A Full Company Secretary Fee Structure Breakdown
While pricing varies greatly between Company Secretaries in Malaysia, most of us base it around the same fee structure consisting of the same services just bundled differently.
Some are presented as they are, while others are dolled up and made to look fancy.
Once you understand and recognise them, comparing plans becomes much easier.
And that’s what this guide hopes to help you do, as we break down:
- the five main parts of a typical CoSec plan, and
- how to match them to your needs
Note: While it’s common for CoSecs to bundle incorporation and Secretarial fees, we’ve kept this guide to just the latter, as strictly speaking, they are separate.
Let’s begin.
Breaking down the average CoSec plan
No matter how elaborate of brief, a Company Secretarial plans consist of five main parts:
- monthly retainer fee
- Annual Submissions
- essential resolutions
- additional resolutions
- legal document drafting
Together, they make up the lion’s share of what you’re paying for.
Yes, most of us include a section for ad hoc charges like stationery and postage, but we don’t think that’s a deciding factor so we’re excluding it 🙂
CoSec monthly fee
This is essentially a retainer fee for a CoSec so you can meet two statutory requirements for companies in Malaysia:
- a licensed Company Secretary, and
- registered address (almost always the current CoSec’s business address)
This is probably the most ‘you get what you pay for’ fee, as we’ll explain later on.
Annual Submissions filing
These are mandatory yearly filings to SSM and other authorities consisting of:
- Annual Returns
- Audited Financial Statements, and
- Beneficial Ownership (BO) Reporting
Keep in mind that submitting and preparing these documents are not the same!
Annual Submissions preparation
A Company Secretary can do both, and yours is obligated to remind you of each submission deadline several times as they approach.
If you want them to prepare these documents as well, it’s treated as a separate service.
Common resolutions
These resolutions are routine enough that most companies will need them within the year:
- bank account opening/closure
- appointment of directors
- change of business or accounting record address
- change of business nature
- update of directors’ or shareholders’ particulars
- fixing first Financial Year End (FYE) and appointing first auditor/tax agent
- meeting notices and minutes
As a result, we’d strongly advise checking for them in a CoSec’s pricing plans.
Additional resolutions
These are other resolutions that aren’t needed as frequently, and it’s not possible to provide an exhaustive list, but here are common examples:
- removal of directors
- declaration of dividends
- change of FYE
- changes to bank signatories
- issuance of new shares (share allotment)
- transfer of existing shares
In our opinion, it’s nice to see these in a plan, but not worth obsessing over if they’re not there.
Legal document drafting
These refer to the preparation of statutory and legal documents like preparing your company’s constitution, restructuring shares, or a Shareholders’ Agreement.
With the average CoSec fee structure broken down, let’s cover how to match it to your needs.
Getting your money’s worth from a CoSec plan
Based on the breakdown above, there are three things to keep in mind when evaluating a CoSec’s pricing plans.
Annual submission preparation is non-negotiable
Having your CoSec handle both preparing and filing of Annual Submissions makes things far more convenient and ensures better compliance with statutory requirements, and Company Secretaries know this 🙂
So make sure you know how much they charge for preparing documents!
Retainer fees and resolutions go hand in hand
Most CoSec monthly fees are structured around how they handle resolutions:
- lower-tier plans offer a low retainer fee, but charge per resolution on an ad hoc basis
- premium plans come with a higher retainer but unlimited routine resolutions
Some will even have a third or fourth tier with unlimited resolutions in general.
As a rule of thumb, it’s larger companies, especially those with multiple directors and shareholders that frequently need to pass resolutions, both common and additional.
After all, they are a documentation tool, and small businesses never document anything 😛
If you’re not sure, start with the basic tier and upgrade later if the ad hoc charges start piling up.
Legal documents depend on ownership structure
Don’t judge your legal document needs based on the size of your kitchen but the number of cooks, as even a small startup with more than one partner should seriously consider getting a:
These documents help prevent disputes, clarify roles, and provide clear frameworks for decision-making.
Not every Company Secretary will offer these, so definitely something to check and ask for.
Let MISHU find you the perfect CoSec plan
We have multiple Company Secretarial plans catering to local and foreign owners of companies big and small, and while we’d love to sell you the priciest option, we’ll only do it if it makes sense for you!