CONSULTANT CHECKLIST
Complete PT PMA Setup Consultant Checklist in Indonesia
A decision-led briefing on consultant identity, written analysis, execution responsibility, acceptance evidence, and independent handover, for foreign investors who need evidence they can verify before acting in Indonesia.
A complete PT PMA consultant checklist should test the contracting entity, named experts, conflicts, scope, ownership and KBLI analysis, capital, governance, address, corporate documents, AHU, tax, OSS licensing, banking, employment, immigration, compliance onboarding, payment controls, data security, corrections, credentials, originals, and open-item handover. Each material conclusion needs facts, a current basis, assumptions, and an accountable owner. A defensible decision begins with the real commercial activity and the people, money, documents, locations, and authority needed to carry it out. The team should compare those facts with current official sources, obtain recipient-specific requirements, and maintain one approved master record. Inconsistent versions should be corrected before submission because later systems and institutions often reuse the same data.
Key takeaways
- A complete PT PMA consultant checklist should test the contracting entity, named experts, conflicts, scope, ownership and KBLI analysis, capital, governance, address, corporate documents, AHU, tax, OSS licensing, banking, employment, immigration, compliance onboarding, payment controls, data security, corrections, credentials, originals, and open-item handover.
- Build the consultant mandate from current official requirements and recipient-accepted evidence.
- Treat the consultant mandate as incomplete until its corporate, regulatory, payment, and operating records agree.
- Keep official outputs, source data, payments, credentials, and unresolved conditions under company control.
Require the consultant to prove each material judgment
A PT PMA consultant should convert the founders' business model into documented decisions on entity fit, foreign ownership, KBLI, capital, shareholders, directors and commissioners, beneficial owners, address, risk-based licensing, tax, banking, employment, immigration, and launch controls. A checklist that records only submitted or done is insufficient; each high-risk conclusion needs the fact source, legal or official basis, responsible specialist, assumptions, output, and unresolved condition. For the consultant mandate, the immediate acceptance point is to require written evidence against the documented facts, basis, assumptions, and conclusion.
Assess competence by reviewing a redacted work product, not testimonials alone. Confirm the contracting entity, named adviser, notary relationship, tax and immigration boundaries, conflicts, data handling, professional insurance where applicable, change-control process, and escalation route. The contract should deliver the source-data sheet, written advice, official files, credentials, originals, payment evidence, compliance calendar, and open-item register so the company can continue without the consultant. Within the consultant mandate file, the responsible officer should preserve specialists, submissions, corrections, and status as evidence for the decision to name accountable owners.
Validate the evidence before the next commitment
Convert the open questions into a dated review file with named owners, accepted evidence, and a clear stop condition.
Verify provider authority, custody, and correction liability
Provider due diligence should establish identity, contracting entity, professional role, authority, payment account, and responsibility for every filing. An agent may coordinate work without being the notary, lawyer, tax adviser, immigration sponsor, or bank decision-maker. The engagement should identify each actual performer and the limits of their authority. For the consultant mandate, the immediate acceptance point is to control deposits and disbursements against the documented entity bank account, invoice, tax, and receipt.
Before payment, verify official company and registration evidence and use a controlled contract. An independent document and payment check should support the provider review. Require no guaranteed approvals, no unexplained personal accounts, no withholding of company credentials, and no substitution of screenshots for downloadable official records. State how errors, rejected submissions, missed deadlines, and termination will be handled. Within the consultant mandate file, the responsible officer should preserve originals, credentials, and official outputs as evidence for the decision to set handover and recovery rights.
Provider checks
Identity and role. Contracting entity and actual professionals; verify authority and conflicts.
Money. Entity bank account, invoice, tax, and receipt; control deposits and disbursements.
Custody. Originals, credentials, and official outputs; set handover and recovery rights.
Set the service boundary and responsible owner
A formation service should state whether it covers design, incorporation, tax registration, OSS licensing, sector verification, banking support, immigration coordination, and compliance onboarding. Filing a deed is materially different from delivering a controlled operating handover. The service boundary should be explicit before work starts. For the consultant mandate, the immediate acceptance point is to close open items with owners against the documented licenses, bank, finance, and handover.
Convert the proposal into a responsibility matrix naming the adviser, notary, translator, shareholder, company officer, landlord, bank, and government authority. For every task, state the input, output, acceptance test, dependency, correction owner, and exclusion. The company should receive official documents and direct account control rather than screenshots that cannot be independently verified. Within the consultant mandate file, the responsible officer should preserve structure, ownership, KBLI, capital, and address as evidence for the decision to approve before execution.
Service boundary
| Control | Evidence | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Structure, ownership, KBLI, capital, and address | Approve before execution |
| Registration | Deed, AHU, tax, and OSS outputs | Verify against source data |
| Activation | Licenses, bank, finance, and handover | Close open items with owners |
Resolve the decision gaps before filing
Reconcile the corporate, regulatory, payment, and operating facts before they become amendments or rejected submissions.
Define acceptance evidence for every deliverable
Every service promise should end in an acceptance document. Registration submitted is not equivalent to legal-entity approval; NIB issued is not equivalent to every license being verified; bank assistance is not equivalent to account approval; and visa preparation is not equivalent to immigration approval. The contract should use the correct endpoint. For the consultant mandate, the immediate acceptance point is to check names, roles, shares, and capital against the documented approved deed and AHU legal-entity record.
Define acceptance against official outputs from AHU business-entity services , OSS, DGT, and any sector authority. Include downloaded files, QR or record checks, source data, issue dates, account ownership, payment receipts, originals, and an exceptions log. Where an authority makes the final decision, require complete submission evidence and a correction or escalation process instead of a guarantee. Within the consultant mandate file, the responsible officer should preserve NIB and required verified output as evidence for the decision to read status and conditions.
Acceptance evidence
Corporate
Approved deed and AHU legal-entity record
Check names, roles, shares, and capitalLicensing
NIB and required verified output
Read status and conditionsHandover
Files, credentials, originals, and open-item log
Test independent company controlTake control of documents, credentials, and open obligations
A registration engagement is not complete until the company can operate without dependence on the provider's personal accounts or device. Handover should cover final documents, source data, credentials, registered email and phone details, authentication methods, originals, payment receipts, filing history, and unresolved obligations. Access should be tested by an authorized company officer. For the consultant mandate, the immediate acceptance point is to transfer and test control against the documented OSS, tax, email, phone, and authentication.
Remote matters need an especially clear revocation and recovery plan. Reconcile the deed, AHU approval, tax record, NIB, licenses, shareholder register, beneficial-owner data, and bank application before acceptance. Record who holds each original, how each credential can be recovered, and when any power of attorney or temporary access must end. Within the consultant mandate file, the responsible officer should preserve conditions, renewals, and corrections as evidence for the decision to assign owner and due date.
The termination terms should preserve the evidence needed for changing a registration agent mid-setup without surrendering filings, originals, credentials, or payment history.
Appoint the consultant only when advice, execution, evidence, and exit controls are complete
The approval decision for the consultant mandate should name the selected route, responsible company officer, accepted source data, supporting documents, official outputs, payment limits, unresolved conditions, and the event that permits the next commitment. For consultant identity, written analysis, execution responsibility, acceptance evidence, and independent handover, a conditional result should remain a visible gate rather than being absorbed into a broad statement that setup is complete.
The founders or board should sign a short consultant mandate mandate that records the current facts, authority, required corrections, evidence location, system and credential owners, review date, and first transaction that the company intends to perform. The safe sequence is to confirm the exact facts, identify the authority or institution that decides each stage, collect evidence in the form that recipient accepts, and assign corrections before money or authority moves. Recheck current official and institution-specific requirements immediately before filing, funding, signing, employing, or operating.
Put the approved route under company control
Record the decision, authority, documents, access, payment limits, and follow-up calendar in one owner-approved mandate.
Frequently asked questions
What work product should a consultant provide before deed signing?
At minimum, founders should receive the approved source-data sheet, ownership and KBLI conclusions, document matrix, capital and address plan, filing sequence, risks, assumptions, and unresolved conditions.
Can a registration provider guarantee approval?
No. The notary, AHU, OSS, tax authority, sector authority, bank, and Immigration make their own decisions; contracts should use evidence-based endpoints.
Who should own the OSS and tax credentials?
The company should control registered contacts, authentication, recovery, downloads, and filing history through authorized officers, with limited provider access.
How should third-party charges be paid?
Use an itemized approval, verified beneficiary, official or supplier evidence, receipt, unused-balance treatment, and reconciliation to the relevant deliverable.
What should happen at termination?
Stop authority and access, return data and originals, transfer credentials and work files, reconcile money, identify pending submissions, and record correction and cooperation duties.
