For many businesses, change is often a necessity and an enabling force to attain bigger goals.
However, it may not always be welcomed – especially in such turbulent and uncertain times, particularly if it involves companies operating in Singapore, a place that is largely affected by the external environment.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, such as the Israel-Hamas war, rival claims in the crucial South China Sea, and even climate change spell brewing troubles that could affect companies’ growth if investor confidence in the region is adversely affected.
Therefore, it comes as unsurprising to see firms hesitate in switching key business functionalities, such as their corporate secretarial providers, instead choosing to hold off plans and waiting to see if the situation improves.
In this blog, we explore the potential advantages that changing corporate secretarial providers can bring, as well as the repercussions of doing otherwise, from the perspective of a large multinational business.
The Multifacted Role of a Company Secretary
The corporate secretary plays a vital and multifaceted role within a company, contributing significantly to its governance, compliance, and overall success.
It is a position that has long evolved to become one of the key pillars behind any business’ backend activities, enabling them to stay legally compliant, streamline tedious administrative responsibilities, reduce potential risks, and offer much-needed advisory and support for large-scale corporate activities, such as mergers and acquisitions.
Large companies often decide to outsource their corporate secretarial tasks to a professional provider to free up valuable time that could be more wisely spent on growing their core competencies and boosting their bottom lines.
It grants them added efficiency and effectiveness, with the assurance and peace of mind that they are fulfiling all their regulatory obligations through the help of a reputable provider that is always at the ready.
Related Read: A Company Secretary Represents a Key Role in Any Business — Here’s Why
Why Do Companies Switch Providers of Company Secretarial Services?
Switching corporate secretarial providers can be a positive change for your business, and companies that recognise this fact are likely driven to do so due to these factors:
High Risks and Costs
When they experience high risks – and the resulting costs – with unreliable service providers, companies can seek a better alternative to lower these risks and unnecessary expenses.
Some of these costs can arise from failing to meet regulatory requirements, poor corporate governance, and company-wide strategic decisions. With such a provider, companies can consistently face undesirable levels of risk.
Poor Service Quality
Service quality can be a reflection of the provider’s work ethic and attitude, and affect fulfilment. If the current provider is unresponsive, provides inconsistent service, or lacks transparency, this translates into an unpleasant experience.
When this happens, companies may opt for a provider with a better service track record, reputation, and trustworthiness – all of which are vital factors of consideration.
Looking Beyond Pure Corporate Secretarial Services in Singapore
A business constantly evolves and hence new corporate requirements are required from time to time. This also means that companies looking to obtain new services may cause a mismatch with existing corporate secretarial service providers, of which the main expertise is only in secretarial.
Businesses should explore working with providers that can provide a wide range of corporate services under one house, which saves valuable time and effort of working with multiple providers for different requirements, which can get tedious and confusing.
Need to Go Global
Businesses that have a presence in multiple countries can find it difficult to stay updated on the latest legal and regulatory requirements and obligations that they need to meet.
In this case, switching to a globalised company secretary services provider that possesses the means and knowledge to address this issue with adequate understanding of each market makes sense. It gives a company specialised expertise from experts capable of monitoring regular changes, hence reducing compliance risk.
What Are the Consequences of Delaying Your Switch?
When problems are left alone to simmer, they eventually grow out of hand. Choosing to ignore obvious issues and adopting a wait-and-see approach can be highly detrimental for a company – especially a global one that is looking at expansion – in various ways.
Accumulated Costs
Risks and errors translate into costs, and when you fail to make a change from an incompetent provider, these costs continue to accrue. Fines incurred, administrative burdens from rectifying errors, and poor company decisions can also be hard to quantify into exact monetary terms.
Prolonged Risks
As a corporate services provider to many companies, we understand the struggle to make the change. Global uncertainties such as interest rates, inflation, and the possibility of recession are concerns that many business leaders have.
However, these can be shortsighted risks that undermine the real problems that may crop up in the long run. We should remember that while we are in the midst of economic uncertainties, economies have always been cyclical and volatile.
Even if you assume that postponing or doing away with the switch to another corporate secretarial services provider is a sagacious move during an economic downturn, it does not remove the organisational risks that your current provider brings.
Why Should You Switch to InCorp’s Corporate Secretarial Services?
At InCorp, we are a corporate services firm that offers an extensive range of services. Our corporate secretarial services are highly regarded and valued by our distinguished clients, and we are proud that we have been able to assist many in their switch in providers.
Here are some clear reasons that make this change so natural for our clientele:
An All-in-One Solution
With a presence in 8 key markets across the Asia-Pacific region, we are capable of providing a seamless experience for corporations seeking to expand their business presence to these countries.
Rather than reviewing and managing different corporate secretarial providers in each country of operation, which can become an administrative burden – think multiple contracts in different languages, points of contact, and other challenges – choosing InCorp can be the all-in-one solution that you need.
Through our newest International Business Development Manager (IBDM) service, we can provide a single point of contact in the language of your choice to fulfil your need for corporate secretarial services, amongst many other offerings that we provide, such as company incorporation and payroll services.
This ultimately eliminates tedious paperwork and the time and effort that would originally be used on sourcing and vetting for individual providers.
Serving MNCs and Listed Companies
Over the years, we have had the privilege to assist clients of various sizes hailing from multiple sectors and parts of the world. Our vast customer base includes key industry players such as Singapore-listed companies and large multinational corporations (MNCs).
Other than providing corporate secretarial and share registry services to existing SGX-listed companies, our competent corporate secretarial services team has also supported our clients in achieving successful IPO listings in Singapore.
Switch to InCorp’s Corporate Secretarial Services Now
As a full-fledged corporate services provider, we have specialised expertise and professionals who can handle a variety of business functions. Apart from providing companies with a company secretary in Singapore, our accountancy, payroll, and taxation services are also some of our most popular options preferred by customers.
Switching a company secretary provider is not an easy decision to make, but it can be the game-changer that your business needs. Discover the advantages of switching to our corporate secretarial services today!
FAQs on Switching to InCorp
- Corporate secretarial services involve a wide range of responsibilities aimed at ensuring a company's compliance with laws and regulations, encouraging good corporate governance, and supporting the smooth functioning of the board of directors and management.
- InCorp has a competent service team that can provide you with the skilled manpower required to fulfil your business’ obligatory requirements. Furthermore, with our IBDM service, we can help companies looking to expand in our member countries with their corporate secretarial needs.
- Our fees vary depending on your needs and the extent of services covered. Contact our friendly advisors to find out in depth!
Make a positive change and switch to InCorp today!
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