Notes for Hong Kong companies (1): The importance of appointing a company secretary when registering a Hong Kong company

When registering a company in Hong Kong, a company secretary must be appointed. This is a mandatory requirement under Hong Kong’s Companies Ordinance. So why do Hong Kong companies need to appoint a company secretary? What are the reasons and functions?

statutory requirements

According to Section 114(1) of the Companies Ordinance, Chapter 622 of the Laws of Hong Kong, when a company is opened in Hong Kong and at any time, a natural person or a secretarial company registered in Hong Kong and licensed in Hong Kong must be appointed as the company secretary. Failure to appoint a company secretary would violate legal requirements.

Compliance monitoring

One of the core tasks of a company secretary is to ensure that the company complies with the relevant laws and regulations of Hong Kong. This includes compliance requirements under the Companies Ordinance, Business Registration Ordinance, etc. The company secretary is responsible for reminding the board of directors of the necessary reports and filings to comply with regulatory requirements.

Corporate Governance

The company secretary assists the board of directors in its operations and ensures that the company's structure and management policies comply with best corporate governance standards. For example, assisting in the preparation of shareholder meetings and board of directors meetings, and following up on the implementation of meeting minutes and resolutions.

Issue statutory documents

Before the annual general meeting and special general meeting of shareholders, the company secretary is responsible for sending notices to shareholders as required. After the meeting, they are also responsible for submitting meeting minutes and resolutions to government departments. This is one of the legal duties of the secretary.

Company representatives

The company secretary can also serve as the company's representative and liaison window to communicate and contact government departments, business partners and other institutions.

vOffice professional company secretarial services

In Hong Kong, most start-ups choose to outsource company secretarial services when registering their company . vOffice is a leading corporate service organization in Hong Kong, with a professional company secretarial team and more than 20 years of company secretarial service experience. Their company secretarial team consists of practicing secretaries, accountants or lawyers in Hong Kong. Its team has a very good understanding of the responsibilities and roles of a company secretary and is confident that it can comprehensively take care of the client company's needs for secretarial services. Corporate secretarial services provided by vOffice include:

• Serve as company legal secretary

• Annual General Meeting Support

• Preparation and submission of annual returns

• Maintain company statutory registers

• Reminders of important compliance matters and expiration dates

• Communicate with government departments

vOffice adheres to the spirit of responsible service and the principle of reasonable charging, and is the ideal company secretarial partner for start-up companies. If you would like to entrust vOffice to provide professional company secretarial services, please feel free to contact them at any time:

Email: enquiry@voffice.hk

Tel: +852 3462 2888

Website: www.voffice.hk