Company formation and incorporation
We register the company and prepare the constitution, share register and resolutions that make it work.Registering a company takes ASIC about a day. Making it work takes the documents nobody reads until they matter: the constitution, the share register, the consents, the first resolutions. Those decide who controls the company, what classes of shares can exist, and whether you can bring an investor in three years from now without unpicking the whole thing. A shelf company with a generic constitution is perfectly fine right up to the moment you need it to do something specific.
A constitution that fits
The share classes and transfer rules match what you are likely to need rather than a template's defaults.
Documented from day one
The initial share issue is recorded properly, which is what stops a cost base argument years later at sale.
Trading within the week
ASIC registration usually takes a day or two and the full company kit follows inside a week.
What actually gets created when a company is formed?
A company is a separate legal person, which is why it can hold assets, owe debts and be sued in its own name rather than in yours. Registration creates only the shell. The rules the company runs by come from its constitution, or from the replaceable rules in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) where there is no constitution. Share classes, who may transfer shares to whom, how directors are appointed and removed, and whether dividends can be paid differently to different shareholders are all settled there. Getting a company is easy. Getting the right company is a question of what is written at formation.
What do you need from me to register a company?
The proposed name, the names and residential addresses of the directors and any secretary, a registered office and principal place of business, and who will hold the initial shares and in what class. If you are unsure about the share structure, that is the part worth a short conversation before we register anything.
Do I need a tailored constitution or will a standard one do?
A standard constitution is fine for a simple company with one or two shareholders and no plans to change. A tailored one earns its cost as soon as you want multiple share classes, want to control who shares can be transferred to, or expect to bring in an investor. We will tell you which of those you are before we draft anything.
How long does it take?
ASIC registration is usually complete within one to three business days once we have everything. The constitution, register and resolutions take a few days more. Most formations are finished inside a week of full instructions.
Do I need a shareholders agreement as well?
If there is more than one shareholder, almost always. The constitution is a public document about how the company is governed. A shareholders agreement is a private contract about how the owners deal with each other: how decisions get made, what happens when somebody wants out, and how a disagreement is resolved. They do different jobs and most companies with co-owners need both.
Have it registered and ready this week
Tell us who the directors and shareholders are, and what you expect the ownership to look like in a few years. We will confirm the share structure, prepare the constitution and the register, and hand you a company that is ready to trade.
The registration is the easy part, the documents are the company
You need the entity in place so you can open the bank account, sign the lease and start invoicing, so the temptation is to take the cheapest registration available. What that costs shows up later and never at a convenient moment: a constitution that cannot issue the share class your investor wants, an undocumented initial share issue that becomes a tax argument at sale, a director who never signed a consent to act. Each of them is cheap to get right now and expensive to fix once it is blocking something.
- We will settle the share structure with you before anything is registered.
- We will register the company with ASIC and complete every formation step.
- We will prepare a constitution suited to your structure rather than a generic one.
- We will issue the shares and prepare the share register and certificates.
- We will prepare the director consents and the first resolutions.
You need the company before you can do anything else
You have decided to trade through a company. The bank wants an ACN before it will open an account, the landlord wants a tenant with a name, and your first customer wants an invoice. What you need is the entity registered, the documents right, and somebody to have thought about the share structure before it is locked in. You would rather not work out what ASIC requires, and you would rather not discover in two years that the constitution will not let you do the thing you now need to do.
What's included in your company formation service
- Share structure advice before registration.
- ASIC company registration.
- A constitution tailored to your structure.
- Share register, share certificates and the initial share issue.
- Director consents, first resolutions and a complete company kit.
What a cheap formation costs later
Companies formed off a template all look identical until somebody asks one to do something. Then the differences surface at once. A constitution with a single class of ordinary shares cannot accommodate an investor who wants a preference, so the round stalls while it is amended and everybody waits. An initial share issue that was never properly recorded leaves a cost base nobody can prove, which becomes an argument with the tax office at the point of sale. A director appointed without a signed consent is personally exposed and the company’s ASIC record is wrong.
None of that is exotic. It is the ordinary consequence of treating formation as a registration rather than as the moment the company’s rules are written. The people who feel it are usually the ones who saved a few hundred dollars at the start and meet the bill five years later, mid-transaction, when there is no time to deal with it.
From an ACN to a company that actually works
We take instructions on the parts that are genuinely hard to change later, which is really the share structure and who controls the company. How many classes, who holds what, whether anyone is likely to join, and whether the shares should sit in your own name or in a trust. That conversation takes very little time and it is most of the value in doing this properly.
Then we register the company, prepare a constitution suited to the structure rather than a generic one, issue the shares, prepare the register and certificates, and get the director consents and first resolutions signed. You are handed a complete company kit and an entity that can trade immediately and can still do what you need in five years.
How we get it built
From instructions to a company that can trade, in about a week.Settle the shape
We take instructions on directors, shareholders and share classes, and flag anything that would be hard to change once it is registered.
Register and document
We register the company with ASIC and prepare the constitution, share register, certificates, consents and first resolutions.
Hand it over
We deliver a complete company kit with every document, so the company can trade immediately and its record is in order.
Formation handled by Accredited Specialists in Business Law
Most people want the company set up and out of the way so they can get on with the business, which is a reasonable thing to want. The reason to spend twenty minutes on the share structure first is that it is the only part of this that is genuinely difficult to undo.
We have 2 Accredited Specialists in Business Law. We form companies constantly, from single-director entities through to corporate trustees and holding structures, and we know which formation decisions come back to bite and which never matter at all.
Our great lawyer guarantee
Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.
Take the time
We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.
Share our knowledge
We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.
Stick to our knitting
We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.
Work as one team
Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.
Fair pricing
A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.
It is your show
We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.
Get the company formed properly
Tell us who the directors and shareholders are and what the ownership might look like in a few years. We will register the company, prepare a constitution that fits it, and hand you an entity that is ready to trade and still right later.
More on this area of law
Read more about company formation, constitutions and share structures, and how ADLV Law can help.
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