Company law requires a set of registers kept current at the registered office — the documents inspectors and diligence teams ask for first, and small companies most often cannot produce.
The core set
- Register of members: every shareholder, their holdings, transfers
- Register of directors and KMP: particulars and shareholdings of the leadership
- Register of charges: every mortgage and hypothecation the company creates
- Registers of loans, investments and contracts in which directors are interested, as applicable
- Minute books for board and general meetings — bound or maintained electronically as permitted
Formats and upkeep
Prescribed formats exist for each; electronic maintenance is permitted under conditions. Entries follow events within prescribed periods — a register reconstructed years later announces itself.
Why they matter beyond inspection
The member register is often the legal tiebreaker in shareholding disputes; the charge register affects borrowing; clean minute books shorten every funding diligence by weeks.
The efficient approach
Set the registers up once, update on every event, review annually alongside the ROC filings.
Included in our secretarial compliance service — get your set built.
