Corporate Secretarial & Legal documents

We can help you set up 75+ legal documents. These include Company formation, Trust and SMSF establishments plus much more.

AdvisorCorp is registered with the Tax Practitioners Board

We are also a member of a professional accounting organisation Institute of Public Accountants. We abide by professional and ethical standards.

AdvisorCorp is registered with ASIC

As an registered agents we make lodgements to ASIC registers on behalf of our our client companies.

Directors' key responsibilities

As a director, you are responsible for oversight of the affairs of the company. You must comply with your legal obligations as a director under the Corporations Act 2001. This is the case even if you appoint an agent to look after your company’s affairs.

As a director, you must be fully up-to-date on what your company is doing, including its financial position, question managers and staff about how the business is going and take an active part in directors’ meetings.

You must not use your position as a director of a company – or information obtained because you are or have been a director, officer, or employee of a company – to cause detriment to the company or to gain an advantage for yourself or someone else.

When you make a business decision as a company director, you must, amongst other things, ensure that you:

make the decision in good faith and for a proper purpose
do not have a material personal interest in the decision and make it in the best interests of the company
find out and assess how any decision will affect your company’s business performance, especially if it involves a lot of the company’s money or could have a material impact on the company's reputation
keep informed about your company’s financial position and performance, ensuring your company can pay its debts on time
get trusted professional advice when you need assistance to make an informed decision
make full and frank disclosure about any material personal interests you do have

There are penalties and consequences – including civil penalties, compensation proceedings and criminal charges – for directors who fail to comply with their obligations under Australian law.

All the duties and responsibilities listed on this page are the minimum obligations for directors and officers of small propriety companies.

How directors should manage assets, debts, employees and investments

As a company director it is important you understand that:

the company owns the assets so you cannot treat company property, assets or funds, as if they are your own.
the company is generally responsible for paying debts incurred by the company, which may include trade creditors, employees and statutory bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office. If there are grounds for suspecting that the company is insolvent, you must not trade, incur debt, or continue to conduct business as usual. Instead, you should immediately seek trusted professional business advice.
any money invested in the company (e.g. through loans to the company or by owners or investors buying shares in the company) belongs to the company and must be used for a proper company purpose.
the owners or shareholders of the company are entitled to take a dividend payment (e.g. money) from the company, but only after the company has ensured it has the ability to pay its debts owing to trade creditors and other types of creditors who have lent money to the company, employees and statutory authorities.
while a company is usually responsible for paying its debts, a director may become personally liable. This generally occurs when a director breaches their legal obligations (e.g. the company continues to trade while it is insolvent).

If your company has employees, you should find out if there are any Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding or Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) amounts owed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) by the company.

If you fail to meet a PAYG withholding or SGC liability by the due date, you may become personally liable for a penalty equal to the unpaid amount under the ATO’s Director Penalty Regime.

Can I claim $300 for work-related expenses without substantiation?

You cannot just claim $300. You must incur expense before it is claimable. Whilst you may not need receipts for expenditure up to $300, you must have spent the money, and it must be relevant to your employment.

Entity Setup & Legal Documents

There are a number of structures that you can choose from when starting or expanding your business. Our Advisors can help you understand your own particular circumstances.

Trust

Company Formations

Loans

Agreements

Enduring Power of Attorney

SMSF