After you incorporate an association

Your association must carry out these tasks as soon as you receive your certificate of incorporation from us.

Get a common seal

You may get a common seal for your association. The common seal is a rubber stamp that:

• legally identifies your association
• provides proof of your association’s name on legal documents.

The seal must include:

• the words ‘Common Seal’
• your association’s full name
• the word ‘Incorporation’ or the abbreviation ‘Inc’.

Open a bank account

You will need to open an account with a financial institution. The account must be:

• in the name of your association
• kept in a Queensland branch of the financial institution.

The financial institution may ask you to:

• give them a copy of your rules
• show the original certificate of incorporation.

You will need to appoint signatories for the account. These are members with the authority to sign cheques on behalf of the association.

Make sure that:

• cheques have 2 signatories (one must be the president, secretary or treasurer)
• you appoint enough signatories for the association to function.

Insure your association

Public liability insurance can help to protect your association’s assets. A lawsuit can be very expensive, especially if your association needs to pay damages.

This could be due to:

• an incident on your association’s property
• any actions that the organisation takes (this may include the management committee or wider membership).

The management committee must:

• assess the nature and situation of your association
• decide how much insurance it needs, if any.

You must have public liability insurance if your association:

• owns land
• leases land
• holds land in trust.

Transfer property

Your incorporated association is a separate legal entity from its previous form. Any property of the association is transferred to the newly incorporated association. In this context, ‘property’ can cover your association’s:

• assets
• liabilities
• rights
• legal proceedings.

Ask the Titles Registry to transfer your property.

Operating outside Queensland

If your incorporated association wishes to set up an office or do business outside Queensland, you must also register as a registered Australian body.

Contact the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to register.