Formations and
statutory compliance
Formations of limited
companies are completed electronically within 24 hours or less. Companies
are normally formed using our corporate nominees for ease of signing
all initial relevant documents. As well as the popular private limited
company we can form public (PLC) companies, guarantee companies and
LLPs (Limited Liability Partnerships). We can check names and form companies
for name protection purposes, holding the company for a client as long
as necessary.
Basic yearly compliance
consists of maintaining the company statutory registers, providing advice
and dealing with the annual return which must be filed each year. If
the company is dormant we can draft and file dormant accounts, otherwise
an accountant will be required. A board minute is also required for
the directors to approve the accounts and should also be drafted to
record any other decisions of the directors throughout the year.
We can provide a corporate
nominee company secretary. This is useful as it allows us to sign statutory
forms without having to send them to the directors first. It also provides
a second officer of the company where there is only one person involved
in running the business. We can also provide a nominee shareholder and
in certain situations can provide a director in person where complete
confidentiality is required. The UK Company Law Reform bill forbids
the use of sole corporate directors and so at least one individual will
be required to be appointed as a director in every UK company once the
Act is in force. The bill also lays down in statute for the first time
the responsibilities and obligations of directors so the need to comply
with companies' legislation will be greater than ever.
We can deal with one-off
exercises for a company, from simple share issues or share transfers
up to complete re-structuring of a group of companies. We
can deal with public company compliance up to the level of companies
listed on the Stock Exchange, such as organising and arranging Annual
General Meetings, dealing with end of year filings and minuting, compiling
registers of directors' share and options interests, due diligence exercises
etc. We can take over the filing of returns and maintenance of registers
or provide cover for leave.
We can provide a central London registered office address for the company
and mail forwarding services to anywhere in the world. All UK companies
must have an address in the UK for official correspondence and serving
of process.
Accountancy
and tax
Suitable accountants and tax advisors can be recommended to clients
depending on their size and business. Every active company needs statutory
financial statements drafted at the year end and may also need an audit.
Only if the company is completely dormant can it avoid the need for
an accountant, requiring instead a simple balance sheet which we can
draft and file at Companies House. Another measure of the Company Law
Reform bill is to cut the time allowed for filing statutory accounts
for a UK company from ten to nine months for a private company and from
seven to six months for a public company. The need for efficient book-keeping
and accountancy services will therefore be even greater from 2007. We
can also introduce clients to a UK bank and help with VAT registration.
Due
diligence
A public, or large private,
group which is in process of being sold will need to provide due diligence
at an early stage. We can project manage this process (often remotely),
allowing the directors to concentrate on the many other tasks they wll
be involved with at this time. Material documents from every department
of the company will need to be listed, sourced, scanned or reformatted,
indexed and then, in liaison with the data storage provider, presented
for inspection, normally these days in electronic form in a secure data
library online.
Virtual
Office
Dedicated or existing lines can be used to be answered by a person or
diverted. Messages can be forwarded by any means desired. Email, fax
and efax services are also available.
Domain names and websites
We can check and obtain available
website and email domain names for name protection or immediate use
and design and construct web sites.
Trademark registration
As well as registering the company
and website, a company name can be registered as a trademark if it complies
with certain requirements. We can undertake a search to confirm that
the name is free for registration and then submit an application to
the relevant body.
Overseas clients
Our service is particularly
useful for overseas clients as we deal with all matters required to
run the company, and also for those requiring confidentiality as we
can act as nominees in all capacities.
Professional firms
We can service the company secretarial
clients of professional firms looking to outsource, set up a company
secretrial department, company secretarial software or provide ad hoc
work as required.
Commercial companies
For listed, or large private
companies, we can set up company secretarial software, provide interim
cover or extra support, for example for year end procedures or deal
with special project work such as constructing directors' interest registers
or due diligence data libraries in the case of a possible sale/takeover.
