ENTRY

Membership of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India is the only prescribed qualification for entry into this profession. Membership is granted on the basis of the examinations conducted by the institute, which is headquartered in New Delhi, with four regional offices at Calcutta, Delhi, Madras and Bombay. In addition there are four regional councils and under their jurisdiction thirty-six chapters are located in various cities. 

There are three sets of examinations conducted by the Institute-the foundation course examination, the intermediate and the final. A student is also required to have practical experience and undergo practical training during the course studies to qualify for the examination.

TRAINING

ELIGIBILITY

Those who have passed Senior Secondary (10+2) or an equivalent examination can enroll for the foundation course. Those who have completed a graduate or post-graduate degree in commerce, or any discipline other than fine arts, or the final exam of the Institute of Costs and Works Accountants of India or the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India can directly enroll for the intermediate examination. 

The institute conducts training programmes to enable students to qualify for the examination. This is in the nature of compulsory postal tuition. Students are provided with study material on each subject at the time of admission. The prescribed subjects include business communication, business laws and management, principles of accounting, economics and statistics.

At the intermediate and final level examination, students cover subjects like managerial economics, industrial labor law, taxation, secretarial and management audit etc. 

Students can also attend oral coaching classes organized by the institute at select places through its regional councils and chapters on payment of extra fees. A student who has successfully completed the postal/oral coaching is eligible for admission to the examination. 

Examinations are held in June and December every year, at thirty-six centers. These are-Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Bombay, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Delhi, Ernakulam, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Srinagar, Jodhpur, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Madras, Madurai, Mangalore, Nagpur, Panaji, Patna, Pondicherry, Thiruvanthapuram and Vishakhapatnam. 

A student has to register for each of the examinations at least nine months prior to the month in which the examination is held. 

The postal training programme leaves candidates ample time to garner practical experience, which is an integral part of the study programme. This experience has to be:

· Two years experience as an executive, or three years as an assistant in secretarial, administration, finance, accounts, personnel or legal departments in any company having a paid up share capital of not less than Rs 25 lakhs, or any organization having gross fixed assets of not less than Rs 50 lakhs.

· Three years experience as a lecturer of law, management or accounts.

· Three years experience as a Gazetted Officer in the Central/State Government.

· Three years experience of continuous practice on a full-time basis as a chartered accountant or a cost accountant having carried out statutory/cost internal audit of, or providing management consultancy services to a company having paid up capital and reserves of not less than Rs 25 lakhs or gross assets of not less than Rs 50 lakhs.

· Three years experience as an advocate in. a high court having rendered services as counsel/advisor to a company of the size specified earlier; or to undergo management training in the manner specified by the Council for fifteen months in a similar size of company; or undergo apprenticeship under a full-time Company Secretary in practice or a firm of company secretaries in practice for one year full-time or two years part-time.

In addition to the practical experience, every candidate completing the final examination must undergo practical training of four months in the following manner:

In a company of paid up capital of Rs 25 lakhs:

· One month in the secretarial department including the shares and legal department.

· One month in the finance department including costing, management accounting, internal audit, taxation.

· One month in the administration department. 

· Fifteen days secretarial training programme designed by the institute.

· Fifteen days training in a specialized agency such as a stock exchange, or banking institution or management consultancy firm.

A qualified person can join a company as an Assistant Company Secretary, or Deputy Company Secretary, depending on the size of the company.