5 Best Online Corporate Secretaries in Singapore 2021

Introduction

Are you thinking of incorporating a new company in Singapore? Or maybe you’re tired of your current corporate secretary, and are looking to switch to a new provider. Whatever your situation is, there’s never been a better time than now to consider using an online corporate secretary. Online corporate secretaries provide an affordable, quick, and highly convenient experience for secretarial-related services. Whether you want to start a new business, issue new shares, or remove a director, these online firms have got you covered. To help you decide which company to use, we’ve put together this guide on the 5 best online corporate secretaries in Singapore for 2021.

What is a corporate secretary?

First off, let’s start by establishing the role of a corporate secretary. In Singapore, all companies are required by law to appoint a company secretary within 6 months of incorporation. A corporate secretary’s main functions are to ensure that the company fulfills statutory requirements, the company practices good corporate governance, and shareholders’ interests are protected.

A corporate secretary helps you achieve this by filing your annual returns, assisting you with share transfers, appointing directors, and more. Corporate secretaries take on these mundane administrative tasks so that you can focus on more important business matters.

How are online corporate secretaries different from traditional corporate secretaries?

Both traditional and online corporate secretaries offer the same set of services. The biggest difference, however, lies in the speed, convenience, and price. Online corporate secretaries often operate much more quickly than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Because they’re online, they tend to charge lower prices too.

The 5 best online corporate secretaries in Singapore 2021 (no particular order):

#1. Osome

Osome (pronounced as “awesome”) is an online corporate secretary that provides a full spectrum of services. The company was founded in 2017. Osome has raised over USD $5 million in venture capital funding, being part of a recent wave of online corporate secretary startups sweeping the industry.

Osome’s range of services include:

a. Incorporation: Osome will register your company for you with ACRA, and will provide you with a company constitution. All government charges are included in their service fee. Their incorporation package includes up to 3 shareholders, and you can add extra shareholders for $50 per person. Osome claims that once you have your documents ready, most company incorporations can be done in under 1 hour.

Osome also has specifically designed packages for foreigners. For $2,250, you can get an incorporation deal that includes registration with ACRA, nominee directors, and. This helps you to easily set up companies without having to find a resident Singaporean to be on your company board. For $2,650, you can throw in an employment pass application as well.

b. Corporate secretary: Osome has 2 packages – Basic and Unlimited. Under the Basic Package ($300/year), Osome will take care of, well, just the basics. You’ll get your annual ACRA filings which are required by law, and also preparation for your AGM. This is a barebones package that’s suitable for companies that really aren’t experiencing any changes to shareholders, directors, or location changes.

Under the Unlimited Package ($600/year), Osome will take care of much more. You get what’s included in the Basic Package, plus changes to directors, shareholders, addresses, issuance of new shares, dividend distributions, and more. If you need to make regular changes to any of these things, then it’s best to go with the unlimited package. For a set yearly fee, you’ll have access to all these services which makes it pretty cost-efficient.

Do note that if you sign up for the Unlimited Package, you will get a free company incorporation. So, if you’re registering a new company, it’s advisable to consider getting the unlimited package so you can make use of the various secretarial services, whilst saving money on the incorporation fees.

Osome also offers multiple useful add-on services, like company stamp supplies, Corp-Pass registration, company strike-offs, and more.

c. Accounting and taxes: Unless you’re running an accounting practice, few business owners are going to enjoy trying to reconcile their books regularly. Osome takes care of this for you with their accounting subscription service. For $600/year, you can get a basic package that allows for 40 transactions each year. Their starter package from $1,200/year covers 480 transactions, and you even get a personal accountant/bookkeeper assigned to you. They also have custom plans available if you handle much higher transaction volumes.

#2. Sleek

Sleek is an online corporate secretary that offers a comprehensive set of services. The company was founded in 2015. The company has raised over USD $5 million in venture capital funding.

Sleek’s pricing scheme is slightly different from the other companies in this list. Whereas companies like Osome charge based on the level of service, Sleek charges based on the number of shareholders you have.

Sleek’s range of services include:

a. Incorporation: Sleek will register your company for you with ACRA, and all government charges are already included in their incorporation fee. Unlike other companies in this list, do note that the number of shareholders you want to include will change your incorporation fee. For instance, 1 shareholder will cost $300. 10 shareholders will cost $780. Use their price calculator to check how much you’ve had to pay.

If you’re a foreigner who wants to incorporate a local company and move to Singapore, a full incorporation package from Sleek is slightly pricier than Osome’s. Assuming you only have 1 shareholder, the incorporation itself will cost you $300, a corporate secretary another $300, a nominee director will cost $1,500, and an employment pass $980. Sleek’s total is $3,080 versus Osome’s $2,650.

If you don’t need an employment pass, then Sleek’s package can be slightly cheaper. Assuming you only have 1 shareholder, Sleek’s foreigner incorporation package is $2,100 versus Osome’s $2,250. If you have 3 or more shareholders, then Sleek’s package becomes more expensive with rates starting from $2,280.

b. Corporate secretary: Sleek’s corporate secretarial services also differ in pricing based on the number of shareholders. 1 shareholder will cost $300/year, while 10 shareholders will cost $780/year. Unlike Osome’s two-tier system, Sleek’s corporate secretarial services are a one-tier plan. Once you sign up, you get have unlimited access to their secretarial services.

Sleek will do your annual ACRA filings and preparation for your AGM. You’ll also have unlimited access to changes to directors, shareholders, addresses, issuance of new shares, dividend distributions, and more. If you have a small number of shareholders, then Sleek’s one-tier plan represents great value for you, since it basically costs the same as Osome’s basic plan but offers you Osome’s unlimited-tier of services. On the other hand, if you have lots of shareholders, then Sleek’s plans may not make as much sense as the from the other companies in this list.

c. Accounting and taxes: Sleek’s accounting services come in four tiers. They offer bookkeeping, management reports, corporate tax returns, and even free payroll (for a limited number of employees). They also offer add-on services like multi-currency accounting and GST registration.

#3. Cabin

Cabin is an online corporate secretary that provides a full suite of secretarial services. The company was founded in 2017. The founders come from a pedigreed entrepreneurial background, having previously started Grain, a well-known meal delivery startup in Singapore.

Cabin’s range of services include:

a. Incorporation: Cabin will register your company for you with ACRA for a fee of $150. The website doesn’t make it immediately clear whether government fees are included. Given that ACRA charges $315 to register a new company ($300 for incorporation, $15 for name registration), there is a possibility that the $150 fee excludes government charges. If you’re looking to incorporate your company with Cabin, contact them for more information on this.

b. Corporate secretary: Cabin’s corporate secretary service is priced at $350/year. This price includes annual return filings with ACRA, preparation of AGM documents, and updates to Company Registers. Cabin’s website doesn’t state how much access users will get to things like director changes, share issuances, etc., and whether such services are already included in the $350 fee or whether you’ll have to pay for them as top-ups.

c. Accounting and taxes: Cabin’s accounting service starts at $750/year. Their accounting service includes a useful tax optimisation service, where their team will look through your transactions to maximise tax deductions from areas like capital allowances and charitable donations. Their monthly accounting plan is $200/month, and their quarterly accounting plan goes for $150/month.

#4. Lanturn

Lanturn is an online corporate secretary that offers a comprehensive set of services. The company was founded in 2017.

Lanturn’s range of services include:

a. Incorporation: Lanturn’s incorporate fees include all government charges. Incorporation is free as long you subscribe to a corporate secretary or accounting plan. For foreigners, Lanturn offers Entrepreneur Pass applications ($1800), with a 50% refund for unsuccessful applications. Employment pass applications are $1200, also with a 50% refund if you don’t manage to win the visa.

b. Corporate secretary: Lanturn’s corporate secretary services are priced higher than the other companies in this list. Their website doesn’t break down exactly what services are offered, so if you’re interested it’s best to get in touch with them directly so you can compare their services with other corporate secretarial companies.

c. Accounting and taxes: Lanturn offers 4 tiers of accounting plans, ranging from Basic ($80/month) all the way to Select ($1,800/month). From their website, Lanturn’s accounting plans appear to top out at a quarterly frequency. They also offer add-on services like multi-currency accounting and GST registration.

 d. Virtual CFO: Lanturn offers a suite of “Virtual CFO” services, which makes them unique among their competitors in this list. Lanturn can assist you with financial statement projections (e.g. cash flow, income statement, balance sheet, etc.) Interestingly, they also fundraising support, and can even send staff to accompany you on venture capital pitches. This is a service that none of the other companies on this list appear to offer. If you’re a startup founder raising money and are more focused on the strategy/product side of things, this service could be useful if you don’t happen to know your numbers down cold when meeting investors.

#5. Sprout

Sprout is an online corporate secretary that offers a comprehensive set of services. The company was founded in 2019.

Sprout’s range of services include:

a. Incorporation: All government charges are already included in Sprout’s incorporation fees. Sprout promises to incorporate your company within 24 hours. For Singaporeans/PRs, Sprout offers 2 plans. The Minimalist plan ($348) is a basic plan that gets you a registered entity. The Kick-Start plan ($588) includes ACRA registration, and importantly also comes with 1 year of corporate secretarial service. These prices are slightly lower than the average of other companies in this list, so if you’re looking for the most affordable corporate secretary, Sprout seems a favourable choice.

For foreigners, Sprout’s Launch plan ($2588) gets you a registered company, 1 year of corporate secretary service, nominee director, and virtual office. For only an extra $100, the Onshore plan ($2688) will get you everything in Launch, plus an employment pass. For comparison, these prices are lower than Sleek’s, but slightly higher than Osome’s.

b. Corporate secretary: Sprout offers 3 different corporate secretary plans: Essential, Comprehensive, and Total Compliance.

The Essential plan ($288/year) is a basic plan that takes care of annual ACRA filings and AGM preparation. At $288/year, this is marginally cheaper than its competitors, who typically charge prices averaging around $300/year.

The Comprehensive plan ($588/year) contains everything in the Essential plan, plus unlimited basic resolution changes.

Their Total Compliance plan ($788/year) includes everything in the Comprehensive and Essential plans, plus nice extra like tax compliance, and a review of your books by a Chartered Accountant. Do note that this plan is not applicable for companies with over $1 million in annual revenue, or who have corporate shareholders.

c. Accounting and taxes: Sprout has 3 different accounting plans: Seed, Seedling, and Sapling. The Seed plan ($80/month) offers you accounting for up to 10 transactions/month. It comes with unaudited financial statements, tax compliance, a review by a Chartered Accountant, and a Xero subscription. The Seedling plan ($180/month) has everything the Seed plan offers, but offers 40/transactions month. The Sapling plan ($320/month) offers up to 80 transactions/month.

Don’t forget about business insurance, from just $9/month

Once you’ve appointed a corporate secretary and have your administrative matters out of the way, you should move on to considering business insurance. You’ve probably invested a fair amount of money into starting your new venture, so make sure you protect your company with business insurance.

With Provide’s online platform, you’ll save up to 25% on business insurance. Our digital operating model creates lower overheads, so we pass every dollar saved back to you!

Save up to 25% now on policies like:
1. Business package insurance
2. Professional indemnity insurance
3. Commercial property insurance
4. Public liability insurance
5. Work injury compensation insurance