Company Secretary is a high post of private sector companies and public sector institutions. This is often a managerial or higher position. The responsibility of the company secretary is to manage the company efficiently but its main responsibility is to ensure that the institution progresses by following company laws. It is also his responsibility to ensure that the decisions taken by the Board of Directors are implemented.
Under the Companies Act in India, it is mandatory to have a company secretary (CS) with a minimum cost of 5 crores. CS is considered to be one of the head officers of a company. He performs his work efficiently in various fields such as finance, accounts, legal administration, and personal division, etc. according to the area learned during training. Other areas of work include- law-related information and all company-related work. All information related to the meeting of the Board of Directors, from holding the meeting to all the records, is the responsibility of CS. All the facts related to Central / State Sales Tax, Excise, Labor, and Corporate are included in CS’s responsibilities as per the requirement of the company. The work-related to institution investment, project approval, licensing and grant of permits, MRTP (Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Act) and FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) also come under the purview of CS. The annual compliance of the company (such as LLP annual compliance and private limited company annual compliance, OPC annual compliance, etc,) also has to be filed by the company secretary.
A personal assistant or private secretary is the backbone of an organization. The private secretary is an executive assistant who is proficient in office skills, can bear responsibilities without direct supervision, and can take initiative and make decisions within the responsibilities assigned to him.
Creativity is required in the work of a secretary because he has to make several decisions on behalf of his executive regularly.
Importance and Responsibility of the company secretary in a company:
In today’s era, there has been a lot of change in the profile of a personal assistant / private secretary. The private secretary has to perform a wide variety of tasks. The private secretary has to perform a variety of tasks such as official correspondence, writing reports, and working as a public relations officer. The private secretary is appointed to assist the executives in the organization so that the executive can better focus on the managerial functions and other aspects for the successful functioning of the organization. Private Secretary serves for the Chairman, Managing Director, Chief Manager, Section / Department Head, etc.
The functions and responsibilities of the private secretary vary according to the nature of the organization. The hierarchy in this field is as follows – Stenographer, Personal Secretary, Senior Personal Secretary, and Private Secretary.
In this field, the initial level or junior level employees have to do routine tasks like taking dictation from the officers, typing it neatly, arranging for mail, managing records, listening to telephone calls, and arranging visitors. Private secretaries posted with senior executives are required to perform tasks that require greater secretarial skills and take initiative for efficient and effective functioning of the organization. At the senior level, a private secretary serves as the executive’s right hand i.e. important person, and for this; he not only has to do routine tasks but also collects information, prepares draft reports, attends meetings/conferences, and arranges them. To do and for future references, record process-related tasks have to be done. He should have the ability to take important decisions in the absence of an executive. In today’s era, a private secretary is a specialized person and a well-trained member of the office team.