If you plan on registering your business in Singapore, then the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) should be your first stop. And this is easy to see why considering the authority is the equivalent of Companies House in the UK or the Registrar of Companies in India.

But before deciding on anything, it pays off to understand ACRA’s mandate, why it maintains the BizFile, and how you can leverage the interactive digital database to register your company from anywhere in the world conveniently. So keep reading to find out more before deciding on anything.

Before proceeding with your ACRA BizFile search expedition, it pays off to understand what it entails in the first place. To cut a long story short, the BizFile is ACRA's online portal for capturing information for business registration, filing, and reporting. This online portal was first introduced in 2004 but was later replaced in 2016 by a more robust system called the BizFile+.

This newer portal made processes streamlined and quicker and could handle much larger volumes of users. If this is not enough, it is based on the XML-based Businesses Reporting Language (XBRL). Financial and business analysis tools can glean more information from the data you feed into the e-forms that form part of the system.

Before filling out the ACRA business profile online, it is in your best interest to know more about the details to include. To fill BizFile+ online, selecting your company name is essential. Be sure to choose an acceptable business name and make a name application through BizFile. It doesn’t stop at that since you should also specify the type of company, licenses or approvals, directors, company secretary, and other essential personnel.

There are plenty of benefits for companies to file applications online with BizFile in very little time. Some of the most notable benefits include increased convenience for businesses, enhanced accuracy of data, good operational efficiency, and improved compliance with the regulatory requirements, to mention a few.

The good news is you can now access your ACRA financial statements online from the comfort of any location you deem appropriate. Either way, you ought to remember that not all companies are required to file financial statements since some are filed as PDF hard copies and are only available via the ACRA website.