Role and Duties of a Company Secretary

The company secretary usually undertakes the following duties:

1. Maintaining the statutory registers including the register of members, register of directors and secretaries, register of persons with significant control, register of directors’ interests, register of charges and for public companies the register of interests in shares
2. Prompt filing of statutory returns in the correct format and at the correct time.
3. Providing members and auditors with notice of meetings.
4. Sending copies of resolutions when passed to the Registrar.
5. Supplying a copy of the accounts to every member of the company, every debenture holder and every person who is entitled to receive notice of general meetings.
6. Keeping, or arranging for the keeping, of minutes of directors’ meetings and general meetings.
7. Ensuring that people entitled to do so, can inspect company records. For example, members of the company and members of the public are entitled to a copy of the company’s register of members, and members of the company are entitled to inspect the minutes of its general meetings and to have copies of these minutes.
8. Custody and use of the company seal. Companies no longer need to have a company seal but if they do, the secretary is usually responsible for its custody and use.