Role of the Company Registrar in Singapore

The Company Registrar in Singapore perhaps plays one of the most important roles for any government agency in Singapore. With foreign direct investment being a crucial part of Singapore’s fast growing economy; the Company Registrar in the country is responsible for not only the growth of Singapore but plays an overall important role in the development of the Asian continent as well. In Singapore, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) acts as the Company Registrar. ACRA is responsible for the creation and enforcement of all regulatory and statutory requirements of both businesses as well as public accountants. All companies in Singapore must be registered with ACRA and then after incorporation, must ensure they follow all rules and regulations as set by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore.

First and foremost, any foreign company, entrepreneur or investor planning to setup a business in Singapore, must get their proposed company name approved from ACRA. Only after the name approval process, can they move on to company incorporation which needs to be registered with ACRA again. All companies need to follow the statutory requirements as set by ACRA and the Company Registrar is fully responsible for ensuring that businesses operating in Singapore maintain all regulatory requirements at all times.

Once a company has been registered, they need to maintain all their details and relevant documents with ACRA. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority is also responsible for maintaining all public records of a company in Singapore. They maintain all details such as director particulars, shareholder particulars and registered business address of a company amongst other things. Any changes in the structure of the company, changes in shareholders or shareholding pattern must be informed to ACRA immediately and the records should be updated as per the given guidelines.

Being an Accounting Regulatory authority, obviously all accounting regulations are also enforced by ACRA. All public accountants in the country must abide by the guidelines set by ACRA and keep the authority informed on any financial irregularities in a company. ACRA is not just responsible for incorporation of a firm, but it is also responsible for liquidation or dissolving a company in Singapore.
However, many analysts believe that ACRA’s role in the country is much more than simply regulating the corporate and accounting affairs. ACRA plays a huge role in Singapore’s overall brand image of being the best place on earth to do business. ACRA was the first authority which was able to achieve such a high level of efficiency that it was able to approve company formation applications within a matter of 15 minutes. No other country in the world could match the speed, efficiency and proactive nature of ACRA.

Author Bio
Bryan Wong is a business analyst in the Asia-Pacific region and in his free time writes business articles. In this article, Bryan talks about Singapore company registrar and Form company in Singapore.