Corporate & legal

The register is the product

Every company client has a register that has to be right: who the officers are, who holds the shares, what the constitution says, what was resolved and when. Registries fine late or wrong filings, banks and buyers ask for the register at the worst moment, and the firm that keeps it is liable for its state. A corporate tool holds the register as data rather than as a folder of PDFs, generates the filing from it, and produces the documents when something changes, so the register and the paperwork can never disagree.

What to look for

Direct lodgement with the registry in your jurisdiction, with the firm's agent credentials, so the filing is made from the tool and the confirmation is filed against the client. Document generation from templates the firm controls: minutes, resolutions, share transfers, consents, all pre-filled from the register. Deadline tracking for every entity's annual filing, with reminders and a view across all clients. Beneficial ownership and trust registers where the rules require them. Electronic signing built in or linked, and a link to the document system so the signed copy files itself.

For firms that incorporate for clients, the incorporation flow itself: names, constitution, first officers, registry lodgement and the opening documents, in one pass.

Running corporate secretarial as a service

The engagement is an annual fixed service per entity: the register kept, the annual filing made, a fixed number of changes included, the rest priced per document. Firms that run it well batch the annual filings by month, review the register with the client once a year, and use the tool's cross-client view to make sure nothing is late. The service is sticky because the register lives with the firm and moving it is work the client does not want.

The failure mode is the register kept in the practice system's notes and the documents drafted from last year's. One tool, one register, every document generated from it.

Pricing and how firms recover it

Vendors price per entity per year, per lodgement, or with a practice plan in bands of entities. The directory records what vendors publish; it does not say what a firm should charge for corporate secretarial work, and nothing here is fee advice. Firms describe an annual fee per entity with the registry fee and the tool cost inside it, and per-document pricing for changes beyond the included number.

Trusts and other structures

Trust deeds, resolutions and the registers attached to trusts are the same problem in a different shape, and some tools cover them alongside companies. A firm with many trust clients should choose on that coverage. The same goes for self-managed superannuation and partnership structures where the firm's jurisdiction has them.

What to avoid

Registers as PDFs. Documents drafted from last year's. Filing outside the tool. A separate deadline spreadsheet. And taking on the register for a client without agreeing what the annual service includes and what is extra.