How to become a CS in India
What’s on this page: What is a Company Secretary? What is the Scope of Work of a Company Secretary? What is the ICSI? What are the Stages of Becoming a Company Secretary? What are the ICSI Course Fees? What is the Syllabus for the ICSI courses? What are the exam dos and don’ts? What are the qualifying marks to pass? What training has to be taken along with the CS Course from ICSI? What are a student’s career options as a Company Secretary? Does ICSI provide placements for its students?But before we get into all this, do you want study material that will help you clear your CS Exams?
What is a Company Secretary?
A Company Secretary, Corporate Secretary or simply Secretary is a person responsible for the efficient administration within a company by ensuring all employees as well as the board is in compliance with statutory, regulatory and legal requirements. A CS is also responsible for ensuring all board decisions are being successfully implemented within the company. It is a Company Secretary’s job to oversee every employee – lower, middle and upper management operates within the law; keep and maintain company records, communicate with shareholders and directors, among other things. So, as you can see, it isn’t the easiest job in the world and requires special attention and training. The title ‘Company Secretary’ can often be misleading as the position is neither clerical nor secretarial. It lies more in the realm of law, legality and ethics.What is the Scope of Work a Company Secretary?
A Company Secretary’s scope of work includes:- Being a legal expert; a compliance officer and works only for that company.
- Being an expert in corporate laws, securities laws & capital market and corporate governance
- Being Chief Advisor to the board of directors on best practices in corporate governance
- Being responsible for all regulatory compliances of company
- Being the corporate planner and strategic manager for a company
- Corporate Governance Services
- Corporate Secretarial Services
- Secretarial/ Compliance Audit and certification Services
- Corporate Laws Advisory Services
- Representation Services
- Arbitration & Conciliation Services
- Public Issue, listing and Securities Management
- Takeover Code, Insider trading, Mergers & Amalgamation
- Securities Compliance and Certification Services
- Finance & Accounting Services
- Taxation Services
- International Trade & WTO Services
- General/ Strategic Management
- Corporate Communication and Public Relations
- Human Resources Management
- Information Technology
What is the ICSI?
The ICSI is the only government-recognized statutory body that works solely around the profession of Company Secretary. This includes its development, progress and regulation. The institute provides the best quality of education in the CS realm and has the most reputed faculty members in its academic family. Its main headquarters are located in Delhi and has four regional offices located in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. It also has branches in 70 other locations across India. For more information about the ICSI, read our post on this topic.What are the Stages /blog/what-is-the-icsiof Becoming a Company Secretary?
As far as academics go, there are 3 stages to become a Company Secretary. The ICSI offers 3 courses:- Foundation Programme (For those students who have only passed their 10+2/equivalent)
- Executive Programme (For students who wish to enroll immediately after their graduation)
- Professional Programme (Only for those students who have cleared the Executive Programme from ICSI)
How to Register for CS Foundation
As mentioned earlier, the only criterion to enrol is that you should have passed your 10+2, or its equivalent from a government recognized Board of Education. Before heading to the main registration process, make sure you have the soft copies of all your documents. Here’s a handy checklist for candidates wishing to enrol online:- Passport-size photograph
- Signature
- Certificate of Birth OR (10th standard Pass Certificate)
- 12th standard Pass Certificate
- Consolidated Mark sheet
- Category Certificate (other than General)
- Government-issued ID – Aadhar card/Passport/Voter ID/Ration card
- Basic Details
- Education Details
- Source of Information
- Document Details
- Form Preview
- Payment
- Transaction ID
How to Register for CS Executive Programme
The registration process for the Executive Programme is the same. The only addition is that you have to have your degree certificate along with the rest of your documents. Also, if you want more information about this, read our blog post on this topic.How to Register for CS Professional Programme
The only prerequisite for enrolling in the Professional Programme at ICSI is that you should have passed your Executive exam. There is no form-filling required for this step, since all your information is already in the ICSI system from when you registered for the Executive course. Your first step is to log on to the ICSI website and click on ‘Online Services’. You can enter your Registration Number and create your own password. Under the ‘Students’ option, click on ‘My Account’ followed by the ‘Payment Requests’ tab. Under this tab, you can choose the ‘Professional Registration’ option. Once you have made your payment, you will be able to download your registration letter and ID card. You can read more about the registration process here.What are the ICSI Course Fees?
You can see the fee structure of all the courses offered by ICSI, in the table below:Particulars | Fees (INR) | Total Fees |
Foundation Programme | ||
Admission Fee | 1,500 | 4,500 |
Education Fee | 3,000 | |
Executive Programme | ||
Commerce Graduates | ||
Foundation Examination Exemption Fee | 500 | 9,000 |
Registration Fee | 2,000 | |
Education Fee for Executive Programme | 6,500 | |
Non-commerce Graduates | ||
Foundation Examination Exemption Fee | 500 | 10,000 |
Registration Fee | 2,000 | |
Education Fee for Executive Programme | 7,500 | |
For CPT pass of the ICAI & Foundation Pass of the ICAI-CMA | ||
Foundation Examination Exemption Fee | 4,000 | 12,500 |
Registration Fee | 2,000 | |
Education Fee for Executive Programme | 6,500 | |
CS Foundation Pass Students | ||
Registration and Education Fee | 8,500 | 8,500 |
CS Professional Programme | ||
Education Fee | 12,000 | 12,000 |
What is the Syllabus for the ICSI courses?
Foundation Programme Syllabus
The exam is informally known as the CS Foundation exam. ICSI is the conducting body. The exam is held over two days. There are four papers in the exam. Students are expected to write two papers in the first day and the other two in the second day. The exam is held twice yearly. Once in June and the other in December. The exam is computer based. All papers are MCQ based. There is no negative marking. There are four papers in the exam. The duration of each paper is 90 minutes. The table below shows the breakdown of each paper.
Paper |
Subject | Marks | Duration |
1 | Business Environment and Law | 100 | 90 Minutes |
Part A – Business Environment | 40 | ||
Part B – Business Laws | 60 | ||
2 | Business Management, Ethics and Entrepreneurship | 100 | |
Part A – Business Management | 40 | ||
Part B – Ethics | 10 | ||
Part C – Business Communication | 25 | ||
Part D – Entrepreneurship | 25 | ||
3 | Business Economics | 100 | |
Part A – Economics | 80 | ||
Part B – Elementary Statistics | 20 | ||
4 | Fundamentals of Accounting and Auditing | 100 | |
Part A – Fundamentals of Accounting | 70 | ||
Part B – Fundamentals of Auditing | 30 |
Executive Programme Syllabus (2 Modules)
This is the second part of the CS Course. The new and updated syllabus (from 2017 on) contains two modules of four papers each. Each paper is of 3 hours’ duration and the papers are as follows: MODULE 1: Paper 1: Jurisprudence, Interpretation & General Laws Paper 2: Company Law Paper 3: Setting up of Business Entities and Closure Paper 4: Tax Laws MODULE 2: Paper 5: Corporate and Management Accounting Paper 6: Securities Laws & Corporate Markets Paper 7: Economic, Business and Commercial Law Paper 8: Financial and Strategic Management When registering, you will have to register for both modules of the exam. But when appearing for the exam, you can choose to appear for one or both modules. Due to the peculiar nature of the passing requirements (see below), we suggest that if you are well prepared, appear for both modules of the exam.Professional Programme
This is the final exam in the CS course. In the new updated syllabus (effective from 2017 on), there are 3 modules of 3 papers each. Each paper MODULE 1 Paper 1: Governance, Risk Management, Compliances and Ethics Paper 2: Advance Tax Laws Paper 3: Drafting, Pleadings and Appearances MODULE 2: Paper 1: Secretarial Audit, Compliance Management and Due Diligence Paper 2: Corporate Restructuring, Insolvency, Liquidation & Winding-up Paper 3: Resolution of Corporate Disputes, Non-Compliances & Remedies MODULE 3: Paper 1: Corporate Funding & Listings in Stock Exchanges Paper 2: Multidisciplinary Case Studies (The examination for this paper will be open book examination) Paper 3: (Electives) 1 paper out of 8- Banking – Law & Practice
- Insurance– Law & Practice
- Intellectual Property Rights– Laws and Practices
- Forensic Audit
- Direct Tax Law & Practice
- Labour Laws & Practice
- Valuations & Business Modelling
- Insolvency – Law and Practice
If you are looking for resources pertaining to both the CS Executive and CS Professional exams, sign up on our platform for a free trial.
What are the exam dos and don’ts?
While taking any of the CS exams from ICSI, it is important to keep the following things in mind:- All candidates require a physical copy of their Admit Card as well as a student ID card before entering the examination hall, and must produce it when asked.
- If for any reason, the candidate’s ID card does not have their photo, they must affix a new photograph and have it attested by a gazetted officer or a member of the ICSI board. A copy of the IDs will also be handed over to the Superintendent of Examination Centre.
- Banned items in examination hall include books, study material, electronics such as phones, Bluetooth devices, tablets, etc.
- Note that the candidates must appear in all the papers they’ve enrolled in. If you are absent for even one of the papers, it will be a ‘Fail’ in the overall examination.
What are the qualifying marks to pass?
For CS Foundation: You should obtain a minimum of 40% marks in each appear and a minimum of 50% marks in the aggregate. For CS Executive and CS Professional: To understand the passing requirements, you should be aware that you can choose to appear for one or more modules of papers. If you appear for a single module, the passing requirements are as follows:- you obtain a minimum of 40% marks in each paper of the module and
- you obtain a minimum of 50% marks in the aggregate of all papers of the module taken together.
- you meet the minimum requirements to clear a module individually or
- you obtain a minimum of 40% marks in each paper of all the modules, and a minimum of 50% marks in the aggregate of all papers of all modules taken together.
What Training has to be taken along with the CS Course from ICSI?
Along with doing your job academically, there are number of skills and training programmes that a student needs to undergo during their CS course at ICSI. These are as follows:- Long Term Internship Programme or Practical or Articleship Training: This is a long term internship programme where you have to train under specified entities. The duration of the programme is of either one, two or three years depending on when the training commences. We will talk more about this later. You can also gain exemptions from this training depending on your work experience
- Management Skills Orientation Programme (MSOP): The ICSI MSOP is a 15-day programme to be taken after completion of all trainings/exemptions from
What are a student’s career options as a Company Secretary?
As a CS, you have to possess the following qualities which will be taught to you during the duration of the course:- A CS must be well-versed in all legal intricacies that an organisation/institution may require.
- Extensive knowledge of the best practices in corporate governance is a prerequisite.
- A CS is responsible for all regulatory compliances in an organisation.
- Planning and Management are also part of a Company Secretary’s job profile.
- Corporate Restructuring
- Foreign Collaborations and Joint Ventures
- Arbitration and Conciliation
- Financial Management
- Project Planning
- Capital Market and Investor Relations
- Corporate Advisory Services
- SEBI Act
- EXIM Policy
Does ICSI provide Placements for its Students?
The Headquarters and Regional Offices offer placement services to the Members of the Institute in the following manner:- Names of candidates are sponsored to prospective employers on request
- Any members looking for a job may register online on the ICSI website
- Vacancies received from companies are also displayed on the institute website
- Campus Interviews are conducted to assist members for job and students for the long term training programmes
- Dev Bajpai – HUL
- Jayesh Merchant – Asian Paints
- Sanker Parameswaran – ICICI Bank
- Ilam C Camboj – Hero Motorcorp
- Biswa Behari Chatterjee – ITC
- Sethuraman – Reliance
- Sanjay Dongre – HDFC