Registering a company in Malaysia is only step one. Under the Companies Act 2016, every Sdn Bhd must appoint a qualified company secretary within 30 days of incorporation, and that secretary — or the firm behind them — stays on the hook for annual returns, board resolutions, statutory registers, and other filings with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) for as long as the company exists.
That ongoing relationship is why picking a provider matters more than picking the cheapest incorporation package. A firm that undercuts everyone on the registration fee but is slow to respond when you need an urgent resolution signed, or misses an annual return deadline, can cost you far more in compounded penalties and wasted time than you saved upfront.
What's on this list
The providers below span a deliberate range: multinational secretarial groups that serve listed companies and large subsidiaries, mid-size regional corporate service firms with offices across Southeast Asia, and newer digital-first secretarial platforms built specifically for startups and SMEs that want most of the process handled online. All are Malaysia-based or have a dedicated Malaysia entity, and all were verified as currently operating with their own websites at the time of writing.
How to choose
Start with the shape of your business, not the marketing page. A single-director startup with straightforward shareholding usually gets more value from a digital-first secretarial platform that keeps costs predictable and communicates over chat or a portal. A company with multiple shareholders, employee share schemes, cross-border directors, or plans to eventually list will benefit from a larger secretarial firm with deeper bench strength in corporate governance and share registry work.
Ask whether the named company secretary holds a valid SSM practising certificate, and whether they are directly employed by the firm or subcontracted — this affects accountability if something goes wrong. Check what's actually included in a quoted package: some firms bundle the first year of secretarial retainer into the incorporation fee, others charge incorporation and secretarial services separately from month one. Ask about turnaround time for common requests like board resolutions or changes to company particulars, since this is where day-to-day friction usually shows up.
If you're a foreigner setting up a Malaysian entity remotely, confirm the firm has direct experience with nominee director arrangements, work pass applications, and opening a corporate bank account — not every secretarial firm handles the immigration and banking side well, even if company registration itself is straightforward for them.
What it actually costs in 2026
Only three of the eight publish rates, and those three set a useful benchmark for judging any quote you receive.
The SSM fee itself is fixed and non-negotiable. SSM's own Table of Fees for the Registration of Company sets incorporation of a company limited by shares at RM1,000 and name reservation at RM50 for every 30 days, so the true statutory line is RM1,050. Some firms round it up to RM1,060 in their own quotes; ask what the extra RM10 is for. Anything above that is the provider's own fee.
3E Accounting is the cheapest entry point on paper — RM200 setup plus the RM1,060 SSM fee, roughly RM1,260 all-in, with the first year of company secretarial service included. The catch is that year two onward is priced separately, so ask for that number before you commit.
Mishu publishes the clearest ongoing rate: RM200 per month for Malaysian-owned companies, or USD125 per month for foreign-owned ones. That buys two licensed company secretaries plus an assistant, a registered office address, online SSM record storage, and unlimited standard resolutions. Statutory filings are extra but capped — RM500 for the Annual Return and RM200 for the Financial Statement, each inclusive of the SSM fee.
iComSec is the only one with a full published rate card: RM2,500 for incorporation alone (inclusive of the RM1,050 government fees), RM3,000 with a 60-minute setup consultation, RM3,070 bundled with the secretarial retainer, or RM4,250 for incorporation plus secretary plus consultation with 12 months of retainer built in. All of those exclude 8% SST — add it before comparing.
The remaining five (Vistra, BoardRoom, InCorp, Paul Hype Page, Chia Ka & Partners) quote per engagement. That is normal for work with variable scope, but it means you should get the schedule in writing rather than assuming your quote resembles the published ones above.
A worked example: a two-shareholder local Sdn Bhd going the cheapest published route pays about RM1,260 in year one with 3E, then a retainer from year two. The same company on Mishu pays RM200 a month, so about RM2,400 a year, plus RM700 in filing fees at annual return time. Neither is wrong — the first is cheaper upfront, the second is more predictable ongoing.
Before you sign up
Get the full fee schedule in writing before committing, including what happens after any promotional first-year rate ends. Ask for references or case studies relevant to your company size and industry rather than relying on homepage testimonials. And confirm who your actual point of contact will be day to day — in larger groups this can be a junior executive rather than the senior secretary named in the sales conversation, and in smaller digital-first firms, understand whether support is genuinely responsive outside standard incorporation hours.
Finally, remember that a company secretary is a statutory appointment, not just a service subscription — changing providers involves formal SSM filings, so it pays to choose deliberately the first time rather than jumping between providers a few months in.
