Corporate secretarial in Qatar

Corporate secretarial work in Qatar keeps the company’s legal status in order between the big events. MOCI’s rules for licensed businesses ask companies to renew the commercial register and trade licences 30 days before they expire and to update the register and licence whenever company data changes, such as a new manager, partner or address. In the Qatar Financial Centre the role is formal: the QFC’s set-up page asks applicants for the details of the company secretary alongside the directors.

A secretarial provider usually drafts board and partner resolutions, keeps the registers of shareholders and directors, files changes with the registry and tracks renewal dates. Ask a firm which platform it files with, whether it can act as the named company secretary of a QFC company, and how it reminds you of deadlines. Ask what it charges per filing and what a yearly retainer covers.

This is a thin service in Qatar: Accountanty lists four firms that offer it, two accounting firms and two corporate service providers. Three are small and one belongs to a large network, and three focus on foreign clients. Three are in Doha and one in Lusail.