The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) has indicated that it will publish the list of 2,584 dormant and defaulted companies as part of the processes to get these companies off its register.

According to the ORC, this is part of the second phase of the clean-up exercise which started at the beginning of the year and saw over 2,700 dormant and defaulted companies struck off the companies register in accordance with the Companies Act 2019(Act 992) for failure to file their Annual Returns and Amendments with the Office.

In an interview with Joy Business,  Public Relations Officer of the ORC, Nicholas Ofori, said the Office is responsible for maintaining and reporting on accurate and reliable data on registered businesses in the country and therefore is undertaking this exercise to clean up the companies.

"All Company entities namely; Private/Public Companies Limited by Shares, Private/Public Companies Limited by Guarantee (Schools, Associations, Churches, Foundations, Unions, Civil Society Organizations, Fun Clubs, NGO’s, etc.) are to file their Annual Returns together with their Financial Statement with the ORC at a cost of ¢50 or in default pay a penalty of ¢500 in addition to fees own in arrears”.

“I am therefore urging all company officials to file their annual returns before December 31, 2022 to avoid being struck off from the Companies Register”, he said.

According to him, a company earmarked to be struck off would be made inactive in the e-register application and therefore cannot be electronically searched on, adding  that a company once struck off would require a High Court order to the Registrar of Companies for reinstatement after it has shown cause to the court for non-compliance on its obligation.

He continued that external companies are required to submit their “Group Account’ with the Office of the Registrar of Companies at a cost of $690 or in default pay $750 in addition to fees owe in arrears.

"Sole proprietorships and partnerships should renew their businesses at a cost of ¢30.00 and ¢60.00 respectively. However, a partnership in default would pay a penalty of ¢500 in addition to fees owe in arrears'.

He advised the public to be vigilant against fraudsters who use the name of the office to defraud clients by directing them to send Mobile Money (Momo) to a certain number to renew their businesses for them.

He indicated that the ORC has not authorised any person or agent to transact business on its behalf and therefore should report such calls to the office.