guiding with expertise

Company secretarial

What are company secretarial services?

Company secretarial services are not, as the name suggests, clerical or secretarial in the traditional sense of the word.  They relate to a senior level administrative function in an organisation, ensuring good corporate governance, effective administration and compliance with all legislation, laws, and regulations that govern its business and industry.

What does it involve?

Managing their corporate governance requirements are becoming a growing issue for businesses.  Shareholders are demanding increased accountability from their boards and require accurate and commercially astute advice.

Good corporate governance practices and the Companies Act, 2008 require that two important functions are fulfilled in an organisation:

  • First, the company and its directors must comply with the Companies Act and/or with the various sets of legislation and laws that govern their businesses
  • Secondly, the organisation must establish and maintain certain records and has ongoing responsibilities with regard to the holding and recording of meetings, the conduct of board members, interactions with shareholders and stakeholders and engagement with government authorities

What can we offer you?

Our company secretarial practice, together with our corporate and commercial department, strives to offer an all-inclusive, integrated approach to corporate governance, compliance and secretarial services. 

We assist our clients by providing legal advice affecting their day-to-day operations, and support them in developing and implementing practical solutions in order to enhance shareholder value, organisational compliance and risk management.

To this end, we provide a full spectrum of corporate commercial and company secretarial services to private companies, public and state-owned companies, non-profit companies, close corporations as well as external and foreign companies.

We challenge the traditional way of doing things and offer special fixed price packages to entrepreneurs and small businesses in South Africa.  In this way, we are able to help you launch your start-up, get your business off the ground and maintain the legal health of your business through ever-evolving corporate governance requirements.

We further offer comprehensive services relating to the registration and establishment of co-operatives, non-profit organisations, public benefit organisations and the authentication of official documents for use in foreign jurisdictions.

Our focus areas include:  

Company secretarial services offerings

  • Company name reservations
  • Defensive company name registrations
  • Shelf company registrations
  • Registration of external companies
  • Incorporation of new companies
  • Attending to the registration of company changes (including company names, new directors and address changes)
  • Conversion of close corporations to companies
  • Conversion of one company to another
  • Adoptions and registration of MOIs
  • Share conversions
  • Registration of special resolutions
  • Conversion of audited annual financial statements to eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format
  • Lodging of audited annual financial statements in XBRL format
  • Filing of annual returns
  • Reinstatement of companies or close corporations
  • Deregistration of companies or close corporations
  • Liquidation of companies or close corporations
  • Obtaining copies of company documents
  • Maintaining company registers
  • Allotment and transfer of shares
  • Maintaining and retaining statutory records
  • Appointments of prescribed officers
  • Appointment of auditors
  • Changes to company year end
  • Appointment of company secretary

Administration services for structured finance transactions

  • Lodging and registration of special purpose companies and trusts

Engagement with revenue authorities

  • SARS income tax registrations
  • Appointment of public officers
  • Registering tax representative appointments
  • Notifying SARS of company detail changes
  • Establishment of public benefit organisations (PBO’s)

Master’s Office liaison (countrywide in South Africa)

  • Lodging, following up and obtaining letters of authority in respect of trust deeds
  • Searches and obtaining copies of documents at the relevant Master’s Office
  • Lodging of amendments to existing trust deeds

Other legal and administrative matters

  • Authentication, notarising and legalising of documents for use overseas
  • Obtaining B-BBEE certificates for newly registered entities
  • Domain name searches and registrations
  • Registration of non-profit organisations
  • Registration of co-operatives
  • Non-resident endorsement of share certificates

Assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses

  • Fixed price packages for start-ups and established businesses
  • Various monthly subscription plans
  • Customised commercial agreements
  • Flexible monthly payment terms