VPRS 10048 Company Registration and Deregistration Documents

Full description

This series covers documents which companies are required to lodge at the Corporate Affairs Office (as a delegate of the National Companies and Securities Commission). These documents have been sentenced as temporary under the provisions of Public Record Office Standard 86/3, Partial Records Disposal Schedule for the Corporate Affairs Office and were destroyed after microfilming. The microfilm master copy of those documents is permanently retained as VPRS 4951.

The function of these records is to document the various provisions of the Companies (Victoria) Code 1982 and previous legislation which requires companies to lodge evidence of their incorporation and any significant practices or changes in relation to the organisation of a company.

Companies required to lodge documentation include:

Victorian, foreign and interstate companies;
non registered companies (ie those not opening in Victoria but which may initiate a charge);
provident societies; and
miscellaneous companies such as statutory authorities (only a very small number).

Documents lodged include:

articles and memoranda of association;
annual financial returns;
directors reports;
debentures;
particulars of the companies, directors, managers, secretary and auditor;
notices of resolution;
applications for reservation of name;
documents appointing liquidators and receivers;
prospectuses;
takeover documents;
trust deeds; and
any other documents related to the function of a company registration and deregistration.

Documents from the period 1976 to 1982 were previously held at the Public Record Office pending development of the Disposal Standard. These records were progressively destroyed during 1989.

When lodged every document is identified by a company number allocated by Corporate Affairs when the company was registered. Documents are then placed in numbered batches which facilitate the filming process. Worksheets are also created to list each document in a batch. Each Worksheet records the date of microfilming, the company numbers of document filmed and the number of frames. Worksheets are allocated an annual single number which controls the series arrangement. A copy of the worksheet is found at the start and end of each batch.

Two microfilm rolls are created in the filming process although VPRS 4951 represents the only remaining roll. The other roll is cut up and the contents incorporated within a composite microfiche company file. This microfiche file contains all documents relevant to one company and is controlled by the company number. The Public Record Office does not hold copies of these microfiche files although these can be accessed for a fee at the Corporate Affairs Office. Under the provisions of the disposal schedule, an annual consignment of defunct companies is to be transferred.

These documents, VPRS 4951 and the microfiche files are linked together by a master index which details all worksheet numbers relevant for each company. This index is maintained by the Corporate Affairs Office.