The News Brief on Friday 1 June reported on a new report to the House of Commons. Key findings were:
- 70% agree that the role of company secretary is often combined with another position. The most common was that of general counsel or head of legal.
- 95% of those surveyed stated that the main area where the company secretary added value was in relation to directing the focus of the board.
- Company secretaries and board members have different views on how the role of company secretary is charaterised. Company secretaries believe that they strike a balance of carrying out both strategic and administrative tasks, whereas the board members surveyed believe the role to be mostly administrative.
- There is a perception that the role is compromised by the fact that the term secretary is in the job title.
It is likely that a similar survey in New Zealand, and indeed Australia, may come to the same conclusions. This suggests governance professionals must promote to the Corporates the real contribution of what the Governance & Manager of the Secretariat brings to an organisation. For the full News Brief ... READ MORE