Being in business may sound quite romantic, the wheeling and dealing of someone who is successful in business is for some people a goal of even a dream that one wishes would come true. Not everybody realises however that for this success to be achieved a lot of paperwork needs to be taken care of. These so called corporate services are as important as agreeing on the actual deal itself since without them no deal can be materialised. Needless to say that the corporate service provider that one chooses to work with to get things done has to be trustworthy and immaculate.
For a long time these services could be provided by any professional in the legal or accountancy field. Any lawyer in Malta could offer services like company formation and dissolution since the requirements would not be much more than filling out paperwork and submitting them at the Malta Business Registry offices. The same can be said for many other corporate services like tax planning, director services and HR or administration services. Malta had at one point around nine hundred professionals who would offer one or more of these services to their existing and prospective clients and were registered as corporate service provider. These professionals would in many cases be legal professionals who would often be advising clients on the formation of companies or assisting their clientele in negotiations regarding mergers, take overs or many other situations.
Other professions that are often found among providers of corporate services are accountants and related professions. Accountants are obviously always up to date with the latest regulations and have in general a good knowledge of company law and other related areas. This is very important since in larger companies who have their own administration and finance department, the tasks related to company administration often fall upon finance professionals. This is why a corporate service provider is often an accountant or at the very least able to offer their own accountancy services or from someone they are close associated with. Besides the smaller operators who are often made up of a few professionals in various fields, one can also find larger operators to provide the corporate services that are needed.
These larger operators vary from a small group of professionals with various disciplines in order for the operator to be in a position to satisfy all the requirements of their clientele. The provision of corporate services can in these cases range from advise regarding company formation for tax planning, to the complete execution of the preferred option including bookkeeping and anything else one can think of. The only requirement that is left for client to satisfy is to provide all the requested information, to sign the dotted line and pay the inevitable invoice. A corporate service provider that is far larger and has a larger number of professionals in multiple disciplines can in essence only offer these same services, yet can handle a larger in number customers. An added advantage may be the wider experience of a large operator in various fields and especially on an international level with an often in-house international network. The downside of a large provider of corporate services will certainly be the large bill that is presented before any work is actually done.
Especially this last point is what drives many customers to a provider who is not part of the ‘big four’ or the larger operators in Malta. The services that are provided by a large corporate service provider are not any different than those a smaller operator would offer. If anything, the flexibility that smaller operators often have would be their best selling point. This together with the fact that often the owner(s) would be the point of reference for the client and this makes sure the lead contact person is very driven to perform what is stipulated in the contract. Because of this the corporate services of a smaller sized operator will provide often have a personal touch to then. It makes sense that the selling point of personal attention is what attracts owners of smaller companies to seek those providers to supply the corporate services to satisfy their goals.
A personal approach is also what drives the team of Sultana Legal to get the very best for their clientele out of every situation. Due to changing regulations that are currently happening in Malta, Sultana Legal does not envisage to provide these services on large scale. The concurrent updating of regulations mean that corporate service providers have to be strictly structured and adhere to strict regulations. These changes will have as a result that independent professionals will often no longer be able to offer in house corporate services to their clients. The demands in business structure and due diligence are simply too much for a very small operator to satisfy based on a small number of clients. This is why Sultana Legal works closely together with other operators to be able to offer all the service the clientele needs. Sultana Legal is part of the team of expertise that also includes a well founded corporate service provider, accountants and other professionals that together form the Astra Group of Companies.
It is the various services that Sultana Legal can offer through the possibility to quickly involve multiple disciplines, that makes the team a force to reckoned with. Even though the corporate services might not be provided by the core team of Sultana Legal, for you as client it will make no difference since they will be provided with the same speed, quality and personal approach that you are used to. We firmly believe that this is the way forward in the competitive industry of corporate service providers where people are looking for a ‘one-stop-shop’ to provide them with all their needs instead of hopping around the island from one office to another. If this is the kind of corporate services that you are after then get in touch with us to tell us your expectations so we can design a personal approach for you.