Frequently Asked Questions & Compliance Guide

Section 199(1) of the Singapore Companies Act stipulates that every company must keep accounting and other records that sufficiently explain the transactions and financial position of the company and enable true and fair profit and loss accounts and balance sheets to be prepared. All transaction receipts, vouchers, sales invoices, bills, payroll registers, and bank statements must be securely retained for a minimum statutory period of 5 years from the end of the financial year in which the transactions occurred.

We provide a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround window for evaluating all client inquiries. Your business volume and statutory needs are assessed directly by senior partners Bob Ng or Andrew Heng, ensuring you receive an authoritative, transparent fixed-fee proposal without bureaucratic delay.

Key recurring statutory deadlines under ACRA and IRAS include:

• Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI): Must be filed with IRAS within 3 months of the financial year-end.
• Annual General Meeting (AGM): Must be held within 6 months after the financial year-end for private companies (unless exempted by unanimous shareholder resolution).
• ACRA Annual Return (AR): Must be lodged via Bizfile within 7 months of the financial year-end.
• Corporate Income Tax (Form C / Form C-S): Statutory e-filing deadline with IRAS is 30 November of the Year of Assessment.
• GST Returns (Form F5): Due by the last day of the month immediately following the close of each quarterly accounting period (e.g. 30 April, 31 July, 31 October, 31 January).

A compilation of financial statements involves having a qualified external public accountant organize and prepare financial statements based on information supplied by management, in accordance with Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS). Under Singapore law, a "small company" (meeting at least 2 of 3 criteria: total revenue under S$10M, total assets under S$10M, employees under 50) is exempt from mandatory statutory audit. The compilation fulfills all ACRA and IRAS filing requirements without incurring the significant expense of an external audit.

ACRA categorizes companies into seven distinct XBRL filing requirements:

• Group 1 (General SG Companies): File in Simplified XBRL template (for non-publicly accountable entities) plus PDF, or Full XBRL template.
• Group 2 (Insolvent Exempt Private Companies): Must file Simplified or Full XBRL plus signed PDF.
• Group 3 (Solvent Exempt Private Companies): Exempt from filing accounts with ACRA; voluntary filing permitted.
• Group 4 (MAS-Regulated Financial Institutions): Must lodge XBRL Financial Statements Highlights (FSH Banks or FSH Insurance) with signed PDF.
• Group 5 (Alternative Accounting Frameworks): Non-SFRS / non-IFRS preparers lodge signed PDF copy only.
• Group 6 (Companies Limited by Guarantee): Lodge signed PDF copy only.
• Group 7 (Foreign Company Branches): Lodge signed PDF copy of parent company accounts.

Under Sections 145 and 171 of the Singapore Companies Act:

• Resident Director: Must be a natural person aged at least 18 years, having full legal capacity, and ordinarily resident in Singapore (Singapore Citizen, Singapore PR, or EntrePass holder). Corporate directors are not permitted.
• Company Secretary: Every company must appoint a qualified Singapore resident Company Secretary within 6 months of incorporation. A sole director cannot act as company secretary. For public companies, the secretary must hold professional credentials (CA Singapore, qualified legal practitioner, or member of SAICSA).

Bob & Co provides named corporate secretarial secondment and nominee resident director services.

Under the Singapore Companies Act and common law:

• Duty of Care & Diligence: Act honestly and exercise reasonable care, skill, and diligence at all times.
• Section 156: Mandatory disclosure of any personal conflict or direct/indirect material interest in transactions, contracts, or property involving the company.
• Section 201: Obligation to prepare and present financial statements that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs and profit/loss of the company at the AGM.
• Solvency Preservation: Refrain from trading while insolvent or incurring debts without reasonable expectation of repayment.

We standardize our cloud bookkeeping on Xero, an internationally certified cloud accounting platform that integrates seamlessly with Singapore banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB, and Aspire Business Bank) and IRAS e-filing systems. Pricing is transparent and customized based on your business volume, monthly transaction count, number of bank accounts, and reporting frequency. We quote fixed monthly or annual scopes with zero surprise fees.