Overview of CS examination
The Company Secretary (CS) examination is conducted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI),It’s a professional course which allows the candidate to handle or tackle all the legal formalities of the firm
Examination pattern/structure
This exam has three levels, first is Foundation, second is Executive, & the last one is Professional.
First one is the Foundation Program, which has four papers:
First is Business Environment & Law, Business Management, Ethics & others are Entrepreneurship, and Business Economics along with Basics of Accounting & Auditing.
The exam is conducted in an objective pattern and the total number of marks are 200 marks.
Also it has negative marking criteria if the candidate answers incorrectly, then 0.25 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer.
Next is the Executive Program. It’s the second level and has two parts, each with four papers. The module one of the executive paper consists of Company Law, Cost & Management Accounting, Economic & Commercial Laws, plus Tax Laws & Practice.
Module 2 includes topics like Company Accounts & Auditing Practices, Capital Markets & Securities Laws, along with Industrial, Labor & General Laws, plus Ethics, Governance & Sustainability. The pattern of the exam paper has both objective questions & subjective questions.
And the negative marking criteria is same just like the previous paper,0.25 marks will be deducted
The last paper is Professional Program This one has three modules with nine papers in total. Module 1 covers Advanced Company Law & Practice, Secretarial Audit, Compliance Management & Due Diligence, plus Corporate Restructuring, Valuation & Insolvency. Then the other Module has Information of Technology , Systems Audit and Financial Management along with Ethics and Governance
The Module 3 consists of Advanced Tax Laws ,Practice , Drafting & Pleading skills along with some Elective Papers for the elective paper, five options will be provided to the candidate, the exam pattern is mainly subjective and
There’s no negative marking for this paper
Eligibility criteria for pursuing CS exam
For the CS exam, candidates must have completed their secondary and higher secondary education to register for the Foundation Program. Graduates or postgraduates in any field can register except fine arts
For Executive Program: For applying in this post, the candidate should possess Graduation qualification in any discipline.
For Professional Program: It is however important to note that when the candidates are presented for the award, they should have already undergone the Executive Program.
For the Executive Program There’s no age limit for this paper
The CS exam is usually conducted twice in every year, first in June and other one in December.The candidate those who want pursue the Company Secretary course should focus on to have strong analytical skills .They need to understand corporate laws well too.In short, the CS exam provides a great path for anyone who wants to focus on corporate governance or legal advice roles! With its step-by-step approach from basics to more advanced topics,
How to register for the CS examination
For the Registration Process firstly visit the the official ICSI portal
Then In the main panel, select ‘Students’ first, then click on‘Registration’. Then choose the program that candidate is willing to participate in and the options available are Foundation, Executive, or Professional Program. – Go to its User registration form and fill up the necessary information to register online. – Upload a photo, a signature or any other document which is supposed to be included in the profile. – Complete registration by paying the registration fee by the online payment options that are Provided.
CS exam scope/ opportunities
Corporate and legal CS officers and corporate lawyers are examples few of jobs available to CS professionals.
Similar job profiles in comparison to CS
- Corporate Governance Advisor: The corporate governance Provides consultation on the governance practices and legal compliance standards.
- Compliance Officer: The compliance officer does the job of Protecting legal rights and promoting the compliance of corporations with legal requirements and organizational corporate policies.
- Legal Advisor: a legal advisor performs the Counseling for companies on points of law affecting their businesses.
- Consultant: Selecting strategic consultancy approaches to firms on corporate laws and regulations. – The public sector undertakings (PSUs). – Today, many CS professionals prefer to establish a consultancy firm or even engage in private practice. – Meanwhile, after completing the CS program
Mode information
Candidates can pursue or consider MBA or other related courses like the Masters of Laws in Finance Management, Masters of Laws in Law management or courses in management among others.
CS qualification is an international qualification, which makes employees to have a window outlook and working towards in an international organizations in multinational companies.
Company Secretary course is one of the coveted professional courses as it offers a plethora of avenues in the field of Corporate governance and compliance.
It is important to follow the announcements made by ICSI regarding the examination schedule for the year 2024 and all related registrations including the one you are pursuing now
Queries solved in this post
- CS exam details
- What is CS exam
- CS exam pattern
- CS exam registration
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- Eligibility criteria for CS exam
- Similar courses like cs exam
- Other courses to pursue except of CS exam
- Subjects in CS exam