Career as a Company Secretary
Ranjan K Baruah *
We have published about Chartered Accountant and how one can pursue the course. Chartered Accountant or popularly termed as CA is one of the deserving dream profession for many who are in commerce stream. Though may not complete the course due to many reasons but many aspire to become CA.
Like CA, there are some other courses too which our students may pursue. One of the courses similar to CA but having different role is Company Secretary. Company Secretary is another opportunity for our student which is called CS in short.
Now we need to know who is a Company Secretary or what is the role and responsibilities. It is not like office secretaries as many ask me question thinking that CS is something like office secretary.
The Company Secretary is like an in-house legal expert; a compliance officer of the Company; an expert in corporate laws, securities laws & capital market and corporate governance; corporate planner and strategic manager.
A Company Secretary being multidisciplinary professional renders services in the following areas like Corporate Governance and Secretarial Service, Corporate Laws Advisory and Representation Services, Financial Market Services and Management Services
Students after passing senior secondary or graduation may opt for CS course which is provided by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). Student from any stream may join the course which means there is no bar for any stream. The student who would like to join the Course after 10+2 pass or equivalent has to undergo three stages to pursue the Company Secretaries Course i.e. Foundation Programme, Executive Programme, Professional Programme.
The Student who would like to join the Course after passing the Graduation has to undergo two stages of the Company Secretaryship i.e. Executive Programme, Professional Programme.
Foundation Programme which is of eight months duration can be pursued by 10+2 pass or equivalent students of Arts, Science or Commerce stream (Excluding Fine Arts) Executive Programme can be pursued by a Graduate of all streams except Fine Arts / CPT passed of ICAI / Foundation Program passed of ICAI-CMA . Professional Programme can be pursued only after clearing the Executive Programme of CS Course.
There are employment opportunities for CS professionals. A qualified Company Secretary has openings in Employment and as Practising Independent Professional. Companies with a paid up share capital of Rs.5 crore or more are compulsorily required to appoint a whole-time Company Secretary under section 383A of Companies Act, 1956.
There are financial assistance to students from ST/Sc communities and also for economically poor backgrounds. ICSI awards Prizes, merit scholarships to the meritorious students and merit-cum-means assistance is granted to the economically weaker students. Many Company Secretaries are already working in various countries like the US, Canada, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-east, Africa, etc.
There are chapters and branches of ICSI in different parts of the country and students may collect prospectus for admission. There is a chapter in Guwahati too mainly for the students of our region.
There are less CS in the region but as it is a lucrative profession, so, many of our students may start planning for the course and take admission accordingly and complete the course to become a CS. Qualified CS does not have to look for jobs as they may work independently like consultants and provide services to companies and corporate.
(With direct inputs from the website of ICSI)
* Ranjan K Baruah wrote this article for The Sangai Express
The writer is a career mentor and can be contacted at bkranjan(aT)gmail(dOT)com
This article was posted on March 15, 2016.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.