the secretary is crucial for administrative and compliance tasks. The secretary carries many connections that seem daunting, which may be a cause why directors neglect the role of appointing a company secretary in the first place. In short, the company secretary can greatly affect the progress, efficiency, and overall success of your company.
Things to consider for choosing the company secretary
Once you have decided to appoint a secretary, you must remember certain information in your mind. When it comes to picking a company secretary, regardless you’re a bootstrapped startup or not, these tips will help when selecting them for your business. Here, few of the essential things are mentioned for your consideration:
- First, understand the breadth of the role. Their duties can be divided into administration, advisory, and fiduciary.
- Secretary is responsible for preparing the company’s AGMs, and EGM’s, keeping company registers up to date and filling important documents with IRAS and other relevant authorities.
- He/she serves as an advisor to the directors and provides any practical advice that includes sharing timely information with the directors about all legal and compliance practices.
- If you’re a startup, you must ensure that your company secretary is familiar with the issues that generally arise in the startup sector. Since the secretary will be required to process and execute all the resulting paperwork.
- If you have more than one director in your company, doing secretary work by yourself is not necessarily a simple administrative role. Don’t make any mistake when you choose them if you do it, which can lead to rending the action invalid.
Prominent qualities to look for a secretary
Each company secretaries need a broad range of skills, including good working knowledge of corporate governance, business law, and finance matters. The company secretary should possess first-rate communication skills and able to deal with enquiries from directors, employees, shareholders, and other professionals. The process goes without saying that a secretary should be honest and reliable as they are trusted to handle confidential documents about the company as well as keep private records of individuals secure.
