Ntrakwah & Co., and Corporate Law Institute in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) has organized a forum dubbed “The Users’ Forum on the Companies ACT 2019 (ACT 992), to exchange ideas and discuss best approach to the application of the law, especially the search for a common ground in relation to giving of notice and the filing of statutory returns.  

The forum which took place at the Holiday Inn hotel in Accra attracted over 80 participants which included lawyers, staff of (ORC), accountants, business executives, company secretaries, consultants, among others.

The forum is the first of a periodic gathering of the users of the Companies Act 2019 by which the administrators of the law and practitioners met with the idea to ensure that the practice which evolves is not only in conformity with the law but also improves the ease of doing business in Ghana for the benefit of all.

Speaking at the event, Founder and Board Chairman of Ntrakwah and Co, Mr Felix Ntrakwah said there were some challenges with the application of the new law “just as there were challenges with the old law".

He said the Forum sought to create a platform for discussing the concerns of the users of the law in order to agree on the way forward.

Mr Ntrakwah advised persons who intend to set up companies to read the law before taking a step and urged them not to dump unnecessary documents on the registrar of companies.

The Registrar of Companies, Mrs. Jemima Oware urged companies to comply with the new Companies Act and take notice of the changes under the new law to enhance the registration and regulation of businesses in Ghana.

She emphasized that the new law was to enhance the ease of doing business.

She drew attention to participants on the requirement of the law for companies to adopt new suffixes to their names. She said the addition of the suffix was to ensure that third parties and stakeholders have clarity on the legal form of the company with which they were dealing with.

During the forum, the USERS’ got the opportunity to discuss challenges they face with the ORC as well as some procedures currently in use at the ORC contrary to what is in the law.

Some of the challenges discussed by the USERS were, procedures and requirement for amending a constitution; process and procedure for transfer of shares in companies; requirement for existing companies to adopt a new constitution; requirement of existing companies to change the suffixes of their names; and requirement for the disclosure of beneficial interest.

At the end of the forum, participants agreed that the forum was a welcome event as it promoted the ease of doing business in Ghana. Many of the participants lauded the organizers for their foresight in bringing together the users of the Companies Act 2019 to openly exchange ideas on matters which could otherwise end up in court.

Owing to the keen interest shown by the participants the organizers announced that the date for the next forum would be advertised in due course.