Company Secretary Software Australia: What You Need in 2026

Company Secretary Software Australia: What You Need in 2026

Company Secretary Software Australia: What You Need in 2026

Target URL: /blog/company secretary software australia Primary Keyword: company secretary software Australia Published: Friday 27 March 2026

The role of Company Secretary in Australia has never been more demanding — or more exposed.

You're responsible for ensuring every entity in your portfolio meets its obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). That means accurate registers, lodged changes, signed resolutions, and a filing history that holds up to scrutiny. For a corporate group managing 10, 20, or 50 entities, that's a full time governance operation — not a task you can manage from a spreadsheet and a shared inbox.

Company secretary software exists to make this manageable. In 2026, the category has evolved well beyond simple register management. The leading platforms now combine ASIC integration, AI powered compliance analysis, document automation, and multi entity dashboards that give Company Secretaries real visibility across their entire portfolio.

This guide covers what to look for, what the Australian market currently offers, and how to evaluate whether your current tools are keeping pace with your obligations.

Under the Corporations Act 2001, public companies must have at least one Company Secretary. Private companies are not legally required to appoint one, but many do — and for good reason.

The core statutory responsibilities include:

Maintaining the company's registers (members, directors, secretaries, charges) Ensuring ASIC is notified of changes to the company's details within the required timeframes Preparing and maintaining minutes of board and shareholder meetings Keeping custody of the company's constitution and registered documents Ensuring the company meets its annual review obligations under section 345A of the Corporations Act Supporting the board on governance matters

For a company with a simple structure and a single entity, this is manageable. For a corporate group managing subsidiaries, trusts, joint ventures, and special purpose vehicles — it's a complex, ongoing compliance operation.

ASIC's enforcement posture has shifted toward proactive compliance. Late lodgements, inaccurate registers, and missing director notifications are increasingly likely to attract scrutiny — not just fines.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019 and subsequent reforms have increased director accountability for governance failures. Directors can no longer plausibly claim ignorance of their company's compliance status.

Beneficial Ownership is Now a Front Burner Issue

Australia's alignment with international FATF recommendations and the expanded role of AUSTRAC in beneficial ownership reporting means that Company Secretaries managing complex structures — trusts, nominees, cross shareholdings — need documented, auditable UBO chains. This can't be produced on demand from a spreadsheet.

Routine drafting tasks — resolutions, minutes, ASIC lodgement forms — are increasingly automated by AI. Company Secretaries who are still manually drafting every resolution from scratch are spending their time on work that software can do in seconds. The value add is in judgment, oversight, and stakeholder management — not document production.

What to Look for in Company Secretary Software

This is the non negotiable feature for any serious company secretary software in Australia. You need a platform that:

Syncs entity data directly from the ASIC registry in real time Alerts you when your internal records diverge from what ASIC holds Can lodge Form 484, Form 362, and other forms directly without manual resubmission

Look for platforms that hold ASIC Digital Service Provider (DSP) certification. DSP status means the provider has been approved by ASIC for electronic lodgement and is held to a higher technical standard.

If you're managing more than one entity — which most Company Secretaries are — you need a single dashboard that shows you the compliance status of your entire portfolio at a glance. Not a separate login per entity, not a spreadsheet with colour coded tabs.

The ideal interface shows: Compliance health score per entity Outstanding actions and upcoming deadlines Director and shareholder registers up to date Filing history and pending lodgements

Drafting resolutions from scratch is slow, error prone, and frankly unnecessary. Modern platforms provide:

Pre built templates for common resolutions (appointment of directors, changes to constitution, dividend declarations, etc.) Auto populated fields pulling from the entity register (so the director's name and address are already correct) Integrated e signing workflows so documents can be executed and stored without chasing paper Automatic filing to the document vault once signed

Every governance document — constitution, trust deed, share certificate, signed minutes, lodgement receipts — needs a secure, version controlled home. The document vault should:

Support multiple document types and link them to the relevant entity Maintain version history so you can see what the constitution said before the 2019 amendment Be searchable and filterable by entity, document type, and date

5. Compliance Alerts and Deadline Tracking

ASIC annual review fees are due within 28 days of the review date. Director appointments need to be lodged within 28 days of the change. Missing these deadlines generates late lodgement penalties under section 1351 of the Corporations Act.

Good company secretary software surfaces these deadlines before they're missed — with automated alerts, owner assignments, and escalation paths.

Every change to your entity data should be logged: who changed it, when, what the previous value was. This isn't just best practice — it's the record you'll need when an auditor, a due diligence team, or ASIC itself asks how the register has been maintained.

CAS 360 (BGL) The dominant platform for accounting firms managing client entities. CAS 360 is comprehensive and deeply integrated with the accounting firm workflow — but it's designed for advisers, not internal teams. If you're an in house Company Secretary, CAS 360 is built for your accountant, not for you.

NowInfinity Primarily a document generation tool focused on trust deeds, constitutions, and SMSF documentation. Strong for document production, weaker on entity register management and ongoing compliance tracking. Built for financial planners and accountants.

Diligent Enterprise grade governance platform used by Fortune 500 and ASX 20 companies. Board portal, meeting management, and ESG reporting at scale. Starting price is typically $50,000+/year, which places it well outside the mid market.

EntityFlo Purpose built for Australian companies managing 5 to 100 entities in house. Unlike CAS 360 or NowInfinity, EntityFlo is designed for the internal team — the CFO, Company Secretary, General Counsel — not the external adviser.

Key differentiators: ASIC DSP certified — direct lodgement included on all plans Rebecca AI — AI powered compliance analysis, resolution drafting, and structure mapping Entity 360 — live ASIC sync with compliance health scoring Ownership Map — automatic UBO chain calculation for complex structures Pricing from $199/month — no per filing charges

Company Secretary Software vs Excel: The Real Comparison

Here's the honest version of why the spreadsheet and shared drive approach eventually fails:

Risk Factor Spreadsheet/Shared Drive Company Secretary Software ASIC discrepancy detection ❌ Manual only ✅ Automated, real time Deadline alerts ❌ Calendar reminders ✅ Smart alerts + owner assignment Resolution drafting ⏱️ 30 90 mins per resolution ✅ Minutes with AI Document version control ❌ Filename based ✅ System enforced Audit trail ❌ None ✅ Full, immutable UBO calculation ❌ Manual diagram ✅ Automated mapping ASIC lodgement ⏱️ Log into ASIC portal ✅ Direct from platform Key person dependency 🔴 High 🟢 Low Time per entity per month 4 8 hours <1 hour

Run through this checklist. If you answer "no" or "I'm not sure" to more than three, it's worth looking at what software can do for you:

1. Can I see the compliance status of every entity in my portfolio in under 60 seconds? 2. Am I notified of ASIC deadlines at least 14 days in advance, automatically? 3. Is every change to my entity registers logged with a timestamp and user attribution? 4. Can I produce a complete, accurate beneficial ownership chain for any entity within the hour? 5. Are all signed resolutions and minutes stored in a single, version controlled location? 6. Would a new hire be able to understand my entity structure without asking me to explain it?

Do private companies in Australia need a Company Secretary? No. Under the Corporations Act 2001, only public companies are legally required to have a Company Secretary. However, private companies managing complex structures or multiple entities commonly appoint one or use software to fulfil the Company Secretary function.