The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, (ACRA) announce new initiatives
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, (ACRA) has announced a number of new initiatives. These are all part of their ongoing focus to provide a responsive and trusted regulatory environment for businesses, public accountants and corporate service providers and make Singapore the best and trusted place for doing business. The services recently announced include:-
The Directors Compliance Programme (DCP): On-line training for Company Directors.
This training is designed for directors who failed to comply with annual return requirements, as required by the Company’s Act. The Directors’ Compliance Programme (DCP) is available online. This includes the topic, “Director Duties and Corporate Governance”. Participants can login whenever they wish to use ACRA’s e-training portal. The service provides video clips, quizzes and case studies. Further training modules are planned, including guidance for newly appointed directors.
Free copies for companies of their Business Profiles.
Under the banner “Adding Value for Businesses”, ACRA will provide recently registered or incorporated companies with a free copy of their Business Profile, once they have successfully completed the registration or incorporation process.
Note: Existing business entities registered with ACRA will also receive a free copy of their Business Profile but must renew their business registration or file their Annual Returns or Annual Declarations.
New public portal to research data on registered businesses.
The public can now access more business information covering over 500,000 business entities, who are registered with ACRA. This is via the Entity Search function in ACRA’s BizFile+ portal. Information can be found on business activity (SSIC), filing history, validity of the registered business address together with an online map to locate the business.
Help for future change – Singapore Accountancy and Audit Convention 2017.
Audit Firms can receive valuable information and “Be Future Ready” by registering for the Singapore Accountancy and Audit Convention 2017 (3 Oct 2017) – https://isca.org.sg
The programme indicates that Public accountants will find a dedicated conference track. Topics will include inspection findings from ACRA’s Practice Monitoring Programme and in-depth discussions on the pitfalls of key inspection findings. Industry experts will also shed light on how audit firms can be future-ready by harnessing digital technology to improve practice efficiency.
New free public access for ACRA’s Open Data Initiative.
The public can now access useful business datasets from ACRA’s public register of business entities at Data.gov.sg. This is the Government’s one-stop portal for open and free data.
There are over 1.5 million records covering live and non-live entities that are registered with ACRA. Records are available in machine-readable format and are updated every month. Access is free, and allows researchers and app developers to analyse the information and develop useful businesses applications.
