The foreign branch office is required to file the financial accounts of its parent company to the registrar.
Head Office Accounts
Section 373(1) of the Companies Act (the “Act”) requires a foreign company which is required to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) and to prepare a balance sheet and the requisite documents by the laws of the place of its incorporation or origin, to file its balance sheet and the requisite documents (hereafter termed as “Head Office Accounts”) within 2 months after its AGM.
For a foreign company which is not required to hold an AGM and to prepare a balance sheet and the requisite documents in its place of incorporation or origin, Section 373(4) of the Act allows the foreign company to file a balance sheet and such requisite documents as if the foreign company is a public company incorporated under the Act (i.e. a set of audited accounts which complies with the Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (“SFRS”)), within 7 months from the end of its financial year. A declaration verifying that the accounts are true copies is also required to be lodged with the accounts.
Branch Accounts
In addition to filing of Head Office Accounts mentioned above, a foreign company is also required under Section 373(5) of the Act to lodge the audited accounts of its Singapore branch that, in so far as is practicable, complies with the SFRS and which gives a true and fair view of the branch’s operations in Singapore for the last preceding financial year of the foreign company (hereafter termed as “Branch Accounts”).
