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57-437: 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

114-749: A company secretary. 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

171-632: A current practising certificate issued by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia). In Singapore, The Companies Act, Section 171 requires that every business has a Company Secretary that must reside in Singapore. The Secretary has to be appointed within the first 6 months after incorporation. If the company has only one director, he or she cannot be the Corporate Secretary. The responsibilities of

228-400: 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

285-536: A general officer or flag officer himself/herself, typically at the 1-star or 2-star level, but he or she should not be confused with the 4-star officers holding the title of Chief of Staff of the Army or Chief of Staff of the Air Force . In the late 19th century, the invention of the typewriter provided many new job openings in business and government for women and men. At Chicago's Metropolitan Business College in

342-418: A higher degree of business acumen, be able to manage projects, as well as have the ability to influence others on behalf of the executive. In the past, executive assistants were required to have a high school diploma only, but increasingly jobs are requiring a bachelor's degree of any field of study or when complying with educational requirements within their given industry, may require specialized knowledge in

399-438: A management assistant) differs a great deal from that of an administrative assistant. In many organizations, an executive assistant is a high-ranking position in the administrative hierarchy. Executive assistants work for a company officer or executive (at both private and public company institutions), and possess the authority to make crucial decisions affecting the direction of such organizations. As such, executive assistants play

456-853: A regulated profession. Both Chartered Secretary and Chartered Governance Professional are designations approved by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The division based in London also offers a Foundation Program, providing a broad introduction to business, governance, administration, compliance and company law; validated postgraduate courses; and short course qualifications in international finance and administration, corporate governance, charity governance, education governance, sports governance and health service governance. Holders of these qualifications are eligible for Affiliated membership. Other courses and qualifications are provided across all

513-542: A role in decision-making and policy setting. The executive assistant performs the usual roles of managing correspondence, preparing research, and communication, often with one or more administrative assistants or scheduling assistants who report to him or her. The executive assistant also acts as the "gatekeeper", understanding in varying degree the requirements of the executive, and with an ability through this understanding to decide which scheduled events, meetings, teleconferences, or e-mails are most appropriate for allocation of

570-626: 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,

627-449: A specific fields of study through a bachelor's degree pertinent to the employer's industry or division's role within the organization. In the U.S. Department of Defense , the title of military assistant (MA) or executive assistant (EA) is typically held by Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps colonels , lieutenant colonels , and senior majors and Navy captains , commanders and senior lieutenant commanders who are in direct support of

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684-657: Is eligible for election as an associate or fellow of the institute. Associates and fellows are entitled to use the designation "Chartered Secretary" or "Chartered Governance Professional" or both, depending on the modules they have completed as part of the CGQP. "Chartered Secretary" and the post-nominal "ACIS" are listed in the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015 , schedule 1, part 2 (Professions Regulated by Professional Bodies Incorporated by Royal Charter), thus making chartered secretaries

741-589: Is known as the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). The organization developed the first standardized test for office workers called the Certified Professional Secretaries Examination (CPS). It was first administered in 1951. By the mid-20th century the need for secretaries was great and offices and organizations featured large secretarial pools . In some cases

798-476: 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

855-463: Is the main qualification specifically for company secretaries. CGI is the body dedicated to the advancement and recognition of professional administration based on a combination of degree-level studies, carefully vetted experience and sponsorship by two people of professional status. Only a person thus qualified is entitled to be designated a 'Chartered Secretary' or 'Chartered Company Secretary'. The Faculty of Secretaries and Administrators founded in 1930

912-484: Is the second body of corporate secretaries in the United Kingdom and now has a strong emphasis on equality work and governance and its members are designated 'corporate secretaries' or 'certified public secretaries'. It is expected that company secretaries of publicly quoted companies will be professionally qualified through CGI, one of the chartered professional bodies in the accountancy profession, or have appropriate training and experience through another body. The role of

969-537: 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. In Sri Lanka, the Companies Act, No. 07 of 2007 requires that each registered company has a company secretary. A company secretary is required to be registered with

1026-513: The Secretary of Defense , Deputy Secretary of Defense and other civilian defense officials down to the level of a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense , as well as general officers or flag officers . The Secretary of Defense also has a lieutenant general or vice admiral as his/her senior military assistant. Like their civilian counterparts, EAs are also a resource in decision-making, policy setting, and will have leadership oversight of

1083-491: The typewriter , more women began to enter the field and during the upcoming years, especially since World War I , the role of secretary has been primarily associated with women. By the 1930s, fewer men were entering the field of secretaries. In an effort to promote professionalism among United States secretaries, the National Secretaries Association was created in 1942. Today, this organization

1140-412: The 1892-1893 were female; in the shorthand and typing courses, however, 90 percent of the students were female. For most of the 20th century, women with shorthand or typing skills could get secretarial jobs without further education beyond high school. The role of secretary emerged from European church and state bureaucracies as aspects of the role of chancellor became distinct, and encompassed managing

1197-905: The Chartered Secretaries Professional Practice Group, the Association of Women Chartered Secretaries, and the CGI Registrars Group, and affiliations with organizations like the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators . The Chartered Governance Institute is a member of the CBI, ECODA, and the Professional Associations Research Network (PARN), and is a founding member of The Next Generation NED Network. Founded as

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1254-480: The Companies Act 2014 are required to appoint a company secretary, who may also be a company director. The company secretary of a private limited company must have "the skills or resources necessary to discharge his or her statutory and other duties" while that of a public limited company must meet two out of the three following criteria before appointment: Although the Company Secretary is an officer of

1311-480: The Companies Act 2016 requires that every company to appoint at least one secretary. The secretary has to be appointed within the first 30 days after incorporation or a penalty is imposed on the Directors, running into a risk of being blacklisted. The responsibilities of the secretary include the following: Only an individual who satisfies the requirement in the Companies Act 2016 , section 235 (2) may be appointed

1368-473: The Corporate Secretary include the following: For public companies, the Secretary must be a registered filing agent or a qualified individual. 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

1425-532: The Department of Registrar of Companies, to function as a company secretary. Eligibility to function as a secretary are; Since 8 April 2008 there has been no legal requirement for a private company in the UK to have a company secretary unless the company's articles of association state otherwise. If a private company doesn't have a company secretary then the company’s secretarial duties and responsibilities fall upon

1482-717: The Institute publish magazines and resources to keep practitioners up to date with the latest in law, regulation, and procedure, including guidance, research, and specialist publications. They also run conferences for those working in corporate governance, charity governance, sports governance, and academy governance. The Institute also offers board performance and governance reviews and holds annual awards. The Chartered Governance Institute provides qualifications in governance and awards post-nominals. The post-nominals awarded for chartered membership are Fellow (FCG/FCIS) and Associate (ACG/ACIS). For professional and part-qualified membership,

1539-587: The London-based Institute of Secretaries in 1891 to represent the interests of corporate secretaries, who had emerged to govern the administration of joint stock companies following the introduction of limited liability in 1855. A royal charter was granted in 1902. In 1970, the Institute of Secretaries merged with the Corporation of Secretaries and then became the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) in 1971. In 2019, ICSA

1596-505: The National Secretaries Association, C. King Woodbridge, president of Dictaphone Corporation, and American businessman Harry F. Klemfuss created a special Secretary's Day holiday, to recognize the hard work of the staff in the office. The holiday caught on, and during the fourth week of April is now celebrated in offices all over the world. It has been renamed " Administrative Professional's Week " to highlight

1653-491: The Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (March 2010). The exact responsibilities of the company secretary depend on the size and nature of the company and there is no statutory definition of what these are, but it generally includes some or all of the following: In the UK, the company secretary may be qualified by virtue of examination and membership of The Chartered Governance Institute (CGI), which

1710-649: The United Kingdom , and Ireland . The division based in London is known as The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland. It represents and supports members in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies, and associated territories, including the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East , Mauritius , and Sri Lanka . The ICSA has 38 branches and special interest groups, including

1767-772: The catering for a lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their assistant to take the minutes at meetings and prepare meeting documents for review. In addition to the minutes, the secretary may be responsible for keeping all of the official records of a company or organization. A secretary is also regarded as an "office manager". Today, many secretaries also conduct research, briefings, write memoranda , content writing , handle project management , program evaluation , stakeholder management , customer service duties, devise and maintain office systems including data management and filing, carry out background research and present findings, produce documents like white papers and gray literature , carry out specific projects, take on some of

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1824-717: The company, the Companies Acts do not expressly state the duties of a secretary. The following statutory duties are commonly, but not exclusively, undertaken by the Company Secretary: The following non-statutory duties are commonly, but not exclusively, undertaken by the Company Secretary: The status of "Chartered Secretary" is reserved for qualifing members of the Irish branch of the Chartered Governance Institute. In Malaysia,

1881-463: The context or for relatively modest positions such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or as member of a secretariat. As such less influential posts became more feminine and common with the multiplication of bureaucracies in the public and private sectors, new words were also coined to describe them, such as personal assistant. In the 1840s and 1850s commercial schools were emerging to train male and female students

1938-576: The corporate secretary is governed by state corporation law in the United States and is commonly, but not exclusively, responsible for the following: The role of the corporate secretary has become increasingly crucial among publicly traded companies in North America, with a growing emphasis on providing guidance on corporate governance matters. Sound corporate governance is deemed essential for both board and company performance, especially in

1995-618: The demand was great enough to spur secretaries being recruited from overseas; in particular, there was often a steady demand for young British women to come to the U.S. and fill temporary or permanent secretarial positions. Several organizations were created to assist secretaries from foreign lands, including the Society of International Secretaries and the Association of British Secretaries in America . In 1952 Mary Barrett, president of

2052-417: The directors of the company. With the increase in the number of social enterprises and community interest companies there is often a demand for a company secretary in the voluntary and community sectors as well as ordinary private trading companies. A public company in the UK must still have a formally appointed company secretary. Chartered Secretaries are the sixth highest paid employees in the UK according to

2109-482: The divisions. Memoranda of Understanding are in place with The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN). The Chartered Governance Institute is one of eleven professional bodies whose members are allowed by the Charities Act 2011 in the UK to conduct independent examination of charities whose gross income exceeds £250,000 but

2166-455: The entire military and civilian staff supporting the civilian official, general officer, or flag officer. EAs are often interchangeable with other senior military officers of equivalent rank holding the title of chief of staff in other service organizations headed by a flag officer or general officer. In the case of unified combatant commands and service major commands, the Chief of Staff is often

2223-513: The execution of their duties it can also create ambiguity as to what is legal advice, protected by privilege, and what is business advice. Secretary The functions of a personal assistant may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit of more than one. In other situations, a secretary is an officer of a society or organization who deals with correspondence, admits new members, and organizes official meetings and events. But this role should not be confused with

2280-437: The executive's time. An executive assistant may, from time to time, act as proxy for the executives, representing him/her/them in meetings or communications and project managing the production of reports or other deliverables in the absence of the executive. An executive assistant differs from an administrative assistant (a job which is often part of the career path of an executive assistant) in that they are expected to possess

2337-669: The eyes of shareholders, particularly institutional investors. In certain corporations, the corporate secretary's function as a corporate governance adviser has been formalized, often reflected in a revised title such as Chief Governance Officer added to their existing designation. In view of the important roles the company secretary plays in business, PLCs and large companies require the company secretary to be suitably trained, experienced and professionally qualified for these responsibilities. Many corporate secretaries of North American public companies are lawyers and some serve as their corporation's general counsel . While this can be helpful in

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2394-406: The increased responsibility of today's secretary and other administrative workers, and to avoid embarrassment to those who believe that "secretary" refers only to women or to unskilled workers. In the 20th century, with the spread of the typewriter, shorthand saw competition from steno-typing. Typing thus became the prerogative of women, widows or relatively well-educated young girls, originally from

2451-490: The key person for all administrative tasks, and often referred to as the "gate keeper". Other titles describing jobs similar to or overlapping those of the traditional secretary are Office Coordinator, Executive Assistant, Office Manager and Administrative Professional. This should be distinguished from the company secretary , a senior role within a company responsible for compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The work of an executive assistant (sometimes called

2508-647: The literal meaning of their title still holds true. Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators The Chartered Governance Institute , previously known as the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators ( ICSA ), is a qualifying and membership body for company secretaries and governance professionals operating in several common law jurisdictions. The Institute has divisions in Australia , Canada , Hong Kong , China , Malaysia , New Zealand , Singapore , South Africa , Zimbabwe ,

2565-405: The manager's responsibilities, get involved in decision-making processes, handle public relations tasks, and/or logistics and procurement along with a wide range of other duties related to their specific industry. In a business, many job descriptions overlap. However, while administrative assistant is a generic term, not necessarily implying directly working for a superior, a secretary is usually

2622-544: The middle class or the petty bourgeoisie, then from working-class backgrounds with the rise of the profession between the two world wars, which saw the women seize these innovations. Until recent years, the profession of secretary in the original sense was often subject, in the collective imagination, to stereotypes and pejorative connotations. Indeed, secretarial work was easily associated with low-value, thankless, and badly paid tasks, such as serving coffee to superiors, making photocopies or filing menial documents. In addition,

2679-426: 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

2736-463: The passive participle ( secretum ) meaning "having been set apart", with the eventual connotation of something private or confidential, as with the English word secret. A secretarius was a person, therefore, overseeing business confidentially, usually for a powerful individual (a king, pope, etc.). As the duties of a modern secretary often still include the handling of confidential information,

2793-432: The post-nominal is CG (Affiliated). Graduate members can use the post-nominal Grad CG or Grad ICSA. See List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom) . The Chartered Governance Qualifying Program (CGQP) is the institute's flagship qualification and the most common route to graduate status and chartered membership in the institute. A person who has completed the CGQP and satisfies the prescribed working experience requirement

2850-496: The profession was once exercised almost exclusively by women and considered a pink-collar job in previous decades, but in the 21st century many employers began re-classifying many entry-level positions, including white-collar jobs historically held by men in decades past, as secretary, administrative assistant, or program assistant roles. The term is derived from the Latin word secernere , "to distinguish" or "to set apart",

2907-480: The role of an executive secretary , cabinet secretary such as cabinet members who hold the title of "secretary", or company secretary , all which differ from an administrative assistant. A secretary, also known as a personal assistant (PA) or administrative assistant , can have many administrative duties. The title "secretary," with its root meaning of "keeper of secrets," is not used as often as in decades past, and responsibilities have evolved in response to

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2964-809: 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",

3021-759: 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. All companies registered under

3078-407: The skills needed to work in a clerical position. In 1870, Sir Isaac Pitman founded a school where students could qualify as shorthand writers to "professional and commercial men". Originally, this school was only for male students. In 1871, there were more than 150 such schools operating in the United States, a number that grew to as many as 500 by the 1890s. In the 1880s, with the invention of

3135-435: The technological age. The duties may vary according to the nature and size of the company or organization, and might include managing budgets, bookkeeping, attending telephone calls, handling visitors, maintaining websites, travel arrangements, event planning , and preparing expense reports. Secretaries might also manage all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or meeting and be responsible for arranging

3192-558: The work of a number of clerks gathered in the chancery . From the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the powerful had assumed the title of secretary. With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work better, like general secretary or financial secretary . Just "secretary" remained in use either as an abbreviation when clear in

3249-471: Was renamed as The Chartered Governance Institute. The Chartered Governance Institute independently advocates for reform in governance and provides thought leadership and guidance to the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. The Institute qualifies chartered secretaries and chartered governance professionals, conducts public and in-house training for governance professionals across different sectors, and offers bespoke training for boards. The divisions of

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