Shareholder data, PDPA, and moving to a different accountant

[cattleherder]

I am trying to move my company to a different accounting firm, because the one providing the services got me with its constant upselling and ridiculous bureaucracy.

The new one requires the shareholder passport scans & proofs of address. I don't want to bother my shareholders, and asked the old company to transfer the stuff they have already. The a*holes refused, citing PDPA.

Even reasonable people would probably be asking why they have to forward personal data to a foreign company every year. Is there a way to force my current accountant forward the documents? I mean, it's not like they own it.

[PNGMK]

You should have kept copies of it all. I don't see anyway around this.

[cattleherder]

It actually might be at odds with PDPA. But, on a more pragmatic note, the shareholders sent it directly to the accountants.

Anyway, they now agreed to send it to the shareholders with their consent. Let's see how it works out.

[Myasis Dragon]

You don't say if your accounting firm is providing you with a rented "normally resident" director, but if they are, they want to make damn sure that you're not using the company for illegal purposes such as tax evasion or money laundering. Directors are always responsible for the actions of the company and they will want to know all the particulars of everyone associated with the company.

But, if you have your own locally resident director, then you should be able to move to any accounting firm you wish because it is your director that will be liable, not a rented director. In that case, your accounting firm provides only accounting and auditing services, and accountants in Singapore are protected on the basis of they can only report what you tell them.

[cattleherder]

We don't rent a nominee director. We have two local directors, including myself.

And they've been handling many of our needs, from accounting to migration, for over three years now, so they know us well.

But they've always been like that.

[Myasis Dragon]

Well... I will say that my accounting firm, who also acted as my official company secretary, always wanted to keep Bizfile up to date with shareholders, directors, etc. But, I could just provide the information to her. This held true as well when I setup a holding company that became the official owner of my companies in Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Then she wanted to know who owned the other companies and in what percentages (for example, I had to have a Thai shareholder). But never hard requests... I need the info from the shareholder.

[wcs]

If you are willing to wait a while longer, the Government is planning to amend the PDPA with a data portability requirement to enable consumers to have their data moved between service providers.

Or use this knowledge to have another chat with your service provider.

https://www.allenandgledhill.com/sg/pub ... -published

https://www.pdpc.gov.sg/-/media/Files/P ... 200120.pdf

[cattleherder]

Excellent, thanks, wcs!

It looks like we arrived at a compromise, but that's definitely a handy knowledge.