Company Secretary is one of the most demanded professions in India, with the increasing cross boarder transactions by Indian companies; now MNCs abroad also in other ways requires the services of a company secretary. Company Secretary thus forms part of Key Managerial Persons of a company and as a profession it has got good exposure in a wide spectrum of subjects such as law, accountancy, taxation, administration, secretarial practice and many others.
Institute of Company Secretaries of India (Statutory body under an Act of parliament, 1980) conducts the exams and regulates the profession in India. The ICSI membership plays a vital role in job openings in the corporate world and for recruitment in state and central government departments where company secretaries have larger role to play. The demand for CS professionals is very high in the Indian market as the availability of qualified CS members could not meet half of the statutory requirements yet.
There are three stages of professional examinations in the company secretary course i.e. foundation, executive and professional. Students who have passed class XII/graduation can pursue company secretary course.
TO QUALIFY AS A COMPANY SECRETARY, ONE NEEDS TO QUALIFY FOR THE FOLLOWING 3 LEVELS OF EXAMINATIONS:
1. Foundation (4 papers. All papers are descriptive)
2. Executive (8 papers, all papers are descriptive )and
3. Professional (9 papers, all papers are descriptive with one optional paper with open book exam)
Examinations are held twice in a year i.e., June/Dec of every year. A student can obtain registration throughout the year and the students can enroll for the examinations to be held in May/Nov based on the date of registration.
