Corporate Secretarial Solutions: What Is A Company Secretary?
Is a corporate secretary really necessary? Under the Singapore Companies Act, a company in Singapore is required to appoint a company secretary within six months of its incorporation. The company secretary plays a vital role in the administrative procedures in the company.
Can anyone become a company secretary? The company secretary must be a citizen, a permanent resident, a natural person or a holder of an appropriate employment pass. While some corporate secretaries are professionals like lawyers and accountants, Section 171 of the Companies Act does qualifies anyone who has knowledge of the corporate law and corporate secretarial duties, and meets the requisites set by the company. Ideally, a company secretary is someone who has positive professional and personal traits, excellent communication skills, intuition, and composure even under stressful situations.
Corporate Secretarial Duties: Role Of A Company Secretary
What does a corporate secretary do? A corporate secretary is given a wide range of duties and responsibilities. The secretary is a vital link between the management and shareholders of the company. One important responsibility is to advise them about meetings.
Corporate secretarial duties likewise include the proper documentation of general meetings, board meetings, and special annual meetings. The company secretary records and keeps the minutes of the meetings and distributes them among executives and shareholders of the company. The secretary must see to it that decisions reached during the meeting are duly noted, certified and reported to concerned parties.
Many changes may happen during the course of an organisation’s operations. These changes must be reported to the corporate regulatory board. The corporate secretary is tasked to update the ACRA on any changes in statutory requirements, including changes in the director and his address, recent appointments and resignations, changes in the company’s constitution, etc. He or she also serves as company liaison during stock transfers.
Moreover, a corporate secretary plays a vital role in making sure that the company management and operations comply with the constitution and the legal laws and regulations concerning the corporate industry. The corporate secretary ensures that company records are maintained and filed in accordance to the law.
