Switching corporate secretary? Do it in this order.
People switch secretary for three reasons: the old one went quiet, the old one got expensive, or the old one only ever surfaced at deadline time. All fair. The switch itself is straightforward — but there is an order to it, and doing it backwards is how companies end up with a missed filing in the gap between two providers.
In this article
Why people switch
Rarely price alone. It’s usually a missed reminder, an unanswered email during a bank query, or the discovery that "corporate secretary" was a name on the BizFile record and nothing more. A secretary you only hear from when something is late isn’t doing the job; the job is making sure nothing gets late.
The right order
The company must have a secretary in office — the law only tolerates a short vacancy, and an unfilled seat is an offence in its own right. So the sequence is: appoint the new secretary first, then accept the old one’s resignation, then file both changes with ACRA. The new provider normally handles the filing as their first task. What you must not do is resign the old one, go shopping, and appoint someone a few months later. That gap is visible on the record.
Check your engagement letter. Many providers have a notice period or an annual fee that isn’t refundable mid-year. It doesn’t stop you switching; it just tells you when switching is cheapest.
The handover checklist
The new secretary can only chase what they can see. Ask the outgoing provider for the statutory registers (members, directors, secretaries, controllers, nominee directors), the minute book and past resolutions, the constitution, the last filed accounts and annual return, and any pending correspondence with ACRA or IRAS. If the company keeps its registers on BizFile, access has to be transferred. If there are share certificates or a common seal, those move too. A good incoming secretary sends you this list; a good outgoing one has it ready.
Timing around AGM season
The worst moment to switch is the month before your annual return is due, with accounts still unsigned. The best moment is just after a return has been filed — the record is clean, the next deadline is months away, and the new secretary has a full cycle to set up reminders. If you’re mid-crisis (a return already late, a director who has stopped responding), switch anyway, but tell the new provider the truth on day one so they can file first and tidy later.
What to ask the new one
Three questions. Who actually holds the appointment — a named, qualified person, or a firm you’ll never speak to? What is their reminder process, and how early does it start? And what happens when you don’t reply — do they stop, or do they keep going? Our answer to the last one is that we keep going. Clients tease us about it. We take that as a compliment.
Thinking of moving?
Send us your year-end and your current provider’s name. We’ll tell you the cleanest switch date and handle the filing and handover ourselves.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Thresholds, rates, penalties and filing rules are set by ACRA, IRAS, MOM and the relevant legislation and change over time; we have deliberately left the figures out. Please verify the current position or talk to us before making decisions. Morphrix Solutions Pte. Ltd. (formerly AG Solutions).