A company keeps more than one statutory register, and CAC filings do not all update the same one. Confusing the two is a common reason the wrong filing gets started.
Two different statutory registers, one company
Every company keeps a register of directors and a register of members. Both sit with the company's own records, and both are reported to CAC in different ways.
They answer two different questions. One tells you who runs the company day to day. The other tells you who owns it.
Confusing the two has real consequences. A director is not automatically a shareholder, and a shareholder is not automatically a director. Some people are both, and CAC's records still treat each role separately.
What the register of directors tracks
The register of directors lists who is legally responsible for running the company. It shows names, addresses and the dates people joined or left the board.
A change here, an appointment, a resignation, a removal, or a death, is filed as a change of directors, within 14 days of the change. CAC change of directors: the deadline covers that filing in full.
What the register of members tracks
The register of members lists who holds shares in the company, and how many. Running the business and owning shares in it are two separate things, and this register tracks the second one.
A share transfer moves shares between existing holders. A share allotment creates and issues new ones. Transferring shares in a Nigerian company and return of allotment: the form and the deadline each update this register in their own way.
Which CAC filing updates which register
A change of directors never touches the register of members. A share transfer or allotment never touches the register of directors. Filing the wrong one leaves the actual change unrecorded.
Ask what actually happened before you start a filing. Did someone join or leave the board, or did shares change hands? The answer tells you which register, and which form, you need.
A founder stepping back from day-to-day management but keeping their shares is a common example. That is a change of directors alone. The register of members does not move unless they also sell or transfer their stake.
How both feed into the annual return
The annual return draws on both registers at once. It reports the company's current directors and its current shareholders together, in one filing.
Keeping each register current during the year makes that annual return far easier to prepare. A company reconstructing months of unrecorded changes at return time is doing the hard version of this task.
You can start a CAC annual return once both registers are current. The CAC registration hub links the rest of this series on directors and shares.