Hi,

This is one of the frequently asked questions for the most sought after professional career in finance, i.e. Company Secretary.  The ever-growing market with the free trade concept all over the world has enlarged the horizons of the organizations making necessitate the presence of an in-house legal-financial expert at the disposal of organizations. And the Company Secretary (CS) is the most suitable professional to shoulder the new age financial matters that are ordained for any listed organization. The laws of the country like Companies Act, 2013 made it necessary for any listed company on the stock exchange to have a full-time Company secretary for the administration purpose. So there is a huge demand for these elite professionals. Becoming a Company Secretary you enter in such a reputed profession that your career reaches the next level. A higher demand and the lucrative job opportunities are a couple of such things which can  entice anyone to pursue this proud course. Do you feel, you are a person who is a keen manager and would like to manage the important day to day affairs of a higher level? If you are affirmative about this then have no hesitation and go ahead with the Company Secretary course.

The role of Company Secretary - what does a CS do:

A CS works as an in-house expert for legal financial matters and sees if everything in the organization is in compliance with laws and policy of the company. They work as a compliance officer.

A CS knows about the Securities Laws, Corporate Laws, Capital Market and the Governance of the company and forwards the advice for the same.

Acts as a Chief Advisor to the governing body of the company where the CS will be guiding and advising the board of director on best practices in corporate governance.

A CS is a Planner and Manager for corporate affairs.

The ICSI, a professional body which offers the CS course:

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is a premier national professional body which offers the Company Secretary (CS) course and coordinates the process of the admission for it. The ICSI is a statutory body which is established by an act of the parliament to develop the Company Secretaries, a professional to help organizations work efficiently.

The Nature of the CS course:

The majority of the course would contain corporate laws and other such related things like Business laws, economic and commercial laws, general laws, Tax Laws, etc. The CS course comprises of the three stages namely -

• Foundation programme,
• Executive programme
• Professional Programme

Along with these above three levels of programmes, a candidate is needed to complete the 15 months practical training. After the successful completion of the course and the training, the candidate will be awarded an Associate Company Secretaryship (ACS).

Admission Requirements and Eligibility Criteria:

You need to register for the aforesaid three programmes separately online on the Web Portal of The ICSI.

• The graduate candidates (from any discipline except fine arts) no need to register for Foundation Programme but can directly appear for the second stage that is Executive Progamme. (Foundation Programme is for 10+2 level candidates)
• After successful completion of the Executive Programme, one can apply for Professional programme.
• After Executive Programme, the Candidates are required to undergo a 15 months long practical training containing various small modules of hours/days long training.
• The fee ranges from 1500 Rs. To 4500 Rs. For foundation Proramme, according to the category of the candidates. For Executive Programme, the fee will be from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 8500 and for the last stage, i.e. Professional Programme, the fee will be from Rs. 6000 to Rs. 13500.

Dear Aspirant, we discussed some of the important and indicative areas for the Company Secretary Course and you might have now come to realizes how the Company Secretary course is. If you have decided already and made up your mind to go for the Company Secretary course by ICSI, then no worry the CareerGuide is here to help you get into Company Secretary programme and even the CareerGuide will be there with throughout your programme duration to ease the process entering the proud profession of Company Secretary. Just talk to our Experts at CareerGuide for more information and guidance. Hope, you would find this helpful!