Definition – “Head Office” of a company would be the place where the company’s senior management and their direct support staff are located or, if they are located at more than one location, the place where they are primarily or predominantly located. A company’s head office is not necessarily the same as the place where the majority of its employees work or where its board typically meets
Determination of Head Office Location
- Single Location: If the company’s senior management and their support staff are based in a single location and that location is held out to the public as the company’s principal place of business or headquarters then that location is the place where head office is located.
- Decentralised Location: If the company is more decentralized (for example where various members of senior management may operate, from time to time, at offices located in the various countries) then the company’s head office would be the location where these senior managers,-
(i) are primarily or predominantly based; or
(ii) normally return to following travel to other locations; or
(iii) meet when formulating or deciding key strategies and policies for the company as a whole.
- Telephone or video Conferencing: Members of the senior management may operate from different locations on a more or less permanent basis and the members may participate in various meetings via telephone or video conferencing rather than by being physically present at meetings in a particular location. In such situation the head office would normally be the location, if any, where the highest level of management (for example, the Managing Director and Financial Director) and their direct support staff are located.
- Outcome: In situations where the senior management is so decentralised that it is not possible to determine the company’s head office with a reasonable degree of certainty, the location of a company’s head office would not be of much relevance in determining that company’s place of effective management.
