Lodging through the portal on behalf of clients

The ASIC Regulatory Portal is now the primary submission channel for submitting applications for relief and various fundraising and corporate finance documents to ASIC. They are submitted through the portal using online forms known as transactions.

A law firm partnership can submit transactions to ASIC for its clients. This can be done by law firm employees who submit transactions on behalf of their clients under the centralised law firm account.

Already registered?

Make sure you select to represent your law firm before launching a transaction

The screen shot below is an example of the landing page all portal users see when they log in.
Your law firm will show in your list of ‘current connections’ once you have been invited to connect to the law firm account.
Before you launch a transaction, make sure you select to represent your law firm. Do not select your own name (‘Myself’).
This will ensure the invoice is issued to your law firm – not to you as an individual.

Not registered yet?

How to register and connect to a law firm partnership

Step 1 – register

A partner of the firm will need to perform the initial portal account registration.

Go to the registration page - https://regulatoryportal.asic.gov.au/registration/
Select ‘I want to act on behalf of a registered company or body’ tile.
In the 'Entity type' drop-down list select ‘Other’
In the ‘Category’ drop-down list select ‘Partnership’ and provide the relevant information to register.
Enter your Australian Business Number (ABN) and ASIC key in relation to ABN.
Confirm that you are a current partner of the partnership.
Provide some personal contact details.
Make final declaration.

Step 2 – first login

The partner should log in and add in billing contact details for the law firm.

Select your law firm from the ‘Select entity’ page once logged in. Do not select your own name.
Provide billing contact details.

Step 3 – invite others

Once registered and once the billing and other contact details have been added, the partner can invite others to connect to submit transactions for its clients under the centralised law firm account.

Select your law firm from the ‘Select entity’ page once logged in. Do not select your own name.
Click on Administration in the top navigation bar.
Click on the Users tab.
Click on Invite new user to entity button.
Enter the invitee's details – name, email address etc. You will also need to declare that you understand the access you are giving the invitee.
Click Confirm.

This will send the invitee an email, including an invitation key that they can use to register or connect to the law firm if they have an existing portal account. The invitee can undertake administrative tasks like inviting other users to connect to the law firm account, if they are given ‘Administrator’ access.

How to register and connect to a law firm that is a company

Only a Director or Secretary of the company can perform the initial registration. They can then invite others to connect and act on their behalf. Steps to perform initial registration:

Go to the registration page – https://regulatoryportal.asic.gov.au/registration/
Select ‘I want to act on behalf of a registered company or body’ tile.
In the ‘Entity type' drop-down list select ‘Australian Registered Company’ and provide the relevant information to register. You will need to have the following on hand:

ASIC Identifier (Australian Company Number (ACN)),
Corporate Key (for more information, see Corporate Key).

Provide some personal contact details.
Make final declaration.

Key points for law firms

The law firm partnership account will contain a record of all the transactions submitted by portal users acting on behalf of the partnership. Access to transactions in the portal can be restricted.
While the transactions may be submitted on behalf of a client, the debt for each transaction will be raised against the law firm partnership and will be shown on the invoice statement issued to the partnership.
Each outstanding transaction will be listed on the one invoice statement as a separate line item, rather than separate invoices for each transaction.
If the transaction is submitted on behalf a client, the name of the client will appear on the relevant transaction line item.

How else can I submit transactions on behalf of a client?

Separate to submitting as a law firm partnership, there are two other ways you can submit transactions to ASIC for a client and each of them will determine where the invoice statement is issued.

Submitting as client entity (e.g. a company)

To connect to a client and to submit transactions on its behalf in the portal, you must first be invited by a Senior administrator or an Administrator of the client’s portal account. For companies registered on the portal, directors and sectaries are Senior administrators.
The client’s portal account will contain the record of the transactions submitted by users who have connected to the account to act on its behalf.
The debt for each transaction will be raised against the client entity and will be displayed on the invoice statement issued to the client entity.
Individuals connect to a client entity using their individual portal account. A law firm partnership entity cannot connect to a client entity.

Submitting as an individual

You can submit transactions to ASIC on behalf of a client from your own portal account.
In this scenario, you are not connected to the portal account of your client entity, however you can still submit transactions on their behalf.
You can invite others to draft/submit/review transactions on your behalf in the portal.
Your portal account will contain a record of all the transactions you have submitted. It will also include a record of any transactions submitted on your behalf.
The debt for each transaction will be raised against you as the individual and will be displayed on the invoice statement issued to you.