Pushing the Boundaries of Business Registration

ECRF/CRF Conference 2016

Mr Kenneth Yap, Chief ExecutiveAccounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) - Singapore10 May 2016

Agenda1 Overview of ACRA2 From Frontline to Online3 Customer-Centricity

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4 Best Practices for Digitisation5 Towards the Future

Overview of ACRA1

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Mission

Vision

Singapore: The trusted and best place for business

To provide a responsive and trusted regulatory environment for businesses, public accountants and corporate service providers.

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ACRA’s Role in Singapore Regulates business entities, public accountants and corporate

service providers

Facilitates ease of doing businessand development of the publicaccountancy sector

Foster a business and regulatory environment conducive to enterprise and growth in Singapore

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Overview of Singapore’s Corporate/Public Accountancy Landscape

Sole-Proprietorships& Partnerships

204Limited

Partnerships

15,257Limited Liability

Partnerships

1,079Public

Accountants

68%Companies with Green Tick** of

Compliance

• Statistics in orange boxes are for one quarter from 01 Oct ’15 to 31 Dec ’15, compliance statistics are accurate as at 31 Dec 2015 and all other statistics are accurate as at 31 Mar 2016.

** Based on Companies’ Annual Return (AR) filed in compliance with 3 statutory requirements under the Companies Act, namely s175 [holding of Annual General Meeting (AGM)], s197 [filing of AR] and s201 [laying of financial statements at AGM].

293,443Local Companies

3,029Public Companies

290,414Private Companies

160,354

411,083Bizfile

Transactions

~$16.4millionRevenue

$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$

From Frontline to Online

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Digitising Business Registration

Faster turnaround

time

Enhance Quality

Reduce cost and

improve productivity

and reliability

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ACRA’s BizFile

Public Government and

External Agencies271 e-services, eg:

• Entity incorporation• Changes to

shareholdings• Registering charges• Lodging resolutions• Updating particulars• Filing of Annual Returns• Purchase of information

Over 80 interfaces:• Transmission of info for:

− Application of licences / grants

− Employment matters• Receipt of info such as :

− Death records− Changes in residential

addresses• Seamless workflow of

regulatory offences between ACRA and State Courts

Full XBRL filing since 2014

Over 500,000 users access BizFile system per month

24/7 filing100% online since 2003

Over 1.7mil transactions completed per year

ACRA’s Online Registration, Filing

and Information Retrieval System

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Impact of Digitisation

COST$1200 - $35,000 $300UPDATE INFORMATION14-21 Days 30 minutes

TO REGISTER14 Days 15 minutesPEOPLE800 55COUNTERS23 3

Before After

Enhance productivity

Better management of

records

Streamline work

processesIntegrated with compliance and

enforcement system

Fast business registration and

incorporation

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Other Digital Initiatives Integrated with BizFile

UEN is the standard identification number of a registered entity that is used for convenient interactions with government

agencies.

A free tool provided by ACRA to facilitate XBRL filing by pre-populating data fields from

company’s spreadsheets / financial statements.

Singapore Personal Access (or SingPass) is a Two-Factor Authentication1 (2FA) gateway for

e-government transactions.

1 In addition to their username and password, users have the option of receiving a one-time "second factor" password delivered through Short Messaging Service (SMS) or OneKey token as an extra layer of security to better protect their personal information.

Corporate Pass (or Corp Pass) available from 1Q2017 to allow multiple user

access.

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Value-added Business Facilitation Services

One-stop Shop

Purchase Business Profile

Apply for GST

Registration

Reserve Domain Name

Subscribe to Enterprise One Newsletter on Govt Grants

Activate Customs Account

Open Corporate Bank Account

Sign up for GeBiz Alerts

Customer-Centricity3

Next Phase of Digital Filing

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Launched new BizFile+ on 3 Jan 2016Es

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My Dashboard

Provides summarised view of all transactions and

statuses

Guided Assistant

Explore characteristics of different types of business entities

Easier Navigation

ACRA On The Go[by 2Q2016]Existing services• Business Directory Search• AGM Calculator• AskACRANew services• Simple transactional

serviceso e.g. Business Renewal

and Change of Office Address

• iShop purchase of selected information productso e.g. Business Profile,

Electronics Extract and Business Statistics

• Transaction status enquiry

Streamlined

ProcessesOne-step

incorporation and merging of forms

e.g. change of particulars

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New Features of BizFile+

Customised Dashboard: displaying user-related information in one screen

Permanent widget

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New Features of BizFile+

Guided Assistant: Explore characteristics of different types of

business entities

Best Practices for Digitisation

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Best Practices for Digitisation

Develop a long-term IT implementation

roadmap to proactively monitor and identify systems requiring

replacement or upgrading

Develop an extensive public communications

plan (a) to notify the public, our

stakeholders and partners and (b) to mitigate transition

downtime

Conduct Business Process Re-engineering and Service Re-design before new system development / system revamp• Analyze current processes,

identify non-value adding activities and redesign the

process to create value for both external and internal users

Identifying and addressing outsourcing risks early leads to a more optimal

outcome and greater benefits from outsourcing

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Towards the Future5

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“Moments of Life” approach to Providing Information on Company Matters

e-Concierge Service

• Liability differences between entity types

• Licensing• Financing options• Government

grants

Setting up an Entity

• Foreign worker permits• Compliance

requirements• Tax obligations• Government assistance

schemes• Patents and IP

protection

Managing the Entity

• Obligations before terminating a business

Closing the

Entity

Provide targeted information from multiple agencies for business user

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority 10 Anson Road #05-01/15 International Plaza Singapore 079903

www.acra.gov.sgwww.facebook.com/SG.ACRAwww.twitter.com/ACRA_SG

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