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The label hides ten different jobs
"Company secretary" describes a qualification, not a service. Two practitioners with the same letters after their name may do entirely unrelated work: one runs board meetings and maintains statutory registers, another files charge documents and incorporation forms, a third handles SEBI listing obligations for a listed entity.
Before you search for a company secretary near me or ask for a quote on an ROC filing, work out which of the practice areas below your problem actually sits in. The list on Company Secretaries breaks these into the categories the profession itself uses, and it is a faster starting point than a general search.
Secretarial work: audit, meetings, registers
Secretarial audit
A secretarial audit checks whether a company has complied with the Companies Act and the rules made under it — board composition, filings made on time, registers kept properly, disclosures recorded. It produces a formal report and is typically required for larger companies and those above prescribed thresholds. If you have been asked for one by a lender, an acquirer or a regulator, this is the specialisation you need, and it is not the same skill as filing an annual return.
Board and general meetings
This covers the machinery of decision-making: notices, agendas, quorum, resolutions, minutes, and the distinction between what the board can decide and what must go to shareholders. A practitioner who does this well will tell you before the meeting what the resolution needs to say, not after.
Statutory registers
Registers of members, directors, charges and related records must be maintained in the prescribed form and kept available for inspection. Buyers and investors routinely ask to see them during due diligence. If your registers have not been touched in years, this is a clean-up job with a defined end point.
Filings and registration: the deadline-driven work
This is the most commonly requested area, and the one most often confused with the others. It covers ROC filing, incorporation, charge creation and LLP compliance.
What each involves
| Need | Practice area | What the work produces |
|---|---|---|
| Forming a new company | Incorporation | Certificate of incorporation, MOA and AOA, initial filings |
| Registering a mortgage or charge | Charge creation | Charge documents filed within the statutory window |
| Annual and event-based returns | ROC filing | Forms filed with the Registrar of Companies |
| Running an LLP | LLP compliance | LLP filings and records |
Why the distinction matters
A practitioner who files annual returns may never have run an incorporation, and someone who incorporates companies daily may not handle charge creation. Ask directly which of these they do routinely. An ROC filing is largely procedural, but the deadlines are fixed and the consequences of missing them are not negotiable.
Governance work is a different discipline again
Governance specialisations sit above routine compliance and usually involve more than one regulator or more than one jurisdiction.
Listing compliance (SEBI)
For a listed company, obligations run to the securities regulator as well as the Registrar. Continuous disclosure, board committees and periodic reporting all fall here. If your company is listed, or preparing to be, this is the relevant specialisation.
FEMA compliance
Cross-border investment, foreign shareholding and remittances bring foreign exchange rules into play. This work overlaps with filings but is not the same as them, and mistakes are expensive to unwind.
Restructuring
Mergers, demergers, capital reduction and similar transactions combine board process, shareholder approval, filings and regulator engagement. Expect this to be handled by someone senior, and expect it to be priced accordingly.
Check the registration number yourself
Company secretaries are barred by their professional body from advertising or soliciting work. That has a practical consequence for you as a buyer: you will rarely see a practitioner promoting their services, and any page that ranks or recommends individuals is doing something the profession itself does not permit. Treat such rankings with suspicion.
Credentials you may see are CS, ACS, FCS and LL.B. The statutory registration is an ICSI membership number, which can be verified against the institute register.
On Attesar, identity is verified. The registration number shown on a profile is self-declared and is not checked by Attesar. You must verify it against the official ICSI register before you engage anyone. This is a two-minute check and it is the only reliable confirmation that the person is who they say they are.
A short checklist before you make contact
- Name the problem in one sentence. "File the annual return" and "review our board process" are different jobs.
- Identify the practice area: secretarial, filings and registration, or governance.
- Decide whether you need a one-off task or ongoing support. Incorporation is one-off; listing compliance is not.
- Ask which of the listed practice areas the person handles routinely, not occasionally.
- Ask what they need from you — registers, prior filings, board minutes — before quoting.
- Confirm the ICSI membership number and verify it on the register yourself.
- Ask what happens if a deadline is missed, and who carries that risk.
What cannot be checked in advance
Quality of work is not visible from a profile. A verified identity and a valid registration number tell you the person is qualified; they do not tell you how they handle a difficult board or an aggressive deadline. For anything transactional, ask for a scope in writing that names the forms, registers or reports involved.
If you are unsure which category your issue falls into, start by reading the specialisation list on Company Secretaries and match your problem to the closest one. Choosing the wrong specialisation costs more than choosing a different practitioner within the right one.