A company may have a distinctive name or may simply rely on its Australian Company Number (ACN) as its name. If a distinctive name is desired, the applicant may reserve the name with ASIC prior to registering the company at a later date. A company is required to use words or abbreviations, such as "Pty" and "Ltd", as part of its name depending on the type of company. If a company carries on business under a different business name from its corporate name, then it is required to register that business name under the national business name legislation.

A proprietary company is required to have at least one director (resident in Australia) and a public company is required to have at least three directors (at least two of whom are resident in Australia). All directors are required to be at least 18 years old. Prior to becoming a director, the person is required to provide written consent and certain personal details to the company.

A proprietary company is not required to have a secretary, but a public company must have at least one secretary. The secretary must be a resident in Australia. Prior to becoming a secretary, the person is required to provide written consent and certain personal details to the company.

A company must have at least one member, which may be an individual or another company or entity. For companies limited by shares, the member would also have a proprietary interest in the form of shares in the company. A person becomes a member in a company on registration if the application for registration specifies that such member has given their consent. On registration, the application is required to set out the number and class of shares held by the member and the amounts paid and unpaid on the shares held by the member.

A company is also required to have a registered address for correspondence and a principal place of business, which may not necessarily be the same. If the company does not occupy the registered address, then the occupier of that address must give its consent prior to registration of the company.

See Name, directors, secretaries, registered office and place of business.

A company may rely on the replaceable rules in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to govern the relationship between itself, its members and its officers. Alternatively, a company may adopt a constitution as a separate document that sets out the rules that govern those relationships.

There are a number of reasons why relying on the replaceable rules may not be appropriate for a particular company, including where additional details on the governance rules are required, where certain replaceable rules are not appropriate, or where it is desired to displace or modify some or all of the replaceable rules. In those circumstances, it may be more appropriate to adopt a constitution instead.

A constitution may be adopted on or after registration. If a constitution is adopted on registration, then each of the members specified in the application for registration must consent to the constitution before the application is lodged. If a constitution is adopted on registration by a public company, then that constitution is required to be lodged with ASIC on registration. If a constitution is adopted after registration, the company may do so by passing a special resolution.

There may also be older companies with memorandum and articles of association, and companies that have displaced some but not all of the replaceable rules, or others that have adopted a constitution that simply restates the replaceable rules.

See Constitution and replaceable rules.

The relevant form for the reservation of name is Form 410 (Application for reservation of name), and the relevant form for the application for registration of a company is Form 201 (Application for reservation of an Australian company). Prior to November 2015, the relevant form for notifying ASIC of changes to to company details following its registration was Form 484: Changes to company details (for Australian companies) However these changes are now made using ASIC’s online company portal.

See ASIC forms.