Do-It-Yourself Business Registration @ ACRA: From Frontline To Online

Prior to 13 Jan 2003, if you wanted to register a business, you had to go down to the Registry of Companies and Businesses, fill up a form and wait in line to submit the application to register the business. You had to wait 24 hours for the business name to be approved, and then endure the queue in another line to pay the fee for business registration before you could collect the paper certificate.

That whole time consuming process is a thing of the past. Now, registering a company or business is a simple matter of point and click, either from the comfort of your own home or office, or from a Self-Help kiosk at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) office at International Plaza.

With effect from 1 April 2004, the Registry of Companies and Businesses is known as the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority or ACRA. Formed from a merger with the Public Accountants Board (PAB), ACRA is a new statutory board that aims to foster a pro-business environment by streamlining processes including business/company registration and information retrieval.

Transition from Frontline to Online
One major initiative that ACRA undertook was to move the customers from the manual process of registering a company or business to online filing via BizFile which is ACRA's electronic filing and information retrieval system. The time and cost savings are substantial for the customers as there is now no need to join a long queue. As for ACRA, the savings from implementing the online system have been passed on to the customer in the form of a S$50 reduction in fees for new business registration and a S$5 reduction in renewal fees. The fee for incorporation of companies is now a flat fee of S$300 compared to the old charges that range between S$1,200 to S$35,000 depending on the size of the company.

With BizFile, all you need is your ID No and SingPass and you can do one of the following:

• Incorporate a company or register a business
• Make changes to your company/business details e.g., change of owner, address, nature of business.
• Close your company or business
• Purchase information on registered companies and businesses

The above list is not exhaustive and there are plans to bring more value-added services online to the BizFile website. What's so convenient about BizFile is that you get instant approval for your company/business name so setting up a business or company is that much easier.

For those who are using BizFile for the first time, there is a guide to BizFile on the ACRA website. There are also corporate brochures on the website which are step by step guides on how the user can submit the various online transactions. In addition, there is an FAQ section on the website that covers topics like Business Registration, Company Registration, Public Accountants Registration, Purchase of Information, Compliance and Payment Matters.

Initial Reservations about BizFile
There were people who initially had reservations about going online. The concerns mainly revolved around the fact that not everyone is IT-literate or Internet-savvy. Then there were others who preferred the manual counter services to e-filing as they were more comfortable with the old system. ACRA's challenge was getting these people to accept BizFile.

Benefits of E-Filing
ACRA set out to win the public over with posters, flyers, road shows and public forums. The agency persuaded the public by highlighting the benefits of e-filing, which included:

• Convenient - filing can be done at home or from the office.
• Simple - the website is user-friendly and easy-to-use.
• Available - the service is available 24/7 and is transaction based.
• Immediate - all changes, filing and information is updated immediately. Businesses and companies can also be registered immediately.
• Cost Savings - users could submit the transactions on their own without engaging the services of professional firms or the service bureau.

If the customer does not have a computer or Internet access in his home or office, he could approach include professional firms (lawyers, accountants, and chartered secretaries), or the service bureau to submit the transaction on his behalf. He could also call at ACRA and use the Self Help Kiosks to submit the transaction.

Do-It-Yourself at ACRA
ACRA closed its counter services in June 2003. To encourage and enable users to e-file on their own, ACRA made available step-by-step guidelines in English and Mandarin and the services of full-time cyberguides and ACRA BizFile guides at the Self-Help Kiosks. There are 10 Self-Help Kiosks at ACRA; each is fully equipped with a PC, scanner, printer, cash card reader and a direct line to the BizFile helpdesk.

In addition, those who require assistance may contact the BizFile HelpDesk which is open daily from 7 am until midnight (including Sundays and Public Holidays). Another avenue for the customers to submit their online transaction with assistance is to approach any of the 22 e-Citizen centres which offer this service.

For more information about ACRA, visit the ACRA website at www.acra.gov.sg. To find out about the services offered via BizFile, log on to www.bizfile.gov.sg. You will need your ID No and SingPass in order to log into the system.