Corporate Company Secretary in Ireland: Buyer Checklist

1. Identify the appointee, not only the service brand

Ask the provider directly: will an individual or a body corporate hold the secretary office? A professional firm can supply either arrangement. If an employee is appointed personally, the fact that a company sends the invoice does not turn the appointment into a corporate one.

CRO guidance permits a body corporate to act as secretary for another company, not itself. Section 129 also requires a secretary and prevents a sole director from holding that office in the same company. Naming a separate eligible corporate appointee is one possible arrangement; calling the director a nominee secretary is not an alternative to a valid separate appointment.

Record three identities separately: your own LTD, the proposed secretary and the organisation selling or administering the service. They may not all have the same relationship. Ask for any partner arrangement to be explained rather than assuming that the website operator itself will appear as secretary. Keep that confirmation with the engagement and appointment records.

• CRO: individual and corporate company secretaries
• Companies Act 2014, section 129: secretary appointment

2. Collect the corporate details that belong in the record

Section 149 distinguishes an individual secretary from a body corporate. For the corporate appointee it specifies the corporate name and, where registered, its registered office, the register in which it is registered and its registration number. A trading name, invoice email or staff member's mobile number is not the same set of particulars.

Ask for the exact legal name, registration reference and relevant registry, then check the details against the available official record and appointment documents. Do not assume a familiar brand identifies a unique entity. Where names look similar, resolve the discrepancy before consent and filing rather than asking the presenter to choose whichever looks closest.

Use a separate working-contact list for the people handling your company. It should not overwrite the corporate appointee entry. Equally, appointing a corporate secretary does not remove the company's obligation to keep its directors' particulars or guarantee that historic personal information disappears. Review an actual privacy concern separately instead of buying a corporate appointment on an anonymity promise.

• Companies Act 2014, section 149: officer register particulars

3. Check the people and resources behind the entity

A company name cannot answer an urgent question by itself. Ask who will handle the account, who covers absence, how instructions reach the team and how statutory records will be maintained or made available. A corporate arrangement may support continuity between staff members, but that benefit needs a workable process rather than a marketing assurance.

Section 129 places responsibility on directors to select a secretary with suitable skills or resources. Section 226 connects that assessment with maintaining, or arranging maintenance of, the required non-accounting company records. Ask about experience relevant to your company, not merely whether the firm is incorporated.

Describe expected activity honestly: a simple founder-owned LTD and a company planning frequent share transactions can need different support. Establish when the provider will request instructions and when specialist advice is necessary. Each director retains the compliance duty in section 223; outsourcing administration does not remove the need to supply information, approve decisions and monitor outstanding work.

• Companies Act 2014, section 129: skills or resources
• Companies Act 2014, section 226: duties and company records
• Companies Act 2014, section 223: each director's compliance duty

4. Agree consent, the effective date and the right filing

For a new company, settle the first secretary's identity before the incorporation documents are finalised. Section 22 requires the proposed secretary details and accompanying consent through the incorporation process. The engagement, consent and Form A1 information should identify the same appointee, not a brand in one document and a different legal entity in another.

For an existing company, use a proper decision and consent process, record the effective date and arrange the relevant notification. CRO guidance uses Form B10 for post-incorporation appointments, cessations and changes of particulars, with notification within 14 days of the change. Do not invent an earlier date to make unfinished work appear timely.

Ask who handles the appointment documents, officer register and CRO submission, and what confirmation you will receive. A payment receipt proves a purchase, not all of those steps. If replacing a secretary, check the outgoing position and records handover explicitly. Do not assume a new service order silently removes the previous appointee or transfers every open assignment.

• Companies Act 2014, section 22: first secretary details and consent
• Companies Act 2014, section 149: appointment consent and changes
• CRO: Form B10 and the 14-day notification period

5. Confirm signing cover: a corporate secretary is not a loophole

Where an act requires a director and the secretary, section 134 prevents the same person satisfying it in both capacities. CRO expressly addresses a sole director who is also a director of the company appointed as corporate secretary: that individual cannot sign the same required act twice, once for each role.

Ask who will act for the corporate secretary when a different individual is required, how their authority will be checked and what happens if the usual contact is away. Plan document turnaround before a deadline. A promise that the firm has several staff does not identify which person is authorised for a particular document.

Follow the actual signing route for the relevant filing. Electronic Filing Agent authority, officer signatures and certification of financial statements are different matters; use the linked filing-agent guide for that wider workflow. Do not assume that appointing a body corporate makes every electronic signature acceptable or gives every employee unrestricted authority to sign client documents.

• Companies Act 2014, section 134: dual-capacity restriction
• CRO: corporate secretary and dual-capacity signatures

6. Distinguish a new contact from a different legal secretary

Consider a fictional LTD whose appointed secretary is Example Secretarial Limited. Its account manager changes, but the same corporate entity remains appointed. That staffing change is not, by itself, a replacement of the corporate secretary. Update working contacts and signing arrangements instead of automatically recording the employee as the new officer.

Now suppose a provider says a different company will take over the appointment, with a different registration reference. The same email address or service brand does not prove it is the same legal appointee. Establish the actual transaction and arrange the required appointment, consent, cessation and notification work with the adviser. Do not treat a general announcement as a completed client-company filing.

A legal-name or registered-office change of the existing corporate secretary raises a particulars question even if its identity remains the same. Section 149 also covers changes to registered particulars. Ask what changed and what must be notified, rather than assuming either that every rebrand needs a new appointment or that no update can be required.

• Companies Act 2014, section 149: officer and particulars changes
• CRO: notifying officer changes

7. Buy a defined engagement, not an assumed all-inclusive service

Compare the ongoing office with the work included in the commercial agreement. Ask whether the offer covers reminders, statutory-record guidance, register maintenance, document drafting or submission of a particular form. Those descriptions are not interchangeable, and unlimited historic reconstruction should never be inferred from an annual appointment.

Agree the term, renewal process, cancellation and handover arrangements, and total payable. Confirm how the company obtains its records if the engagement ends and who completes pending work. If an individual is the legal secretary, ask what happens when that employee leaves the provider; a replacement colleague does not automatically inherit a personal appointment.

Keep accountancy, tax returns, registered-office service and director-residence requirements outside the assumptions. A corporate secretary appointment does not supply all those services. For the initial enquiry, give a summary of company status, proposed appointment and deadlines. Use an agreed secure route for private records rather than uploading identity documents or credentials to a general contact form.

8. Corporate secretary buying checklist

Obtain clear answers before instruction. If a point is unresolved, ask about that issue rather than buying a second overlapping service to make the uncertainty disappear.

• Confirm whether the legal appointee is an individual or a body corporate.
• Verify the corporate name, registered office, registry and registration reference.
• Separate the appointed entity from the trading brand and working contacts.
• Check skills, resources, absence cover and access to company records.
• Agree consent, effective dates and the incorporation or officer-change process.
• Confirm suitable signing cover without using one person in both required capacities.
• Plan contact changes, corporate particulars updates and eventual handover.
• Confirm included work, exclusions, term, renewal and total payable.

9. Check the proposed appointment with StartCompany.ie

StartCompany.ie's published secretary product provides a 12-month nominee company secretary engagement with compliance reminders, officer-filing guidance and statutory-record guidance. The team reviews the company setup and confirms appointment details and scope. Ask whether the proposed appointee will be an individual or a body corporate and obtain the exact details; do not infer the answer from the website's trading name.

Annual-return preparation, registered-office services, share changes and other filings are separate unless expressly included. A secretary-change filing service is also distinct from the ongoing engagement. The published checkout does not create an automatic subscription; renewal is arranged separately. Check the current product and total payable before ordering.

Explain whether you are forming a new LTD, replacing a secretary or responding to a provider's proposed entity change. Where corporate identity or signing cover is essential to your decision, confirm that requirement before payment. Review formation-package inclusions as well so the support you purchase matches the actual gap rather than duplicating work already arranged.