ASIC places an obligation on registered agents to keep up-to-date, comply and implement processes within their businesses that ensures compliance with their registered agent responsibilities. It’s never been a better time to revisit ASIC’s expectations of ASIC Registered Agents and refresh your processes.
CPD For Accountants has partnered with CorpSec Services to deliver The Responsible ASIC Registered Agent self-paced eLearning course. The course is presented by ASIC registered agent specialist Viola Pythas, the founder of CorpSec Services. Many registered agents don’t fully understand their obligations or the consequences of non-compliance for themselves as an agent and also for their clients.
This is a unique course aimed to equip ASIC Registered Agents with the skills and resources required to provide high quality corporate secretarial services to their clients and navigate ASIC lodgements. ASIC doesn’t make the role of an ASIC Registered Agent easy. Well, this course does!
Viola has outlined 7 key things you should know as an ASIC Registered Agent:
1. ASIC Registered Agent Terms and Conditions & Electronic Lodgement Protocol (ELP)
ASIC Registered Agents are required to adhere to certain requirements and obligations in performing their role. In The Responsible ASIC Registered Agents course, we unpack those requirements and also examine ASIC’s expectations of registered agents and their responsible persons. Despite widespread reform in the area of electronic signing, did you know that ASIC still expects the Form 362 to be signed in hard copy. This is because of the wording in the ELP (last updated in 2017) which states that the authorisation is a paper document ‘that is physically signed by the hand of the relevant signatory.’
2. A formal client onboarding process will help you managing Corporate Registers
Managing Corporate Registers on behalf of your clients’ companies, is much more than simply downloading current company details from ASIC at the time of your appointment as ASIC registered agent. In the Responsible ASIC Registered Agent eLearning course, we go through suggested onboarding processes and provide an onboarding checklist.
3. There’s more than meets the eye in drafting minutes
The opening remarks from the module on Minutes is as follows:“Minutes or resolutions give effect to a company change. The form is merely the ASIC notification that a company change has occurred.” In the course, we discuss the importance of minutes, how to validly pass resolutions and a whole lot more on drafting different types of meaningful minutes/resolutions.
4. Correcting company details recorded on ASIC’s Companies Register can be challenging
Ever had trouble correcting an error recorded on ASIC’s Corporate Register? Whether it’s a share capital error, a historical error or a simple correction to an officeholder’s name, we have you covered in this detailed course.
5. ASIC initiated deregistrations are a risk for agents
Mismanagement of client companies by ASIC registered agents can result in the unexpected deregistration of a trading company by ASIC. We go through a real-life example of how an ASIC agent and the director of a company got caught out.
6. Reinstating a company can take time, so conduct proper due diligence before deregistering a company
It can take up to 28 days just to obtain a reinstatement fee estimate from ASIC and up to a further 28 days for ASIC to reinstate a deregistered entity. This is why conducting proper due diligence before voluntarily deregistering a company is important. Likewise, it is important to keep company addresses up to date and for ASIC agents to ensure that their clients pay their annual renewal fees.
7. You can set up email Alerts of documents lodged with ASIC
Did you know you can set up ASIC alerts to receive email notifications when documents are lodged for a company? This can be particularly useful when you lodge hard copy forms with ASIC or when you want a heads up that someone else has lodged a document for a particular company.
.For more information on the Responsible ASIC Registered Agent eLearning course, click here
Viola Pythas | Director, CorpSec Services
Her specialty is ASIC related work including, setting up new companies, restructures, resolving complex compliance issues, rectification of share capital related work and ongoing company compliance for both Australian and foreign owned companies.
Viola is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia (GIA) and actively participates in discussion groups.She is a member of the GIA's Corporate and Legal Issues Committee, which meets monthly.She is also a member of the ATO's Modernising Business Registers Business Advisory Group (BAG).
- 7 things you should know as an ASIC Registered Agent - 12 April 2022
