Correct company secretarial advice is necessary for good governance. Board administration and compliance are the basis, yet a company secretary needs to give value added commentary including suggesting when legal advice is needed. As many associations cannot engage ongoing professionals, this presentation helps train and inform volunteers.

Associations act according to law and their own internal rules. The role of the company secretary is to give guidance on and occasionally be the guardian of the rules. Knowing what a particular Act of parliament says is not a natural skill for most volunteer secretaries, so Associations Forum is able to assist with training them on the many aspects of being a competent company secretary.
Whilst we emphasise the importance of minutes, the role of a company secretary goes beyond this important task – including good governance advice, Board administration and compliance.

Company secretaries need to be aware of:

• Board meetings, including agendas and papers
• Review of appropriateness of minutes (not minute taking)
• General Meetings including AGM
• Statutory compliance especially annually after AGM
• Maintenance of registers
• Constitution interpretation
• Director election, induction, training and assessment
• General compliance
• Policies and by-laws
• New legal developments

In this 90-minute presentation, we begin the journey of a company secretary to grasping the scope of the role and some key introductory matters.

For more information on this presentation, please contact membership@associations.net.au or phone (02) 9904 8200.