The World Bank: Doing Business & Measuring Business Regulations

How to open a company without consulting company in Singapore?

There are many people when they want to open company in the new country, what they will do before approaching the government is they will talk to the consulting companies first to understand the overview landscape, what's the best approach to the market and the attitude to the government.

Generally, if you don't know which consulting firm to get advice, people are always looking for a big 4 accounting firm, normally they have advice team for a different purpose. Once you get Engagement Letter, please be aware to reply your decision. Because it could be written even without your signature in the engagement letter, you give your consent that they could charge you per hour with more requests from you.

What're other options for you to get advice from?

(1) your own country Embassy
If your embassy is luckily in the country you're exploring, please try to meet your country people, they might be able to connect with the right person for free if not conflict their standing. But please understand that they're not obligated to help you anyhow, as you're not paying an advisory fee to them.

(2) Chamber of Commerce
For example, you're a European firm that you want to engage in the Singapore market, you could join EuroCham. You could search as much related Chamber of commerce as possible, as long as they are related to your business. Please keep in mind that generally Chamber of Commerce is a private entity that earning a profit by getting more members to their organization. You could join their event, the idea is to connect other like-mind business people.

(3) Government Investment Centre
Each country has its own Investment Centre, although the name might differ, the purpose is the same, they want to get foreign investment to their country, generally, they understand the market landscape.

(4) World bank
This website is amazing! It's well-organized and clearly to tell you where to file company registration in each country government department. Take Singapore as an example, click Details – Starting a Business in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost, The Procedure gave you a hint that you can go to Agency: ACRA, meaning that you can try to incorporate a company by yourself with this government department, although in the end, it is not possible for a foreigner to incorporate directly, as you still need local accredited filing agent.