RJSC set to visit big corporates

The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) is going to start visiting high-profile corporate houses to see their governance situation.
The inspection will start next week and the chief of RJSC will lead the team of officials from his office, according to an RJSC official memo.
The team will visit different companies, especially large business conglomerates, and see their accounts, updated documents, registers and annual return documents, among other papers.
When contacted, deputy registrar Abu Ishaq Mohammad Bhuiyan refused to disclose the names of the companies.
But they will notify the companies concerned earlier to cooperate with the team during the visit.
Mr Bhuiyan said the visit's prime focus will be whether big corporate houses are complying with RJSC rules and regulations and the country's existing corporate governance policies and guidelines.
He said it is not possible to visit every company registered under the RJSC.
"So, our priorities will be the companies which are large in size, received complaints and have previous record of non-compliances," he said.
Mr Bhuiyan said this is the first of this kind of visit, led by the chief of RJSC.
Once the visit begins, the RJSC will continue to do so in order to ensure good governance in the country's corporate sector," he said.
The RJSC is the sole authority which facilitates formation of companies and keeps track of all ownership related issues as prescribed by the laws in Bangladesh.
However, an official in the RJSC termed the visit just a 'show-off'.
He said the RJSC is severely understaffed and complete automation is still an issue.
A total of 245,655 companies have so far got registered with the state entity, according to the RJSC statistics.
Of them, the number of private limited companies is 175,932 followed by public limited companies 3,532, foreign companies 932, partnership firms 49,180, societies 14,958 and trade organisations 1,121.
As many as 9,000 new firms/companies, on average, get registered with the entity per year.
The RJSC is struggling to deliver smooth services taking a backlog of applications to 0.151 million for lack of automation.
The rush for registration of companies, partnership businesses, societies and trade organisations is increasing gradually.

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