How much does a company secretary cost in Petaling Jaya?

Fees vary with scope — what the retainer includes, whether the registered office is bundled, and how much transactional work you expect. Rather than anchoring on a number, ask each firm to confirm scope and fee in writing before you appoint; a firm that will not do so has failed the transparency test regardless of price.

Can I act as my own company secretary?

Only if you personally qualify under section 235 of the Companies Act 2016 — a natural person aged 18 or above, ordinarily resident in Malaysia, and either a member of a prescribed professional body or licensed by SSM. Most directors do not, which is why companies appoint a secretarial firm.

How long does switching company secretaries take?

The change itself is quick: consent to act, a board resolution, and notification to SSM within 14 days. The law allows the office to be vacant for at most 30 days, so a competent incoming firm times the resignation and appointment to fall well inside that window.

Is a bigger secretarial firm safer than a small one?

Not by itself. The appointment is held by a named individual, and the risks that matter — missed deadlines, slow replies, unlogged mail — are process failures that occur in firms of every size. Test the seven criteria in this guide rather than counting heads.

Best Corporate Secretarial Services in Petaling Jaya: How to Choose (2026)

The best corporate secretarial service in Petaling Jaya is the one that gives you a named, qualified company secretary, a working system for statutory deadlines, and a scope and fee confirmed in writing before any work starts. There is no official ranking of secretarial firms in Malaysia — the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) regulates individual secretaries, not league tables — so the sensible approach is to test any shortlist against seven criteria you can verify in a single phone call. This guide sets out those criteria and the questions that reveal each one.

Why "top firm" lists tell you very little

Under section 235 of the Companies Act 2016, every Malaysian company must appoint at least one company secretary, and the law is specific about who qualifies: a natural person aged eighteen or above, ordinarily resident in Malaysia, who is either a member of a prescribed professional body or licensed by SSM. What the law does not do is rank the firms those individuals work for. Nobody audits the "top ten" lists you find online, and review counts mostly measure who remembered to ask for reviews. Treat any ranking — including anything a firm says about itself — as advertising, and judge on evidence you can gather yourself. The seven criteria below are the ones that actually separate a dependable company secretary from a filing mailbox.

1. Named responsiveness

The appointment is personal in law: a specific, qualified individual is named on your company's records as its secretary. So the first test is simple — ask who, by name, would be your secretary, which qualification route they hold, and who covers when that person is on leave. Then test responsiveness directly: send one question by email or WhatsApp and note how long a useful reply takes. A firm that answers within the working day while you are still a prospect is unlikely to slow down once you have signed; the reverse is also true.

2. A deadline system, not a diary

Most compliance failures are caused not by ignorance but by nobody watching the calendar. The recurring deadlines are unforgiving: the annual return must be lodged within 30 days of each anniversary of incorporation; financial statements must be circulated within six months of the financial year end and lodged through MBRS within 30 days after circulation; and changes to directors, secretaries or the registered office must be notified to SSM within 14 days. Miss the annual return for three or more consecutive years and the company becomes a candidate for striking off. Ask a candidate firm to describe, concretely, how a deadline is tracked: when the first reminder goes out, what happens if you do not respond, and who is accountable if a date slips. "We will remind you" is not a system; a dated reminder schedule is.

3. A clean handover process

If you already have a secretary, switching should follow a defined route. The office of secretary may not stay vacant for more than 30 days, so a competent incoming firm sequences the change: consent to act, a board resolution, notification to SSM within 14 days, then collection of the statutory registers and minute book and a check of the company's filing history for anything left undone. Ask the firm to walk you through its last handover, step by step. Hesitation here is telling, because a sloppy handover is exactly where registers go missing and deadlines get orphaned between the outgoing and incoming firms.

4. Plain-language advice

A useful secretary translates the Companies Act into decisions you can act on. Test this in conversation with a real question — for example, "do we need to hold an AGM this year?" A good answer notes that private companies are no longer required to hold AGMs under the Companies Act 2016, then explains in a sentence or two how written resolutions replace them in practice. If what you get back is a recitation of section numbers with no recommendation, expect the same when a real issue lands on your desk.

5. Fee transparency

You should know, before appointing, exactly what the retainer covers, what is billed as an extra, and on what basis. This guide deliberately quotes no prices, because prices change and scope varies between firms; the criterion is not cheapness but clarity. A firm that confirms scope and fee in writing upfront — before work starts — has aligned its incentives with yours. A firm that will "advise the fee later" has not, and later is usually after the work is done.

6. Digital lodgement fluency

Almost all routine secretarial work is now lodged electronically: incorporations and company changes go through SSM's MyCoID portal, while annual returns and financial statements go through MBRS. Fluency in these systems is a fair proxy for how current a firm's practice is. Ask when the firm last lodged each type of filing and what the turnaround was. You are listening for familiarity — portal quirks, common rejection reasons, resubmission times — rather than a brochure answer about being "fully digital".

7. Registered-office reliability

Many companies use their secretary's premises as the registered office, which makes that address the destination for statutory notices and official mail. That only works if someone is reliably there to receive, log and forward what arrives. Ask how incoming mail is handled and how quickly you would hear about a legal notice. An unattended address is a silent risk: a notice that sits unread does not stop time running against the company.

How to test all seven in one phone call

You can cover every criterion in about fifteen minutes. Ask, in order: Who exactly would be our named secretary, and under which qualification? What does your reminder schedule look like for the annual return and the MBRS lodgement? How would you take over from our current secretary within the 30-day vacancy window? Do we need an AGM this year — answer as if I know nothing? What does the retainer include, and what is extra? When did you last lodge through MyCoID and MBRS, and how long did each take? Who receives mail at the registered office, and how fast does it reach me? Score the answers for directness rather than polish. The firms worth shortlisting answer specifically; the rest generalise, and generalisation on the phone becomes vagueness in the engagement letter.

Where PT Corporate Services fits

PT Corporate Services Sdn Bhd — the firm publishing this guide — is one of the options you might test. We are a corporate secretarial firm at D12-08, Menara Mitraland, Jalan PJU 5/1, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, and our work covers named company secretary appointments under the Companies Act 2016, Sdn Bhd incorporation, registered office, SSM filings via MyCoID and MBRS, statutory registers and resolutions, and board and AGM support. Our way of working matches the criteria above deliberately: plain-language replies within the working day, and scope and fee confirmed upfront. Put us through the same phone-call test as everyone else — call or WhatsApp +6016 538 5338, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm, or start with our FAQ.

According to Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM), the board of a Malaysian Sdn Bhd must appoint its first company secretary — a natural person who is a citizen or permanent resident ordinarily residing in Malaysia — within 30 days of incorporation, and the office cannot be left vacant for more than 30 days thereafter (Companies Act 2016, Section 236). See SSM — FAQs on the Companies Act 2016.