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HRD and company secretary?

Meena

Hi is there anyone in this forum please who is a HR director and a company secretary? I just wondered if you needed any additional professional qualification. kind regards Meena

  • Hi Meena

    The position of Company Secretary involves prescribed statutory duties and responsibilities under UK company law. So does the position of Company Director, but not so particularly HR Director.

    The former two positions therefore involve largely separate and discrete areas of knowledge and skills to HR.

    It’s fairly common for the Financial Directors of companies to have several responsibilities, some being those of Company Secretary and some Head of HR too, but often with a professional HR specialist reporting to them in order to undertake stuff that’s not directly within their own financial / company administration specialism.

    Apples and Pears / Horses for Courses, really!
  • @Meena
    The ICSA is to Company Secretaries what the CIPD is to HR professionals. It is the main professional body for Company Secretaries and has had a Royal Charter for more than 100 years. It offers professional training courses which may interest you.
    Maybe check out their website?

  • Hi Meena

    If you have been asked to take this on, don't do it until you have checked out exactly what it will mean. I believe hat one of the duties is to ensure accounts are filed on time, which is why this responsibility often sits with the FD. Is this something you have any control over? If not, don't become the person who gets the blame if the accounts are filed late. I have been a Company Secretary once but it was simply because we needed a name for paperwork for a company we had registered but weren't using. I was assured that I had absolutely nothing to do. In retrospect, I am not sure I should have agreed to it. One consequence was my home address being published and even though I relinquished the role years ago, it still shows up in a Google search.

  • Meena - I agree with colleagues. This is often something the FD will take on.
  • Thank you everyone. That's most useful. Much appreciated Elizabeth, yes I have been asked to take on this role and my understanding is that (as Ray mentioned) to have a ICSA membership, which isn't easy.
  • in reply to Meena
    Years ago, I completed year 1 of the ICSA syllabus because I was interested in the subjects covered and thought I might go in that direction. This was years before I was actually asked to be registered as Company Secretary for a dormant part of a group. If you have a look at their site, you might decide it looks interesting. However, you would be restricting your employment options as a company has to be of a certain size before Company Secretary becomes a stand alone job. That applies to HR as well, but I think most companies would require an HR function a long time before they required a company secretariat. That's just my opinion and others might have better information on this point. Although I enjoyed the law module, I am glad I stuck with HR but I'd certainly encourage you to check out the ICSA site and think about whether it could be for you.
  • Thank you Elizabeth. I am doing some research. As you say it'll be a complete change to career and I need to really give it some thought.
  • in reply to Meena
    Hi Meena - having some ICSA knowledge (as opposed to qualifications) will probably be useful to help understand the legal framework of company law in which a company has to operate. Indeed, not enough HR people have a good iunderstanding of this IMHO. However..... most Company Secretaries are qualified lawyers (degree plus 2-3 years of professional exams and experience in a law firm), so think hard before going down that rabbit-hole in terms of a career.
  • in reply to Meena
    Hi Meena

    Membership of the ICSA is, I believe, a prerequisite for being a Company Secretary for a PLC. It is not necessary for other types of business, e.g. a Ltd company. I used to work in a business where the MD's PA was given that task, so that she could be given a bigger pay rise. However, there are statutory duties involved so do think about whether to take this on and don't do it without adequate training.
  • in reply to Anka
    I'm fairly sure that it isn't mandatory for even PLC company secretaries to be members of any particular professional body, Anka.