Qualification and Qualities of Company Secretary
The company secretary embraces a top-level managerial position in the company. This place necessitates sound educational knowledge, skills and effectiveness. Moreover, the company secretary performs numerous complex and statutory activities. Therefore, he needs to possess several different qualities and statutory qualifications. The qualities and qualifications that a company secretary needs to possess are as follows:
Personal qualities: Being a person and a high administrative officer of the company, the company secretary should have the following personal qualities:
- Honesty,
- Loyalty,
- Tactfulness,
- Courteous,
- Punctual,
- Cooperative minded,
- Strong personality, etc.
Educational qualification: Company secretary needs to have higher academic qualifications. He must have sound knowledge in Language and general affairs. These qualifications enable him to gain an idea on common business and managerial dealings.
- A company secretary has to contract with many people of name and prominence. So s/he must have higher education for better perceptive.
- S/He represents the company to the outside world and therefore he should have language adeptness to be well acquainted.
- S/He should be efficient with extensive common knowledge related to run the company activities.
Professional qualification: The functions of a company secretary are mostly professional. These professional functions require specialized education, training and statutory qualifications as prescribed in Companies Act.
- A company secretary requires particular information on secretarial practice to deal with notice, agenda, declaration, minutes of a meeting. He must know about office association for communication.
- A company secretary must have adequate knowledge of the Companies Act, Industrial & Commercial law. To keep a good relationship with all stakeholders a company secretary should have knowledge of human relations.
- He requires proper knowledge to work with a computer for documentation conservation and potential use of data or information.
Duties of the Company Secretary
The duties of a company secretary are classified under the following heads:
(1) Statutory Duties:
Duties towards the company:
- To make a statutory declaration for obtaining a certificate of commencement of business;
- To sign the annual report; and
- To sign every balance sheet and every profit and loss account in the case of non-banking companies.
Duties to directors:
- To work according to instructions of directors;
- To preserve all significant communication, files, and records for reference of directors; and
- To draft directors report.
Duties to whole-time managerial authority:
- To organize and control the head office of the company proficiently;
- To submit all statutory returns in time; and
- To draft contracts with vendors, if any, and also with underwriters and share brokers.
(2) General Duties:
Duties towards office and staff: It is a secretary’s duty to see that various departments are correctly prepared, supervised, co-ordinate and sufficiently staffed.
Other duties: The miscellaneous duties of the secretary are:
- To correspond to the company on social functions;
- To act with authority and uphold the secrecy of secret matters; and
- To execute his/her duties truthfully and industriously.
