The Registrar of Companies (ORC), Jemima Oware, has issued an ultimatum for all professional bodies in the country to renew and update their records.
All professional bodies have from Monday 12 June to December 31, 2023 to regularise their records.
Speaking at a meeting with the leaders of various professional groups in the country – including the Nurses and Midwifery Council among others in Accra – Mrs. Oware said the move is to ensure that all professional bodies conform to the new Company Act, 2019 (Act 992).
“As the registrar and regulator of professional bodies, the ORC has embarked on extensive stakeholder meetings for such reasons; and that is why we are here today. This meeting is to discuss relevant changes in the registration and regulations of professional bodies per the registered Professional Bodies Act 1973, NCRD 143, and maintain a clean and up to date register of all professional bodies in Ghana to efficiently perform our mandate as a regulator,” she said.
She added that her office has noticed some professional bodies have amended their names without recourse to the registrar, and some are also operating without legal registration with the ORC among other challenges.
Professor Akwasi Ampofo Twumasi, President of Chartered Institute of Certified Tax Accountants, urged all professional bodies to register and update their records with the Registrar of Companies.
The OCR was expected – for the very first time from June 1, 2023 – to commence full implementation of section 126(7) of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), which states that: “Where a company defaults in complying with the filing of annual returns and financial statements, the company and every officer of the company that is in default is liable to pay to the Registrar an administrative penalty of twenty-five penalty units for each day during which the default continues”.
A penalty unit is established by the Fines (Penalty Units) Act 2000 (Act 572), and the current monetary value per penalty unit is GH¢12.
“This means that effective June 1, 2023, an administrative charge of GH¢300 will be charged for each day the default continues against the Company and every officer of the Company until section 126 (7) is complied with,” Mrs. Oware stated.
