About One Million Company Records Not Updated — Registrar Of Companies

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Mrs Jemima Oware, Registrar of Companies, says about one million companies have not updated their records with the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC).

She said the ORC was working with the companies and taking them through various stages to have their details updated.

“It is everyone’s duty to update their company records. Some have done it and others haven’t, but we are working on it to ensure compliance,” she said.

Mrs Oware said this during the five-year anniversary celebration of Veritas International Nominees and Trustees Limited in Accra.

The occasion was commemorated with a round table discussion on the topic: “Doing Business in Ghana: A Legal Perspective.”

She noted that the ORC was developing a user-friendly system to allow company owners to submit their applications to the Office.

“The new software will be coming in a year’s time. It is about to be advertised for the developer to start work on it. This online system would be more digital than what we have now. You would submit your applications online; we will work on it at the backend and then you print out your details.”

Mrs Oware urged business owners to take advantage of the online system upon its launch so that they could easily interact with the Office.

She said henceforth, that the Ghana Card would be the unique identifier in place of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).

The Registrar of Companies said that would help track everyone in the system and deal with fraudulent activities.

Mrs Lady-Ann Essuman, Founder and Supervising Director, Veritas International Nominees and Trustees Limited, said establishing companies made businesses professional and gave them legal backing for future expansion.

Mrs Essuman said setting up businesses also allowed the entrepreneur to contribute to the economy by employing people and paying taxes.

She advised company owners to involve lawyers when starting a company to ensure sustainability.

Mr Edward Ashong-Lartey, Director of Investor Service at Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), said even though COVID-19 affected the economy, foreign investors still looked to Ghana to transact business because the right systems were in place.

“Even though we had COVID, we saw a marginal increase and we are hoping it increases this year,” he added.

He said GIPC did not only deal with foreign businesses but also, Ghanaian ones and assured that their doors were widely opened to cater to such businesses.

By: GNA