Exploring the 5 Benefits of Corporate Secretarial Services in Singapore

Published on 18th April, 2023

The highly competitive commercial environment in Singapore It is essential for businesses to prioritize efficiency, compliance, and sound corporate governance for success. This is where corporate secretarial services are essential.    

Corporate secretaries are charged with ensuring that businesses comply with the legal and regulatory requirements, as well as providing support in various administrative and strategic tasks.    

In this blog, we’ll look at the top five advantages of corporate secretarial services in Singapore, ranging from governance and compliance to savings in costs and expert advice. Whether you’re a small-scale startup or a major multinational company, knowing the benefits of corporate secretarial services can help you move your business to the next step.    

Let’s get started and find out the ways corporate secretarial services in Singapore can aid your business in Singapore.    

Benefits of Corporate Secretarial Services in Singapore

Corporate secretarial support is essential for businesses operating in Singapore to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations. In addition, they offer valuable assistance in various managerial and business-related tasks that allow companies to run more efficiently. In this blog, we’ll look at Singapore’s top five advantages of corporate secretarial service.

Benefit #1: Ensuring compliance with Legal Requirements

In Singapore, businesses are subject to various regulatory and legal requirements which they must meet so that they do not face penalties or legal repercussions. This includes filing annual returns, keeping correct records, and adhering to corporate governance principles.

Corporate secretarial services can assist businesses in meeting these needs by providing support and expertise in areas like:    

1.      Annual Returns Filing

 All Singaporean enterprises must prepare an annual tax return to The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). Failure to file a return can be punished with fines and removal companies. Corporate secretarial assistance can help companies file their annual returns correctly and timely, assuring compliance with ACRA regulations.

2.      Maintaining Statutory Records

Companies that operate in Singapore must maintain a variety of documents that are required by law, such as director’s lists, registers of shareholders, and officers. Corporate secretarial assistance can help businesses keep these records, ensuring they are accurate and up-to-date.

3.      Ensure compliance with corporate Governance Principles.

Corporate secretarial assistance can help businesses ensure that they comply with corporate governance principles. They can guide and assist in board meetings, corporate resolutions, and minutes.

4.      Keeping Companies Informed of Regulatory Changes

Corporate secretarial service providers are current with the most recent regulations and can notify companies of any changes that could impact their services. This allows companies to remain up-to-date and in compliance with current laws. 

Compliance with regulatory and legal rules is crucial for businesses operating in Singapore. Failure to adhere can have significant legal and financial consequences. Corporate secretarial assistance can help firms meet these obligations by offering expert guidance and support and ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations to avoid expensive penalties.

Benefit #2: Improving Corporate Governance

Corporate governance is the guidelines, practices, and processes through which a company’s operations are managed and managed. It is about balancing the needs of all stakeholders within a company, like shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, the government, and the community.

Corporate governance is vital to the long-term success of a business since it creates transparency, accountability, and honesty in its operation. Corporate secretarial services in Singapore play an essential role in the maintenance of the highest standards of corporate governance in an organization.

They are usually provided by highly qualified professionals who manage the compliance and administrative aspects of the company’s operation. Let’s review the importance of corporate governance and how corporate secretarial assistance can aid in improving it.

Role of Corporate Secretarial Services in Ensuring Good Corporate Governance

Corporate secretarial services in Singapore play an important function in ensuring the company’s highest corporate governance standards. They are generally accountable for the administration and compliance aspects of an organization’s activities, and their responsibilities are to:

1. Compliance Management: Corporate secretarial services ensure the business complies with all applicable laws and regulations. They also provide guidelines. They keep and update the company’s official documents, including minutes of meetings, registers of members, directors, and the like. They also ensure that the company’s reports to regulators, like annual financial statements, reports, and other disclosures required by law, are current and correct.
2. Board support: The corporate secretary services offer support to director’s boards, a crucial element for corporate management. They assist in planning and managing board meetings and in preparing agendas and other materials for meetings while keeping meeting minutes. They make sure that the decisions of the board are recorded and executed.
3. Shareholder communication: The corporate Secretarial services help facilitate communication between the company’s shareholders and the company. The company’s secretaries manage the shareholder registry, deal with shareholder queries, and aid in arranging annual general meetings and various shareholder gatherings. They ensure shareholders are informed of up-to-date and accurate information on the company’s activities, performance, and other pertinent issues.
4. Corporate Reporting: The corporate Secretarial services in Singapore aid in the preparation and distribution of financial reports for the company, such as the annual report, financial statement, and other disclosures that are required. They ensure that the reports are produced per all applicable legislation and rules and present a truthful and honest assessment of the company’s financial condition and performance.
5. Corporate Governance Framework: Secretarial services aid in creating and maintaining a solid corporate governance structure within the business. They offer advice and assistance in corporate governance concerns like the composition of boards, their independence, and board committees.

Benefit #3: Streamlining Administrative Tasks

A business’s operation in Singapore is a complex set of administrative duties, ranging from bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and payroll. These are essential tasks; however, they can be time-consuming and take away time from primary business functions.

This is where corporate service providers assist in streamlining administrative tasks, freeing up resources for businesses to concentrate on their main business operations.

Examples of administrative duties that could be contracted out by corporate services providers are:

1. Bookkeeping and Accounting

Corporate service providers can help businesses maintain precise financial records and prepare financial statements. This includes coordinating account payables and receivables, processing invoices and payments, and reconciling bank statements.

2. Payroll and HR Administration

Companies that provide corporate services can assist companies with their HR and payroll administration by managing employee benefits and payroll, as well as processing payments and submitting tax returns. 

3. Tax Compliance

Companies can use corporate services providers to aid businesses in ensuring compliance with Singapore’s tax laws, including filing tax returns for corporate income and Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax returns.

 4. Company Secretarial Services   

Alongside assisting with compliance, Corporate service providers can help with secretarial support, such as incorporation and registration, as well as maintaining statutory registers. 

Benefit #4: Expert Advice and Support

Professional advice and support are vital for businesses that want to navigate the complicated regulatory framework that governs corporate governance and compliance. Corporate service Singapore providers possess vast expertise and knowledge in this field and can provide valuable guidance regarding regulatory requirements and best practices in corporate governance and compliance requirements.

Areas of Expertise Offered by Corporate Secretarial Services Providers

Corporate secretarial service providers provide many areas of expertise that, include:

   1. Governance for corporate: The companies can aid in developing and implementing company governance guidelines and procedures, assuring that businesses adhere to all applicable laws and regulations.

   2. Compliance: Corporate service providers help companies comply with regulatory requirements through continuous compliance assistance and monitoring.

   3. Company registration and formation: They can help with registering and creating new companies and ensure that they comply with any legal requirements and that they are appropriately designed.

   4. Corporate secretarial services: Corporate service providers may offer ongoing services for company secretarial, for example, keeping the company’s records, preparing and filing statutory returns, as well as handling the annual General Meetings.

 5. Due diligence: companies can help in due diligence tasks like reviewing contracts and background checks and reviewing the legal and regulatory risk of transactions.

Benefit #5: Cost Savings

Outsourcing is a systematic method for businesses to reduce costs while ensuring efficiency and productivity. One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing corporate service is the cost savings.

In the article below, we’ll discuss the savings businesses can reap when outsourcing corporate services, examine the cost of outsourcing services to in-house staff, and give real-world instances of savings for Singaporean firms.

Cost Savings from Outsourcing Corporate Services

Outsourcing corporate services Singapore can result in substantial cost savings for businesses of any size. Outsourcing allows companies to cut down on labor and office space costs as well as equipment and even training costs.

Outsourcing also lets businesses access expertise and knowledge that aren’t readily available at home, which could lead to cost savings due to increased performance and effectiveness.

For instance, when a business outsources its bookkeeping and accounting services, it can reduce the cost of salaries and benefits for accountants and bookkeepers.

Furthermore, outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting services can decrease the chance of mistakes and fraud, which could cost a lot to correct.

Comparison of the Costs of Outsourced Corporate Services versus In-house Services

Outsourcing corporate services in Singapore costs could vary based on the kind of services, the task’s difficulty, and where the provider is located. Outsourcing corporate services can be more affordable than hiring in-house personnel.

When a company employs employees in-house, they must pay for their salaries, benefits, office space, equipment, and training. When a business outsources its corporate operations, it will pay for the services it needs and does not have to cover the additional costs of hiring staff in-house.

Real-life Examples of Cost Savings for Singaporean Companies

Singaporean businesses have been outsourcing their corporate services for years and have seen significant cost savings because of it. Here are a few actual examples of savings in costs for Singaporean businesses that have contracted out their corporate services:

1. The Singaporean manufacturing company contracted its supply chain and management to a third-party logistics provider. In the process, the company was able to reduce the cost of logistics by 20% and increase the efficiency of its supply chain.  
2. A Singaporean IT services firm contracted its customer service services to a call center in the Philippines. Through outsourcing, they were able to reduce the cost of labor by 50% and increase the satisfaction of its customers.
3. A Singaporean law firm contracted the review of documents and other discovery functions to an outsourcing company for legal processes (LPO) service. In doing this, the firm could reduce its costs for labor by 40% and increase the speed of document review.

The outsourcing of corporate functions can yield substantial savings for companies that are of any size. Through outsourcing, businesses can cut down on labor and office space costs as well as equipment and training expenses.

Furthermore, outsourcing allows businesses to benefit from expertise and experience which aren’t readily at hand in-house. This could yield savings in the form of enhanced performance and effectiveness. The examples above illustrate outsourcing corporate services could be an effective method for Singaporean businesses to cut costs and boost their efficiency.

Importance of Corporate Service Singapore

Corporate services in Singapore are important for businesses as they help ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, improve corporate governance, streamline administrative tasks, provide expert advice, and save costs.

Singapore has a highly competitive commercial environment, and businesses must prioritize efficiency and sound corporate governance to succeed. Corporate secretarial services in Singapore play a crucial role in helping companies meet their legal and regulatory obligations, maintain high standards of corporate governance, and run more efficiently.

By outsourcing these tasks to professional service providers, businesses can focus on their core activities and grow their operations. Overall, corporate services are essential to doing business in Singapore and contribute to the country’s reputation as a hub for international business.

Conclusion:

In the end, corporate secretarial services in Singapore offer various benefits to businesses, including ensuring compliance with local laws and enhancing the credibility of businesses by streamlining administrative tasks, reducing the chance of mistakes, and allowing time and resources for other business tasks. Utilizing the assistance of a reputable corporate secretarial service, companies can concentrate on their core business while ensuring that all compliance requirements are fulfilled, which ultimately leads to greater efficiency and profits.