Your company register, explained. Part one.

Doing what you love is a pretty good reason to spring out of bed in the morning. The admin that comes with it? Not so much.

Still, like it or not, running a company involves a certain level of paperwork that just has to be done. There’s a fair amount to complete at kick-off, and there’s a lot of ongoing compliance to navigate, too.

Your company register is usually where it all starts.

Having been there ourselves, we know how confusing it can be to open-up that folder and try to figure out which boxes you need to check, what forms you need to sign, and when you need to do it all.

Thankfully – like most things Veromo – you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

This article series is designed to take you through your company register step-by-step: what’s included in it, who’s responsible for what and which forms need actioning, when.

But first things first.

What is a company register?

Stored at either your registered office or principal place of business, your company register is actually a collection (or folder) of smaller registers.

These smaller registers contain of all the financial records, statutory papers and files that are required to ensure ongoing compliance with ASIC and provide up-to-date information on the ABR.

Your company register is important because it provides a snapshot of your business at any moment in time.

What’s included in my Veromo company register?

We’ll say it: we find paperwork as dull as you do! That’s why we created a company register that’s easy to navigate and nice to use. Hopefully, it’ll make wading through your company compliance just that little bit easier to do.

Here’s an overview of what’s included in your Veromo company register. Each booklet comes with its own handy checklist:

• Compact pocket folder
• Veromo notebook

• Booklet 01: Company Documents + Minutes of Meetings / Resolutions
• Booklet 02: Share Registers
• Booklet 03: ASIC Documents
• Booklet 04: Bank Account Kit

This is probably a good time to mention that the information in your company register needs to be kept up-to-date at all times. If anything changes, you need to let ASIC know – things like:

• Appointing or removing an officeholder
• Change to name or address of an officeholder
• Resignation or retirement of an officeholder
• Change to details of shares held by a member (shareholder)
• Change to name or address of a company member (shareholder)
• If there is an issue with shares
• Change of registered office or principal place of business
• Change of office hours (you’ll need to write a letter for this one)
• Change of company name.

You can find application forms for each of the above scenarios at asic.gov.au.

What’s the difference between officeholder roles and responsibilities?

As you know, there are a few roles central to the running (and overall success) of your company.

And although you may very well assign someone else to one of these roles, often as owner you’ll wear more than one hat and take on the lion’s share of responsibility.

You could easily find yourself doing any – or all – of the following, so it’s important to get your head around what’s expected from each role when it comes to ensuring your company’s legally compliant:

Director

• Legally accountable for all business activities.
  
• Your company constitution should set out the director’s authority and functions.
• Responsible for deciding the policies and procedures to ensure your company operates at it’s best.
• The director can, but doesn’t have to be, the owner of your company.
• A proprietary company must have at least 1 director. They must ordinarily reside in Australia.

Secretary

• Responsible for the efficient administration of your company.
• Establishes, maintains and keeps the company register up-to-date.
• Ensures that decisions made by directors or members are compliant with ASIC, and notifies ASIC of any changes.
• Can be the director, your accountant, or other senior manager.
• A proprietary company must have at least 1 secretary. They must ordinarily reside in Australia.

Public officer

• Responsible for managing tax obligations.
• Official point of contact for the ATO.
• Responsible for your company’s income tax.
• Liable for the same penalties as the company if there are any violations.
• Doesn’t need to be the director, though they often are.
• A proprietary company must have at least 1 public officer. They must ordinarily reside in Australia.

Ok, got it. So where do I start?

By the time you get your Veromo company register in your hands, we’ve already helped you punch through the majority of your company set-up paperwork. You’ve got your ACN, you’ve registered for GST and PAYG, your domain name is sorted and your company has a name and is ready to trade. Great!

But there’s still a bit of admin to do before the folks over as ASIC consider your company good to go, mostly forms that require your signature.

We’ll cover each of these documents in further detail in part two of our company register series, but for now here’s a checklist of the minimum documentation required at your company’s incorporation.

PS: some of this requires actioning, but some of it just needs to be kept up-to-date at all times.

• Company constitution
• Completed officeholder consent forms
• Completed director consent form
• Completed secretary consent form
• Completed public officer consent form
• Notice of appointment of public officer
• Register of officeholders
• Minutes of meetings of directors
• Minutes of meetings of members
• Register of members
• Share allotment journal
• Share register
• Consent to act as a member
• Copies of share certificates
• Bank account kit (a Veromo ‘exclusive’ – everything you need to open your company account)

 

As you can see, there’s quite a lot to get your head around in your company register! We’re going to leave it there for now but in the next article, we’ll tackle your company register one booklet at a time, starting with Company Documents.

In the meantime, take some time to flick through your booklets and familiarise yourself with the different forms and templates – as well as the different roles and responsibilities.

We’re always here to help if you have any questions but as always, it’s a good idea to check-in with your accountant or solicitor if anything seems unclear.