Company secretary

Senior managerial position

A Company secretary is a senior position in the corporate governance of organizations, playing a crucial role in ensuring adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements. This position is integral to the efficient functioning of corporations, particularly in common law jurisdictions. The Company Secretary serves as a guardian of compliance, a facilitator of communication between the board of directors and other stakeholders, and a custodian of corporate records. Despite the name, the role is not clerical or secretarial. The company secretary ensures that an organisation complies with relevant legislation and regulation, and keeps board members informed of their legal responsibilities. In many countries, private companies are required by law to appoint one person as a company secretary, and this person will either be a senior board member or a member of the senior management team.

Company secretaries in all sectors have high level responsibilities including governance structures and mechanisms, corporate conduct within an organisation's regulatory environment, board, shareholder and trustee meetings, compliance with legal, regulatory and listing requirements, the training and induction of non executives and trustees, contact with regulatory and external bodies, reports and circulars to shareholders/trustees, management of employee benefits such as pensions and employee share schemes, insurance administration and organisation, the negotiation of contracts, risk management, property administration and organisation and the interpretation of financial accounts. Company secretaries are the primary source of advice on the conduct of business and this can span everything from legal advice on conflicts of interest, through accounting advice on financial reports, to the development of strategy and corporate planning.

In China, every listed company is required to have a board secretary. According to article 124 of 2005 Company Law, every listed company is required to have a secretary to the board of directors. The responsibilities of board secretary include preparing meetings of shareholders and boards of directors, maintaining company records and shareholders information, dealing with information disclosure etc. Relevant listing rules in China further clarify that the secretary of the Board is a managerial position. Such listing rules discuss duties of board secretary in details. According to "Special Provisions of the State Council Concerning the Flotation and Listing Abroad of Stocks by Limited Stock Companies", "Guidance for the Articles of Listed Company", "Stock Listing Rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange" and "Stock Listing Rules of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange", the secretary of the Board is classified as the senior management team. From those listing rules, the board secretary, or the secretary of the board of directors, in China is comparable as the company secretary in many other countries.

In India, "The Institute of Company Secretaries of India" (ICSI) regulates the profession of company secretaries ICSI is a statutory professional body which has more than 65,000 associate members. Chartered Secretaries are employed as chairs, chief executives and non executive directors, as well as executives and company secretaries. Some chartered secretaries are also known in their own companies as corporate secretarial executives/managers or corporate secretarial directors.

In Malaysia, the Companies Act 2016 The only professional body in Malaysia that awards the Chartered Secretary (FCIS/ACIS) qualification is the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (MAICSA), which is a division of the Chartered Governance Institute, United Kingdom. In addition to the qualifications specified in the Companies Act 2016, section 235 (2), a company secretary must also hold a current practising certificate issued by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia).

In South Africa, all public and state owned company must appoint a company secretary. The roles and responsibilities of the company secretary are defined in the Companies Act, No 71 of 2008. For publicly listed companies, these roles were clarified and expanded by the King IV report. In addition, non profit companies that have voluntarily adopted the "Enhanced Accountability and Transparency" provisions of the Companies Act must appoint a company secretary whose role is comparable to that of a public company.