Company Secretary (CS)

Company Secretary or Corporate Secretary (CS) is a designation that deals with the legal activities of an organisation. The prime role of a company secretary is to maintain records, file tax returns and evaluate the legal cases of the organization. Company secretary acts as a support pillar to the board of directors and the administrative staff. However, over the years, the role of CS in any institutional setup has been expanded.

Company secretary is responsible for the caretake of corporate governance and legal matters of the organization. He/She has to ensure statutory & regulatory compliance and the implementation of the decisions of the board of directors. The CS represents the name of the company on legal documents and even communicates with the shareholders of the company.

How to become a CS?

CS (Company Secretary) is a 3-year long professional course conducted by the ICSE (Institute of Company Secretaries of India). It is taken equivalent to a UG degree. The course is divided into the following three levels:

• Foundation Course – 8 months
• Intermediate/Executive Course – 9 months
• Final/Professional Course – 15 months

The foundation course involves areas like business environment, entrepreneurship, management, communication, ethics, economics and accounting.

The executive programme comprises of company law, commercial law, tax law, general law, securities law and accounts & audit practice. The final level deals with company secretarial practices, financial & treasury management. In this final module, the candidate has the opportunity to choose any one of the following specializations:

• Banking Law and Practice
• Capital, Commodity and Money Market
• Insurance Law and Practice
• Intellectual Property Rights – Law and Practice
• International Business-Laws and Practices

The students have to undergo the following training after the completion of the course:

• • SIP (Student Induction Program) – 7 days
• Compulsory Computer Training Program – 70 hours
• EDP (Executive Development Program) – 8 days
• PDP (Professional Development Program) – 25 Hours
• Training in a specialized agency – 15 days
• MSOP (Management Skills Orientation Program) – 15 days
• Article ship Training Program – 15 months

Eligibility:

A student who has cleared 12th standard in any discipline is eligible for admission to CS (Company Secretary) program.

Graduates can apply for direct admission to executive level.

Career & Jobs

Company Secretaries is a highly demanded profession in public as well as private sectors.

Company secretaries are offered some of the most prestigious job profiles in stock exchange, company affairs department, law board, Banks, financial institutions and various government departments.