Do you have a real understanding of what it means to be a company officeholder? How do you stay compliant, or make sure your company details are up to date and that you’re paying your annual statement on time.

Hopefully the following may help….

Your obligations as an officeholder

If you're a director or a secretary for a company, you're considered an officeholder. Your job as an officeholder is to make sure your company complies with the law.

Even if you appoint an agent, you – not the agent – may still be held responsible for the company's legal obligations.

For more information about your responsibilities, see Your Company and the Law

Why complying with officeholder details is important

On a personal level, meeting your obligations as a company officeholder will help you avoid reminders and late fees. More broadly, it will also strengthen the environment in which you do business.

It’s important to know who you are dealing with, and who runs a company. Ask yourself if you should do business with them. Almost 90 million searches of ASIC data were completed in the past financial year. The information contained in these searches helps create an environment where business decisions can be made with confidence.

We strongly encourage you to review your obligations (regardless of your position) and play your role in making sure ASIC's data helps Australian business.

Keeping your company's details up to date

If your details change, you need to let ASIC know as soon as possible to avoid late fees.  Some examples of changes they need to know about include:

·         a company changing its address

·         an officeholder changing their name

·         any changes to a company's share structure

Most changes can be made online. See changes to your company and changing your officeholder details for more information.

Paying your annual statements and other fees

Every company has an annual review date, usually the date of registration. ASIC will send your annual statement and invoice a few days after your review date. You must pay your annual review fee within 28 days of its issue date. Learn more about annual statements.

You can see the fee and timeframe for any form by searching for it on our website.

Keeping financial records

If you're the director of a company, the law makes you personally responsible for keeping proper company records. All companies must have financial records so that:

·         true and fair financial statements of the company can be prepared if needed

·         financial statements can be conveniently and properly audited if necessary, and

·         the company can obey the tax laws.

Get professional advice if you have any doubt about the content or type of financial records to keep. If you have any questions, just give us a call and we can help.