£65 for 2 seconds work!?

[clickprofits]

As a limited company requires a company secretary and having a family member (who lives in South Africa) as a company secretary was not ideal; I opted for a nominee Company Secretary service.

After searching the web and being amazed to discover that the charge for this service was up to £300 a year I opted for the lowest priced option I could find (Coddan) at £75 per annum. Even this seems a little steep given that all a nominee Comapny Secretary service does is file your Annual Returns with Companies House (a 5 minute job which I am quite capable of doing myself).

Where I did think they would come in handy was in signing an application for a new bank account (all bank account application forms require the signature of Director/s and Company Secretary) so I sent off the bank account application form with a request that they sign the comapny secretary box and return it to me (I even enclosed a self addressed stamped envelope). More than 3 weeks later I had still not heard from them, so phoned to ask why they were taking so long. Their reply was that I have to pay them £65 for this 'service'! :shock: Apart from their not even bothering to reply to my letter, I don't see why having already forked out £75 for virtually no service (apart from it being a legal requirement to have a Company Secretary, so I didn't really have a choice) I should pay out almost as much again to get a signature on a form (which takes all of a few seconds to do!).

So my question is does anyone know of a more reliable (and pro-active) nominee Company Secretary service which does not charge ridiculous fees for a simple signature?

Mark.

[Alpha]

Mark

A company Secretarial service does a lot more than just be a legal requirement!

They should ensure that your company register is kept up to date ensuring all forms are completed regarding changes to your company and filed at companies house, they ensure that your annual return is completed and filed, They issue dividend warrants to shareholders for any dividends to be paid.

And so on and so on.

However there are currently proposals on the table regarding reform of the companies act for small companies which will remove the requirement to hold AGM's and to have acompany secretary. The paper was published on 17th March and responses were invited by 10th June. However with a general election the proposals may not get through this year if at all!!

[BMS]

Mark

As Ozzy says there are moves to do away with the legal requirement to have a company secretary.

You may find that if you search for company formation services that you will find a cheaper or more realistic service being offered.

Option 2 is to try a small local accountant, I have client that uses their firm of auditors as a company secretary. They also charge £65 per annum but at least you have the peace of mind that you have qualified person doing the job.

If you have any further problems send me a PM and I'll do some digging for you.

[Ozzy]

Swap Ozzy for Alpha in BMS's post ;)

Company Secretarial is a bit more involved that just filing the Annual Return, although granted for some people it may simply be filing a resolution to remove general meetings, annual return, couple of share certificates and handful of entries in the register minimum.
However, some other companies may require a lot more if shares move around, appoints change, several meetings are held and so forth. There is also a small liability to the company providing the company secretarial service if their client does something rather naughty. All these things would need to be taken into account when pricing any service such as company secretarial.

I agree that an extra £65 for signing a form is a bit steep though, especially when not replying to your letter to let you know the extra charge.

As BMS states above, most accountants take the role of secretary as part of the service they provide anyway. This happens with my accountants for example.

[BMS]

Sorry Ozzy

Whats in a name.....

[Fab1]

Hi Mark

try quickformation.com

regards

[BMS]

Hi Mark

or try "companies made simple".

[Ozzy]

Oh BMS how could you ;)

[Alpha]

:D :D :D :D :D at Ozzy

[BMS]

Ozzy

What can I say, thought your name had already been mentioned and was just giving another alternative...............

If you offer company secretarial service, to make up for it I might be looking myself in a few months so I'll give you first option.........depending on price of course.

[Ozzy]

I'm only jesting. Although I would love to say everyone use my service, at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with healthy competition :)

[BMS]

Hi Ozzy

Realised you were kidding, think I've worked out that you sense of humour is somewhat similar to my own.......Warped


But seriously I am looking for a company secretarial service in the next few months and if you can beat £65 quid the job's yours.

Send me a PM