Think carefully before you buy a shelf company where you undertake to do the change of directors etc. yourself.

There’s a story that goes back to the early days of computers. You know, when the giant stood quietly humming in the middle of a special dust free temperature controlled room. The computer packed up and the boss called in a specialist.

The engineer (they weren’t called IT guys in those days) walked slowly around the computer twice in one direction and then once in the other. He paused in thought and then gave the beast a vicious kick on one corner. It immediately came to life and the boss was delighted.

“How much do I owe you?” he asked. “$5 000” replied the engineer. “What? $5 000 just for one kick?”

“Ah” replied the engineer “It’s not the kicking, it’s the knowing where to kick!”

So let this serve as a word of caution. Don’t buy one of our “Do it yourself” shelf companies (or anyone else’s for that matter) unless you are experienced and up to date in working with CIPC and SARS. Yes, you can do it, but you’ll probably end up tearing your hair out. Rather pay that little extra and let the experts do the job. And by the way, even we get caught out occasionally when CIPC or SARS change their requirements without telling anybody and then the job sits “In process” on somebody’s desk and all the phone calls in the world won’t unlock it.

I’ll give you an example. We’ve been dealing with CIPC (previously CIPRO) since 1971. When you change directors, you have to submit a certified copy of each ID with the application. We recently were mystified as to why one of these changes was “In process” “In process” “In process” every time we interrogated the CIPC tracking system. At last we got a “Rejected”. We managed to get someone on the phone (try that for fun!) and were told that the reason for the rejection was that the certified copy of the ID was not dated! 2015 minus 1971 = 44 years. For 44 years we have not dated a single ID sent to CIPC and now suddenly it is a deal breaking requirement! This game is not for the feint hearted.

Come and see me. You’ll learn a lot. It’s free and here’s my diary – all you have to do is click and book. And don’t forget – we’ve moved to Midrand.