The Singapore accounting and compliance terms small business owners actually encounter.

ACRA

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority — Singapore's national regulator for companies, businesses, public accountants, and corporate service providers.ACRA registers companies, maintains the register of officers and shareholders, and enforces filing requirements under the Companies Act.

Annual Return (AR)

The yearly filing every Singapore company must make to ACRA confirming officers, address, share capital, and financial statements.Private companies file within 7 months of FYE; public companies within 5 months. Filed via BizFile+.

BizFile+

ACRA's online filing portal. Where annual returns, officer changes, and most ACRA submissions are lodged.

Company Secretary

A statutory officer every Singapore company must appoint within 6 months of incorporation. Responsible for ACRA filings, statutory registers, and resolutions.Cannot be the sole director. We act as company secretary for clients as part of our corporate services.

Registered Office Address

The Singapore address ACRA and IRAS send correspondence to. Must be a real address (not a PO Box) and open during ordinary business hours.

Resident Director

Every Singapore company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore — typically a citizen, PR, or EntrePass/EP holder.

Statutory Registers

The legally required registers a company maintains — directors, members, charges, secretaries. Maintained electronically these days, kept current by the company secretary.

AGM (Annual General Meeting)

Annual meeting of shareholders. Many Singapore private companies can dispense with AGMs under the Companies Act, subject to conditions.

Small Company Audit Exemption

Singapore private companies that meet 2 of 3 criteria over 2 consecutive FYs (revenue ≤ S$10M, assets ≤ S$10M, ≤ 50 employees) are exempt from statutory audit.

IRAS

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore — the national tax authority.Administers corporate income tax, GST, individual income tax, property tax, and stamp duty.

Year of Assessment (YA)

The year in which a company's income is assessed for tax. YA 2025 assesses income earned in the financial year that ended in 2024 — preceding-year basis.

Financial Year End (FYE)

The end date of a company's financial year. Singapore companies choose their own — 31 December is common, but 30 June or 31 March are also frequent (often matched to a parent company).

ECI (Estimated Chargeable Income)

An estimate of taxable income filed to IRAS within 3 months of FYE. Companies meeting the ECI waiver criteria don't need to file.

Form C-S

Simplified corporate income tax return for smaller eligible Singapore companies.Companies that meet IRAS's Form C-S eligibility (including revenue and basis-period criteria) can file the simpler return with reduced supporting documentation.

Form C-S Lite

Even more simplified corporate income tax return for very small Singapore companies meeting the Lite criteria.

Form C

Full corporate income tax return for Singapore companies that don't qualify for Form C-S.

PTE (Partial Tax Exemption)

Singapore SMEs receive a partial exemption on the first portion of chargeable income — meaningfully lowering the effective tax rate below the 17% headline.

SUTE (Start-Up Tax Exemption)

Qualifying new Singapore companies receive a larger tax exemption on the first portion of chargeable income for their first three Years of Assessment.Eligibility depends on shareholder structure and other criteria. We assess whether a new company qualifies.

Corporate Income Tax (CIT)

Tax on a Singapore company's profits. Headline rate is 17%, but the effective rate for most SMEs is lower because of PTE and (for new companies) SUTE.

IR8A

Annual employer return reporting each employee's earnings for the preceding calendar year. Submitted to IRAS by 1 March each year.Employers with 5+ employees submit via the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS).

GST

Goods and Services Tax — Singapore's value-added consumption tax. Standard rate is set by the government and applies to most goods and services supplied in Singapore.

GST Registration Threshold

Compulsory GST registration kicks in when a business's taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million — either retrospectively (looking back 12 months) or prospectively (looking forward 12 months).

GST F5

The periodic GST return Singapore GST-registered businesses file with IRAS — usually quarterly, sometimes monthly. Submitted within one month after the period ends.

InvoiceNow

Singapore's nationwide e-invoicing network, run by IMDA on the international Peppol framework. IRAS is progressively requiring GST-registered businesses to use it for GST reporting.

Peppol

International standard for structured e-invoicing. The framework Singapore's InvoiceNow runs on.

Input Tax

GST a business pays on its purchases. Generally claimable as a credit against output tax for GST-registered businesses.

Output Tax

GST a business charges on its sales. Collected on behalf of IRAS and remitted via the GST F5.

Chart of Accounts (CoA)

The list of accounts a business uses to record transactions in its general ledger. Good CoA design is the foundation of usable reporting.

COGS (Cost of Goods Sold)

The direct cost of producing the goods or services sold. For F&B, includes food and beverage ingredients, packaging, and any direct production cost.

Bank Reconciliation

Matching the transactions in your accounting system with the transactions in your bank statement. Done monthly at minimum.

Month-end Close

The process of finalising the previous month's books — reconciling banks, sales, suppliers, payroll, accruals, and producing management reports. Typically takes anywhere from 4 to 14 days.

Management Reports

Financial reports produced for owners and managers (not for ACRA or IRAS) showing P&L, cash, margin, and operational metrics. Usually monthly.

Xero

Cloud accounting software, popular among Singapore SMEs. Used by Acuitas as the accounting baseline.

Aspire

Singapore-headquartered financial operating system providing business accounts, corporate cards, expense management, and vendor payments — with native Xero sync.

AI Agent

A software system that performs a specific task autonomously — e.g. classifying a receipt, drafting a reconciliation, chasing a vendor invoice. Acuitas configures named agents for client workflows.

Human Review

The step in any AI workflow where a qualified human checks and signs off the agent's work before it posts to the books. Nothing posts without sign-off.

For the rest

A term we missed?

Send it to hello@acuitas.sg — we'll add it. The point of this page is to be the plain-language reference we wish existed when we started our own businesses.