The company secretary
A company secretary, or the person responsible for company secretarial duties, will have regular dealings with Companies House. Companies House is where public records about the company are held. Most communications with Companies House are through Companies House Webfiling or their Software filing facility. Companies House is moving towards 100% online filing.
The duties of the company secretary or the person responsible for company secretarial matters are not defined specifically within company law. But they may be divided generally into three main areas:
- maintaining statutory registers (keeping the company’s records up to date)
- completing and filing statutory forms (keeping the public record up to date)
- meetings and resolutions (making sure the company abides by both its internal regulations and the law)
Maintaining statutory registers
All companies must maintain up to date registers of key details, these include:
- a register of members
- a register of directors
- a register of charges
- a register of persons of significant control
A person with significant control is an individual who ultimately owns or controls more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights. Or who otherwise exercises control over a company or its management.
The details in these registers include, for example, names, addresses, dates of appointment and resignation (for directors) and for members, the number and type of shares held. This is not an exhaustive list.
The general public has the right to inspect these registers, which must be made available at the company’s registered office. Or at a single alternative inspection location (SAIL) which must also be recorded at Companies House.
Directors may choose to keep their residential addresses private and to record a service address for them. In these circumstances, the company has to keep an additional register. It will show the directors’ residential addresses which is not open to inspection by the general public.
Maintaining the statutory information at Companies House
Private companies may also choose to keep some of the information normally kept in the statutory registers at its registered office or SAIL on the public register at Companies House. This will include their registers of directors, directors’ usual residential addresses, secretaries, members and persons of significant control. While this election is in force the company does not need to keep its own separate statutory registers updated.
The general public can access company information through Companies House instead of visiting the registered office, whilst this election is in force. This will include some information, such as members’ addresses or directors’ full dates of birth, which is not generally available on the public record for private companies.
If your company is in Hayes, Bromley, Kent and London areas we, at Adiva Accountants in Hayes, can provide assistance with company secretarial matters. Please do not hesitate to contact us at Adiva Accountants in Hayes.