Introduction

An inside look at how entity management teams are responding to challenging times, managing resources and deploying technology

Introduction

Entity management is a core corporate function that can help the company avoid regulatory problems, improve its efficiency, reduce costs and help ensure M&A and other transactions go smoothly. Professionals working in the field are continually proving themselves to be creative and adaptive in overcoming new challenges and keeping up with continually evolving regulations and deals. The past year in particular has raised serious questions about issues such as the resources available for teams, use of technology and new work practices.In this special report we present data based on a survey conducted among in-house entity management professionals – such as general counsel and corporate secretaries – to give important insights into this key function and how teams are adapting to changing conditions.Questions posed to respondents:

Which department is responsible for overseeing entity management at your company?

How has the budget for entity management at your company changed over the past year?

How has the size of your entity management team changed over the past year?

How has the use of technology for entity management at your company changed over the past year?

In which areas are you making greater use of technology?

What are your priorities in terms of entity management?

Do you use external advisers/service providers for entity management work?

Have you made any changes to your entity management work as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Will you keep in place changes made to your entity management work as a result of Covid-19?

Key findings

Legal teams are most likely to have responsibility for entity management, followed by the corporate secretary’s office, with the general counsel’s office and compliance some way behind. Larger companies are more likely than smaller companies to assign responsibility to their legal departments and/or their corporate secretary’s office.

Over the past year, more than a third of respondents have seen an increase in the use of technology for entity management. At mega-cap companies, 69 percent have seen an uptick in technology use.

The most commonly cited areas where technology is being used more widely are regulatory reporting, legal entity tracking and subsidiary compliance.

Despite economic conditions, 53 percent of respondents say their entity management budget has remained the same over the past year. Almost a third of respondents at mega-cap firms have seen a small or large increase in budget.

Almost six in 10 respondents say the size of their entity management team has stayed the same over the past year.

Respondents’ most commonly cited top priority is compliance, followed by efficiency of corporate structure and consistent governance across the corporate structure.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents use external advisers for certain matters. Around a quarter (23 percent) do not use external advisers at all.

Just over a fifth (21 percent) of respondents say they have made changes to their entity management work as a result of the pandemic. Almost two thirds say they have not.