ABOUT CoSec
“The Corporate Secretary is to the Company what the Swiss knife is to McGyver”
The title “Secretary” is a misnomer, because he/she is not a simple tea maker, a minute taker or a meeting organiser.
The Corporate Secretary (CoSec) is a facilitator between the Board and the other stakeholders.
Also, the Corporate Secretary (CoSec) shall relieve the administrative burden of the company, making sure that no compliance step is lost along the way, whether they are:
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external constraints: imposed by the law, the supervisory body, the tax authorities, the shareholders, in other words, the company’s environment,
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or self-imposed constraints: the by-laws, the shareholder’s agreement, the corporate governance framework (structures/organization- policies-procedures), other founding principles.
A failure to comply with these constraints can lead to a company being penalised by regulators, as well as facing fines, censorship, or reputational damage.
The modern interpretation of the role of the Corporate Secretary (CoSec) attributes to it to act as the guardian of the:
- creation of a company’s culture of good practices
- good governance: sustainability, corporate social responsibility, good corporate citizenship, the ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) concept, and many others.
Some consider the CoSec as being “the glue that holds an entire corporation together”