Companies Office shrinks as files go to Disc

By Deborah Hill Cone

Friday 11th October 2002

The Companies Office has defended its decision to get rid of paper files as it moves to a totally electronic register.

If you visit your local Companies Office today you might be surprised to find what was once a hot and bustling centre full of search agents checking through files is now practically empty.

There is little point trekking in to your local office as files are no longer kept there and most information can be more easily accessed online.

At the Auckland Companies Office in Kingston St there is an area the size of several netball courts of echoing space where the paper files were once stored.

All hard-copy files have been centralised at a centre in Wellington's Seaview, known as Disc (document and information service centre).

The move has resulted in delays in checking local company files, as requests for hard-copy documents now must be sent to Disc and will take about 24 hours to process.

However the shift was not motivated by a desire to save space, but is part of the Com-panies Office visionary plan to become a totally electronic register.

The office's Auckland regional manager, Mary Harris, said most documents are now scanned and can be viewed online on the Companies Office website, www.companies. govt.nz.

The world-leading website has been ahead of other government departments, and other countries, in successfully encouraging clients to move to an online service.

Registrar Neville Harris has made it a personal crusade to get the Companies Office online, in the process reducing business compliance costs a strategy that has been highly successful.

Ninety five per cent of company name registrations are now online, 92% of new companies are registered online and about 86% of annual returns are filed online.

That shows up other departments, such as the courts, that have no online presence whatsoever with all transactions still carried out in the sluggish traditional manner.

The Companies Office has binned the remnants of its old Gliding On bureaucratic culture with its behind-the-scenes operation seeming every bit as efficient as any private sector organisation.

Businesses that are constantly battling red tape and compliance costs have welcomed the Companies Office move to cut charges as operations move online, with an online company search now costing only $2.

Delegations from other jurisdictions who have travelled here to observe the New Zealand example have been gobsmacked at how cheaply services can be provided.

In some countries, such as the US, it can cost up to $US300 to register a company.

Ms Harris said they did do some consultation with Com-panies Office users, such as search agents, over the transfer of paper files which happened from June.

"We had to work out when the timing was right," she said.

"Overall, 73% of our clients are using our online service and we want to encourage them to use it."

Comments from our readers

No comments yet