A company secretary plays a vital role by helping companies on various fronts to deal with challenging situations, be it legal discourses or internal administrative advices. Here’s all you need to know about the job everyone’s talking about
A company secretary usually works in and around the board and mainly reports to the chairman. This provides you with the opportunity to offer advice and guidance on matters of law and governance at the top of the organization, which is a brilliant exposure to the functioning of a corporate. This role covers a wide range of activities; some of the tasks that fall into this profile include:
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Company secretaries do two kinds of work, either service or practice. Their job will comprise of the following tasks depending on their place of work.
• Organising and preparing agendas and papers for board meetings, committees and annual general meetings (AGMs).
• Taking minutes, drafting resolutions, lodging required forms and annual returns.
• Following up on actions from meetings.
• Overseeing policies, making sure they are kept up to date and referred to the appropriate committee for approval.
• Maintaining statutory books, including registers of members, directors and secretaries.
• Dealing with correspondence, collating information and writing reports, ensuring decisions made are communicated to the relevant company stakeholders.
• Contributing to meeting discussions as and when required, and advising members of the legal, governance, accounting and tax implications of proposed policies.
• Developing and overseeing the systems that ensure the company complies with all applicable codes, in addition to its legal and statutory requirements.
WHERE CAN YOU APPLY?
If these tasks get you ticking and you think you could offer something as a company secretary, here are some of the places you could get started on with this course.
• The Institute of Company Secretaries of India; Mumbai, delhi & bangalore
• NMIMS – Narsee Monjee Institute of Management studies, Mumbai
• Mumbai University
• Mithibai College, Mumbai
• ATM Global Business School, Delhi
• DGA Professional Institute, Delhi
• BIT – Bangalore Institute of Technology
SCOPE:
The scope of a company secretary is becoming very broad with a growth in the corporate sector. While CS is considered a very reputed job, one of the main reasons why people opt for this career path is because of the high earning potential within this field. With experience and qualification, one can get into very highly paid positions in the public and private sectors., banks, stock exchanges, financial institutions, company law boards and government departments. Companies will pay you handsomely if you’re excellent and committed to your work.” even though you excel in india, the chances to carry forward this career abroad are low due to differences in the law system”, said Mr. nimish Thakur, former Cs and CA.
QUALIFICATION:
There are three stages involved in the process of becoming a Company secretary :
• Foundation course
• Executive course
• Professional course
If you have cleared your 10+2 (or equivalent) from a board or university recognised by the central government (or equivalent), then you are eligible to join the CS Foundation programme. Graduates and post graduates (excluding fine arts) can directly register themselves in the executive programme. On clearing the executive/professional programme, a 15-month training period under a practising Cs is compulsory to obtain the certificate. Also, a 15-day training with the Registrar of Companies, stock exchanges and specified regulators is complusary. One also needs to compulsorily train for 15 days under the Management skills Orientation Programme (MSOP).
After completing all the training, you are recognised as an associate member of the institute of Company secretaries of India, (ICSI).
TIME AND MONEY
• The Foundation course is 8 months long , excluding the months of admission and examination. The fee for the course is Rs.3,600.
• The Executive course runs over 9 months, excluding the months of admission and examination. If you are a commerce graduate, your fee is Rs.7000. For non-commerce students, the fee is Rs.7,700.
• The final course which is the Professional course,will cost you up to Rs.10,000.
“The course is quite heavy, coupled with a lot of practical training. But for someone who loves accounts and excels at legal work, this would be a good career for you”, says Mr. Thakur. “A CS working in a big organization has excellent pay packages.”
If something about this job caught your attention, you could always read up more about it or ask a professional. If you have what it takes to multi- task and get the job done, brainstorm or be an advisor when called for, then give this profession a thought.
Volume 5 Issue 5
