The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is the regulatory body governing companies in Australia and administering the Corporations Act 2001.
Dynamic Accountax is a registered ASIC agent. We provide services in registering and deregistering a company and maintenance of its record with ASIC.
When you register a company you are creating a separate legal entity for which you, as an officeholder, will have certain legal obligations.
Below are the steps to be considered when starting a new company:
Decide Whether Company Structure Is Right For You
Please refer to the business structure article.
Please note that registering a business name is not the same as registering a company. Registration or use of a business name does not:
- Create a legal entity (only registering a company creates a legal entity), or
- Allow the use of privileges to which a company is entitled, such as a corporate tax rate or limited liability.
Choosing A Company Name
You can only choose a company name that is not already registered to another company or business. If it’s a proprietary company and its liability is limited by shares, the proposed name must include the word ‘Proprietary Limited’ or the abbreviation ‘Pty Ltd’.
To Decide Your Governing Rules
A company’s internal management may be governed by:
- Replaceable rules;
- A constitution; or
- A combination of both
Replaceable rules do not apply to proprietary companies where the one person is the sole director and sole member, although a constitution may be adopted.
To Decide Your Share Structure
A company will need to advise ASIC of the following information about its issued shares.
- Number of shares issued and corresponding members
- Class to which each share belongs
- Amount (if any) paid, or agreed to be considered to be paid, on each of the shares
- Amount unpaid (if any) on each of the shares.
- Whether beneficially held
Understand Your Legal Obligation As officeholder
As a company director, your responsibilities include the following but not limited to:
- Be honest and careful in your dealings at all times
- Know what your company is doing
- Take extra care if your company is operating a business because you may be handling other people’s money
- Make sure that your company can pay its debts on time
- See that your company keeps proper financial records
- Act in the company’s best interests, even if this may not be in your own interests, and even though you may have set up the company just for personal or taxation reasons, and
- Use any information you get through your position properly and in the best interests of the company
Dynamic Accountax can help and guide you through the whole process of setting up a new proprietary company, together with application of ABN, TFN, GST & PAYGW. We also offer services to help you to maintain the company registration with ASIC and meet its lodgment obligation more efficiently. Any change of company details, officeholders or share capital will be notified to ASIC and properly documented.
Please refer to our Small Business Accountant Service