​Singapore's Corporate Sector: Recent Trends in Firm Formation and Cessation

The corporate landscape in Singapore consists of business entities such as companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships, limited liability partnerships (LLP) and limited partnerships (LP), with each business entity differing in terms of its legal structure. In general, it is cheaper and easier to set up and maintain a business (comprising sole-proprietorships and partnerships) than a company. First, businesses pay a lower registration fee as compared to companies. Second, they have simpler statutory obligations, unlike companies which have to comply with statutory standards such as the filing of annual returns, which may include financial statements, with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), among others.