Do you need to be chartered to work as a company secretary?

It is one of the first questions aspiring company secretaries ask: do I need to become chartered before I can do the job?

The short answer is no – not in every case. Whether you need chartered status depends on the country, company type, seniority and, ultimately, what the employer expects.

That distinction matters because two very different questions are often treated as though they were the same:

• What knowledge and practical capability do I need to perform company-secretarial work?
• Do I want to pursue the longer professional pathway towards becoming a Chartered Secretary or Chartered Governance Professional?

Both are valid ambitions, but they don’t usually need the same educational route. The bottom line is that if you specifically want or require chartered status, pursue it. However, if your actual goal is acquiring the practical capability of a company secretary, the best qualification may lie elsewhere.

A UK private company is generally not required to appoint a company secretary unless its articles say otherwise. If it chooses to appoint one, the law does not impose a universal requirement that the person must be chartered. Public companies are different: they must have a secretary, and the directors must ensure that the appointee has the requisite knowledge and experience and satisfies an applicable statutory condition.

In Ireland, according to Section 129 of the Companies Act 2014, every company must have a company secretary. For most private companies, the Companies Act does not prescribe one named professional qualification. Instead, the directors must ensure that the person appointed has the skills or resources necessary to discharge the secretary’s statutory and other duties. Additional conditions apply to the secretary of an Irish public limited company.

Interestingly, according to alterDomus, most civil law European countries do not have a formal legal equivalent to the statutory office of a “company secretary”

The conclusion is straightforward: chartered status is highly valuable, but it is not a universal legal licence required before anyone can undertake company-secretarial work. Equally, completing any individual course does not automatically make someone suitable for every CoSec appointment.

The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland has a long-established professional pathway. Its Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme covers seven subjects across Levels 6 and 7 and is the Institute’s common route to graduate status and, with the required professional experience and membership progression, chartered status.

That breadth and status matter. For public listed companies (PLCs) in the UK and Ireland, the law dictates that directors must ensure the company secretary is “suitably qualified. Therefore,  listed companies, regulated financial-services businesses and established company-secretarial teams sometimes, but not always, seek candidates who are CGIUKI qualified, part-qualified or working towards the qualification. In my opinion,  someone whose clear ambition is to become a group company secretary in a major listed business, chartered status may be the stronger long-term objective.

However, this does not mean that every person who needs company-secretarial capability requires the complete chartered pathway at the outset.

The full chartered route may be appropriate if you want:

• Chartered professional status as a central career objective.
• A long-term career in the secretariat of a listed or highly regulated organisation.
• A broad Level 6/7 curriculum covering law, finance, governance, risk, strategy and board dynamics.
• A credential specifically requested by your target employers.

A focused company-secretary diploma will be more proportionate if you:

• Need practical CoSec knowledge for your current position.
• Are moving into a company-secretarial, governance or board-support role.
• Are a lawyer, accountant, compliance professional, senior administrator, director or adviser adding CoSec capability to an existing professional skill set.
• W§ant to understand and perform the work before deciding whether to pursue chartered status later.
• Need flexible study that can be completed around an existing role.

The Corporate Governance Institute’s Diploma in Company Secretary (DipCoSec), also currently described as the Certified Company Secretary Professional (CCSP), is designed as a focused route to practical company-secretarial and governance capability.

The programme is fully online and self-paced. It covers ten modules, including the role of the company secretary, legal and regulatory frameworks, statutory compliance, boards and committees, board dynamics, financial literacy, risk and internal control, stakeholder management, emerging governance trends and the effectiveness of the company secretary. It contains 30+ contact hours, with six months’ platform access, and is assessed through two graded online assessments.

The qualification is issued by TCGI and accredited by Birkbeck, University of London at FHEQ Level 5. The current price is €3,995, including VAT, learning materials, assessments and certification; membership and resits are separate.

This is not the CGIUKI Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme compressed into a few weeks, and it should not be presented as such. It is a different proposition: a shorter, focused qualification for people whose immediate priority is applicable CoSec knowledge and capability rather than chartered status.

A qualification should help a learner understand the formal requirements of the role. However, according to Ingen Partners (2026), modern company secretaries need more than technical knowledge. Employers also look for careful judgement, accurate minute-writing, organisation, commercial awareness, confidence with boards and the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

TCGI graduate Rob Salter provides one example of how focused learning can be applied. A managing director, chairman, trustee and business coach, he undertook the programme to clarify his knowledge and support services to clients. He reports that he now offers company-secretarial services as part of his coaching and leadership-development business. That is one learner’s experience, not a promised result, but it illustrates the kind of practical application the programme is intended to support.

If your goal is CGIUKI chartered status, choose a route that leads to it. If a target vacancy expressly requires CGIUKI qualification, take that requirement seriously. And if you intend to act for a public company, examine the relevant statutory requirements carefully.

But if your objective is to acquire practical company-secretarial capability, support a board more effectively or add CoSec expertise to an existing professional role, it is reasonable to ask whether a two-to-five-year pathway is necessary as your first step.

The best qualification is not automatically the longest or the shortest. It is the one that matches the work you want to do, the professional status you want to hold and the requirements of the organisations in which you want to work.

If your priority is focused, flexible and practically applicable company-secretary education, you can view the DipCoSec/CCSP course, download the programme brochure, book a consultation or enrol online.

Legal and professional note: Appointment requirements differ by jurisdiction and company type. The programme develops company-secretarial and governance knowledge but does not itself guarantee eligibility for every appointment, professional membership or employment outcome.