Company secretarial software InfoDocs digitises share registers and certificates.
Over the years, the duties of a company secretary have changed tremendously. Some of these duties, as stated in the Companies Act, include filing annual returns, compiling minutes and resolutions, issuing share certificates and so much more. However, it’s not the duties themselves which have changed, but rather, the tools and platforms with which we are able to perform them.
Technology has played a huge role in empowering business owners to do more now than ever before. Technology has changed the way we do business, allowing us to embrace innovations such as electronic record-keeping, cloud-computing and digital signatures, to name just a few, saving us a ton of time and money. Business owners have embraced these changes out of necessity, in order to stay relevant and keep up with competitors. Company secretaries should be no different.
According to the latest data generated by our free CIPC compliance checklist, many companies are still failing to meet even the most basic company secretarial requirements, such as maintaining a share register issuing share certificates. Take a look at the results below (hint: Section 50 refers to the requirement to maintain a share register):
This is a huge opportunity for professionals and particularly company secretaries to educate business owners about their company secretarial requirements and to help them meet their compliance requirements. Company secretaries can then assist with advising on share transactions, corporate structures and the required statutory records, before compiling these documents using the latest tools and platforms.
You might be thinking, why are share registers and certificates so important? Well, despite the legal requirement for every company to “establish a register of its issued securities” as per Section 50(1)(a) of the Companies Act 2008 (as amended), the company registers and share certificates serve as the single source of truth with regards to ownership in the company. Any government or financial institution looking to validate the owners of a company will inevitably request to see the share register and/or share certificates. Hence, when a shareholder has bought shares in a company, it is the responsibility of the company secretary to ensure that their name is entered into the register and they are issued a valid share certificate, “signed by two persons authorised by the company’s board”, as per Section 51(1)(b) of the Companies Act 2008 (as amended).
InfoDocs is one such tool which makes this process simple and easy. Simply search for a company by name or registration number, or search for a director by name or ID number, using their integration with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (“CIPC”) to import the registered company and director information in seconds. From there, you can allot, transfer, buyback, redeem, convert shares, and so much more, all at the click of a button with the minutes, resolutions and share certificates generated automatically, and registers updated automatically. InfoDocs will guide you through these transactions and produce all the supporting documents automatically, as per the South African Companies Act 2008 (as amended).
Sign up for a free trial and digitise your share register and share certificates today. What are you waiting for? Just do it!
