What Does A COMPANY SECRETARY Do? | How To Be A Company Secretary | Jersey

In this video I explain exactly what a Company Secretary is and what they do, as well as how much Company Secretaries get paid and what exams to look at if you're interested in becoming a Company Secretary!

0:00 Introduction
1:32 What is a Company Secretary?
3:13 What do Company Secretaries do?
6:21 Salaries
7:53 Exams

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#1 - WHAT IS A COMPANY SECRETARY

Contrary to what the name suggests, a company secretary is not a clerical or secretarial role. Instead we ensure that a company operates to a high standard and that everything runs as smoothly as possible on a day to day basis.

It's difficult to define a company secretary in one sentence as its a role that covers so many different things, but in essence company secretaries ensure that a company does everything it's supposed to do under the rules and regulations it needs to follow, whilst working closely with the board of directors to make sure the company is ran efficiently and that everyone is doing what they are supposed to do.

#2 - WHAT DOES A COMPANY SECRETARY DO

No two days are ever the same and it's an interesting career as you get the opportunity to spend a lot of time working with directors and other senior people such as investment managers, lawyers and accountants.

This is a huge benefit to me personally because it gives me the opportunity to learn so much about finance and investing which are topics that I'm passionate about!

Some of the main duties of a company secretary are:

Liaising with the directors to arrange and facilitate regular board and committee meetings;

Keeping up to date with changes in legislation and corporate governance to make sure the company stays compliant with everything it needs to;

Regular contact with the board and other senior level parties such as brokers, investment managers and lawyers;

Setting up and maintaining good records in accordance with regulatory requirements;

Completing and submitting all regulatory filings, such as annual returns and accounts which need to be filed with regulators, and ensuring that any statutory fees are paid alongside these filings;

Reviewing all accounts, draft prospectuses, meeting agendas and marketing materials in accordance with legislation; and

Helping out with the training and development of more junior staff.

#3 - WHAT ARE SALARIES LIKE

Working as a company secretary can be a very well paying career. 

The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) publishes salary data on their website which gives a good indication of what to expect at the various levels of your career.

On average, a company secretarial assistant can earn anything from £39k to £47k, an assistant company secretary could earn on average between £56k and £82k, a deputy company secretary earns on average between £83k and £130k and a Group Company Secretary can earn anywhere from £139k to £201k on average, with the top 25% of them earning above £311k!

Salaries vary a lot depending on a number of factors such as your level, experience and which location you are based in.

#4 - WHICH QUALIFICATIONS TO THINK ABOUT

ICSA provide exams and professional development for governance professionals so this is definitely the way to go if you're interested in becoming a company secretary.

ICSA's Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme is the flagship qualification and it sets the benchmark for company secretaries and governance professionals, ensuring that you'll have the skills needed to do extremely well in the role.

Anyone can apply, but the programme starts at level 6 and rises to level 7 which is equivalent to postgraduate degree level, so a fairly high level of knowledge is assumed from the get go.

For that reason, ICSA have their International Finance and Administration qualifications (IFA). There are two levels to the IFA qualifications set at level 4 and level 5:

IFA level 4 is aimed at those who don't have any finance qualifications and are looking to get started, so this is an ideal point of entry if your completely new to all of this, whilst IFA Level 5 is aimed at those who either have significant industry experience and are in a management role, or people who have successfully completed the IFA level 4 qualification (or an equivalent) and are keen to take their studies to the next level.

I really hope you found this video helpful, and if you did please be sure to give it a like and subscribe to the channel for more videos! Thanks so much for watching!!

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