Tucked away at the bottom of St George’s Court in Douglas sits one of the island’s oldest institutions, the office of the Companies Registry.
Now part of the Department of Economic Development, it seems an appropriate location for a unit whose work has underpinned the development of commercial activity in the island for nearly 150 years.
Established in 1865 when the first Companies Act was introduced, Companies Registry’s role is to maintain the registers and records for all companies and other business types on the Isle of Man – and to make this information available to the public.
‘Companies are born, they live and they die, just like people,’ said John Wilkinson, companies registrar.
‘And in the same way that a person has legal obligations to record certain events, a company has legal obligations to register certain events too.’
The availability of accurate, consistent and timely information from a trusted source is a necessity both for a modern stable Government and for businesses to engage internationally.
‘Our aim is to try and make it as easy as possible both for businesses to record that information and the public to view it,’ said John.
35,000 active businesses
With around 35,000 active businesses currently registered, and all the annual documentation that requires, it is clear keeping on top of it is no mean feat.
And the volume of work involved means that Companies Register is a sizeable contributor to Government income – generating almost £100m over the past decade.
Given the amount of paperwork it deals with – currently some 80,000 new statutory documents are received each year – Companies Registry has always been keen to find more efficient ways of working.
He said: ‘During the past 150 years we have literally moved from quill pens to computers.
‘Some of the earliest documents we have from the late 1800s are beautifully handwritten and elaborate but paper records are very time-consuming to administer.’
It was Peter Curtis, the chief registrar in the General Registry when John was appointed in 1995, who originally decided to embrace new technology and look at moving from paper files to the internet.
This involved a major project to electronically scan the entire document archive held by the Registry. As a result of this work the Companies Registry commissioned the Government’s very first online service in August 2004, introducing the public view internet system which allows people to search and purchase documents online.
‘It has been a tremendous success and makes it much easier for people to access documents remotely without having to come to the Registry to view them,’ said John. ‘Around 90 per cent of searches are now done online.’
The Registry’s electronic document archive currently holds over two and a half million documents or over eight million pages.
Although visitors are still welcome at the Registry office, the electronic filing system makes things much easier for staff as well. Previously individual paper files would need to be retrieved from an ever-increasing library. In earlier days this was located in the old General Registry Office in Finch Road which has been demolished and replaced by the new Legislative Building.
‘It didn’t happen often, but there were occasions when all the staff ended up in the strong room looking for a file or a document that was not where it should be.
‘As most documents were handwritten, when we filed them the number five could have been misread as a three or a seven so we had to work out how the numbers could have been transposed.
‘We generally found what we were looking for but with a thousand metres of shelf space it was not something any of us wanted to do too often.
‘We also had a real problem when they demolished St Andrew’s Church and Government Office moved, probably only millimetres, but enough to jam the huge metal strong room door in Finch Road’ said John.
‘We had some very helpful and amused men from the old Department of Highways come along; and with brute force, a jemmy and a lump hammer they eventually managed to open the door and adjust it so that it closed that evening.’
Today all statutory documents are bar-coded and scanned electronically on arrival in the Registry before being sent for storage. The Registry still retains all the original records and has some 6,000 boxes in storage offsite near the airport.
‘We are required to retain all live documents for up to 12 years after a company is dissolved so there is still a lot of paper!’ said John.
The electronic records provide extra resilience from hazards such as fire and flood.
The Registry is now working with local technology company PDMS to further update the systems supporting the Companies Registry.
The new system, which will be available next year, will be a significant improvement on what is currently available. Companies and businesses will be reminded when their annual returns are due and they will be able to submit them and pay their annual fees on-line. The public viewing system will also be up dated and customers will be able to order certificates of fact online.
This development will be pivotal in helping the Registry achieve its vision of being a world class provider of registry services. It also contributes to the Government’s Agenda for Change by delivering more services online creating further cost efficiencies and meeting the growing demands of the public who want to choose how, when and where they are able to access government services and information.
The Registry’s ongoing commitment to excellent customer service was recognised last year when it was certified to ISO 9001:2008.
In fact Companies Registry customers are a very wide and varied lot.
John said:‘We deal with everyone from the sole trader who is just coming in to register a trading name through to high-powered executives and lawyers.’
‘Recently we were involved with a cross border merger where timing was critical. We had two advocates sitting in the office, both on their phones to their respective clients ensuring that everything was in place at the right time to record the transaction.
The Registry is to some extent a barometer of changing times and one recent trend is the increased number of local people setting up their own businesses and seeking guidance from the staff of the Companies Registry with their paperwork.
The Registry does what it can to assist and one of the most helpful ways it does this is to publish practice notes.
‘They work well for bodies such as the Income Tax Division of Treasury in guiding businesses through different processes so we’ve adopted them too and they are all available on our website so can be accessed at anytime from anywhere,’ said John. The Registry will also prepare additional notes if anyone has any suggestions for new ones. ‘It is in everyone’s interest to get things right the first time so anything we can do to help, we will.’
team of 14
A tight knit team of 14, Registry staff rotate between stints on the public counter, the phones, incorporating new business and updating existing ones. ‘I work with an amazing group of people who have a tremendous amount of knowledge.’
‘Unlike in some of our counterparts overseas where people can spend years on one area of work, we actively encourage our staff to move around and become proficient across the various Registry roles. Very few jurisdictions offer the range of corporate or business structures that you can find on the Isle of Man or have such a small team doing the work.’
Training is an essential element in supporting Registry colleagues – a requirement that resonates particularly strongly with John and is reflected in the Department’s Investor In People gold accreditation.
‘I vividly remember my first day at Customs & Excise as a young Administrative Officer when I was shown my desk at the VAT enquiry counter and had no idea what VAT was!’ he said. ‘We always try to make sure new members of staff are properly trained and know what they are doing before we put them on the public counter.’
Increasing regulation, new business vehicles and the international drive for transparency combined with the need for information security are all challenges for the Registry and its staff as it enters its 150th anniversary year.
‘While the role of the Registry has changed little since 1865, the world we operate in has changed dramatically,’ said John. ‘It’s important we keep one step ahead so we can ensure we’re doing all we can to maintain the accuracy and integrity of our business registers - and give people the confidence to start and run their businesses in the Isle of Man for the centuries to come.’
l The very first company registered on the Isle of Man back in 1865 was Isle of Man Bank Limited which still proudly carries its designation Company No. 1 today. Other long-lived businesses which are still operating include the Finch Hill Pavillion and Bowling Club Limited (1881), Palace Group Limited (1898) and Heron & Brearley Limited (1898).