Louis Gerstner, former chairman and CEO of IBM, had once said that the real mechanism for corporate governance is the active involvement of the owners.
This quote is quite enough to realize the importance of corporate governance in any organization.
In this day and age, corporate governance has become a buzzing word in the corporate biosphere.
We see the term regularly when we turn the business pages of the dailies.
If you want an exact definition of the term, I can exactly define corporate governance by saying that, "it generally ensures that the management of a company ponders balancing the best interests of everyone."
Everyone means everyone, who are directly and/or indirectly related to the organizations, like the shareholders, financiers, debtors, creditors, management, regulators, facilitators, advisers, local community, etc.
Company secretaries are the sole riders of the organizations who can play a pivotal role in implementing a highly standard ‘Corporate Governance Procedure’. It is one of the core responsibilities of a company secretary ensuring the organizational governance in an institution.
A company secretary is a person who is usually assigned to perform secretarial tasks.
The position is sometimes referred to as "corporate secretary" in some sectors.
According to The Companies Act, 1994, Section 2(u), “secretary” means any individual possessing the prescribed qualifications appointed to perform the duties which may be performed by a secretary under this Act and any other ministerial or administrative duties.
Precisely, the person is responsible for almost every fields of a company particularly in regulating and efficiently managing the financial, legal and statutory requirements, complying with the corporate governance that includes the welfare of all the stakeholders of the company like the shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the society as well.
The world has been considering Bangladesh as one of the fastest growing economies in the world for the last couple of years.
The country has made significant advancement in the sector of commerce, trade and industry.
It is on the track of graduating from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) list by 2026.
The money market and the capital market, the two spheres of the financial market of the country, have facilitated the contribution to the GDP in a positive manner comparing to the past years.
These above mentioned phenomena emphasize the significance of a knowledgeable and efficient company secretary for the forthcoming days.
It is a very common concept that company secretaries are mainly concerned with the board and its related affairs of a company.
Rather, a company secretary hired in this profession, should have acquaintances (apart from Board and Board related affairs) in different types of commercial and business laws, company laws, tax ordinances, VAT regulations, different acts and rules, finance and accounting principles, auditing procedures, knowledge on personnel management and administrative procedures and should be prudent in the issues related to compliance, business administration and business development.
Similar to other countries, the status of company secretary or corporate secretary or corporate managers is enormously increasing in Bangladesh.
In order to quench the thirst of the proficient company secretaries, Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) was established under an Act of Parliament titled ‘Chartered Secretaries Act-2010’.
The Ministry of Commerce of the Government of Bangladesh administers this institute. ICSB is the full member of The Corporate Secretaries International Association Limited (CSIA).
CSIA is a Switzerland based institution established to be the global voice of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals.
A person needs to pass the six levels (five levels for the business graduates), each semester of six months, to get qualified from ICSB.
After the completion of all levels and a requisite internship, the person can use the acronym “ACS” i.e. Associate Chartered Secretary, upon approval of the institute, by the end of his/her name (like a obtained degree) and after practicing for 5 years, the title can be used as “FCS” (Fellow Chartered Secretary).
The courses of different levels of ICSB are very much pragmatic and consistent to the profession.For this reason, the degree is commonly important for both the persons who are involved with the profession and for those who want to build up their career in this promising profession.
The admission is taken twice a year.
It is to be noted that the course instructors are highly qualified derived from existing company secretaries of large conglomerates, professors of renowned universities, tax and VAT consultants, high officials of regulatory bodies, senior bankers, partners of audit firms, directors of MNCs, advocates and the council members of the institute.
If one has an interest in business law and economics, he/she can think of pursuing a career as a company secretary.
There are plenty of opportunities for skilled individuals to fill the immense gap in this profession.
The author is a company secretary of an investment bank and a student of ICSB. He can be reached at [email protected]
