Insight · Corporate

What Is ASIC?

Published 27 July 2026

Australia's corporate regulator — what it governs, what it enforces, and what your company owes it each year.

In short

ASIC is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission — the Commonwealth regulator for companies, financial services, markets and consumer credit. It maintains the company register, enforces director duties under the Corporations Act 2001, licenses financial services and credit providers, and can penalise or disqualify directors who breach their obligations.

ASIC — the Australian Securities and Investments Commission — is the national regulator for companies, financial services, financial markets and consumer credit. If you run a Pty Ltd company in Australia, ASIC is the body you register with, report to, and answer to.

What ASIC does

Registry. Registers companies and business names and maintains the public company register you search when you run a company search or ACN lookup.
Corporate regulation. Administers the Corporations Act 2001, including director duties, financial reporting and insolvency.
Licensing. Issues Australian Financial Services Licences (AFSL) and Australian Credit Licences (ACL), and supervises licensee conduct.
Market integrity. Supervises trading on Australian markets, insider trading and continuous disclosure.
Enforcement. Infringement notices, banning orders, civil penalty proceedings and criminal referrals.

What ASIC does not do

Businesses regularly send the wrong complaint to the wrong regulator. ASIC does not handle tax (that is the ATO), general competition and consumer law disputes (ACCC and state fair trading), employment conditions (Fair Work Ombudsman), privacy (OAIC), or prudential capital requirements for banks and insurers (APRA).

Your ongoing ASIC obligations as a company

Annual review. Each year on the anniversary of registration ASIC issues an annual statement and invoice. Directors must pass a solvency resolution and pay the review fee.
28-day changes. Changes to directors, secretaries, members, registered office or principal place of business must be lodged within 28 days — late fees apply after that.
Registered office. Must be a physical address in Australia where documents can be served, and if it is not occupied by the company, you need the occupier's written consent.
Company registers. Members, option holders and charges — kept up to date and available for inspection.
Financial records. Section 286 requires records that correctly record and explain transactions, retained for seven years.
Reporting. Large proprietary, public and foreign-controlled companies must lodge audited financial reports.

Director duties ASIC enforces

The core statutory duties sit in sections 180 to 184 of the Corporations Act: care and diligence, good faith and proper purpose, no improper use of position, and no improper use of information. Section 588G adds the insolvent trading duty — the one that most often converts a company failure into personal liability. ASIC can pursue civil penalties for breaches, and the Court can order compensation and disqualification.

Common ways businesses get caught out

Letting the registered office lapse so ASIC correspondence is never received, then discovering the company has been deregistered.
Issuing shares without lodging a Form 484 within 28 days.
Treating a share transfer noted in a spreadsheet as though it updated the register.
Carrying on a financial services or credit business without realising an AFSL or ACL was required.
Executing contracts outside section 127, so the counterparty cannot rely on the statutory assumptions.

Where this fits in practice

We handle company housekeeping, share issues, constitutions and director-duty questions as part of our business structures and advice and compliance work — all on fixed fees, so you know what a clean-up costs before it starts.

Frequently asked questions

What does ASIC stand for?

ASIC stands for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. It is the Commonwealth regulator responsible for companies, financial services, markets and consumer credit under the Corporations Act 2001 and the ASIC Act 2001.

What does ASIC actually regulate?

Company registration and the register of companies, director duties and disqualification, financial services and credit licensing (AFSL and ACL), disclosure documents, market conduct and insolvency practitioners. It does not regulate tax (ATO), competition and consumer law generally (ACCC), or prudential capital (APRA).

What are my company's ASIC obligations?

Keep company details current (lodge changes within 28 days), pay the annual review fee, confirm the annual company statement, maintain a registered office and registers, and keep financial records for seven years. Larger and public companies also have audit and reporting obligations.

What happens if I lodge late with ASIC?

ASIC applies late fees per lodgement, currently escalating after one month and again after two. Persistent non-lodgement can lead to the company being deregistered, and directors can be personally penalised for breaches of their lodgement obligations.

Can ASIC ban a director?

Yes. ASIC can disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years administratively where they were an officer of two or more failed companies, and can apply to the Court for longer disqualification for serious breaches of director duties.

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